The Sonic Journey of Alan Lomax: Recording America and the World
American Routes follows the journeys made by folklorist Alan Lomax as he documented the diversity of the traditional music of America, in the face of what he felt was the increased threat by popular “monoculture.” We’ll look into Lomax’s work as a sound recordist, cultural theorist, radio host, and above all, shaper of 20th-century pop culture through his discoveries.
HOUR ONE
Open Bed: Wolverine Blues #1 Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax, Rounder
Rock Island Line Lead Belly
Lead Belly Legacy Vol 1: Where did You Sleep Last Night, Smithsonian Folkways
Do Re Me Woody Guthrie
Alan Lomax Popular Songbook, Rounder
Excerpt: Po' Lazarus James Carter and the Prisoners
The Alan Lomax Collection: Southern Journey - Bad Man Ballads, Rounder
Excerpt: Old Chisholm Trail Moses 'Clear Rock' Platt Deep River of Song: Black Texicans, Rounder
Excerpt: I've Been Having Troubles Heuston Earns
Prison Talk tape from Alan Lomax Archive, unreleased
Midnight Special Creedence Clearwater Revival Hot Stuff, Fantasy
Instrumental: John Henry Glen Stoneman
Southern Journey Vol. 2: Ballads & Breakdowns, Rounder
Excerpt: I'll Be Rested (When the Roll is Called) Roosevelt Graves and Brother Harry Smith's
Anthology of American Folk Music, Revenant
Excerpt: Kind Hearted Woman Blues Robert Johnson King Of The Delta Blues Singers, Columbia/ Legacy
CLIP: Jelly Roll Morton interview at the Library of Congress
Excerpt: King Porter Stomp Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax, Rounder
I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say Jelly Roll Morton I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say, RCA
Excerpt: How Long? Lead Belly Go Down Old Hannah, Rounder
Bourgeois Blues Taj Mahal Folkways: A Vision Shared, Columbia
Excerpt: Talking Dust Bowl Blues Woody Guthrie Library of Congress, Rounder
Pretty Boy Floyd Woody Guthrie
Woody at 100, Smithsonian Folkways
Instrumental: Sourwood Mountain Hobart Smith
Southern Journey Vol. 2: Ballads & Breakdowns, Rounder
Excerpt: Corn Rigs Jack Armstrong's Barnstormers' Band World Library of Folk & Primitive Music:
England, Rounder
Excerpt: Rock Island Line Lonnie Donegan
Rock Island Line: The Singles Anthology, Sanctuary Records Group
Excerpt: New Year's Day Tarentella Putipu Band of Capri
Songs of Christmas From the Alan Lomax Collection, Rounder
CLIP: Lomax Talks "Folksong '59"
Rock Island Line Little Richard and Fishbone
Folkways: A Vision Shared, Columbia
CLIP: Lomax Radio: Klezmer to Jazz Radio sign-off
Instrumental: Forest City Jump Forrest City Joe, Sonny Boy Rogers & Thomas Martin
Sounds of South, Atlantic
HOUR TWO
Open Bed: O Day Sea Island Singers
The Alan Lomax Collections: Southern Journey - Georgia Sea Islands, Rounder
Brown Girl in the Ring Children at San Juan Girls' Government School in San Juan, Trinidad Caribbean Voyage: Brown Girl in the Ring, Rounder
Excerpt: Madigra Medley Bann Madigra Kenscoff
Alan Lomax’s Recordings in Haiti: 1936-1937, Estate of Alan Lomax/ Harte Recordings
Excerpt: Mwen Tete (I'm Stubborn) Rara Ste. Therese
Alan Lomax’s Recordings in Haiti: 1936-1937, Estate of Alan Lomax/ Harte Recordings
J'ai fait tout le tour du pays Jimmy Peters and Ring Dance Singers
Alan and John A. Lomax Cajun & Creole Music II 1934-37, Rounder
Excerpt: Wind Howlin' Blues David "Honeyboy" Edwards
Deep River of Song: Mississippi - The Blues Lineage, Rounder
CLIP: Honeyboy Edwards interview from 1942 field trip
Walkin' Blues Son House, Fiddlin’ Joe Martin, Willie Brown, Leroy Williams
Deep River of Song: Mississippi - The Blues Lineage, Rounder
CLIP: Muddy Waters Interview
I Be's Troubled Muddy Waters
The Complete Plantation Recordings, Chess
Hootchie Coochie Man Muddy Waters
Alan Lomax Presents Folk Song Festival at Carnegie Hall, United Artists
Instrumental: Arkansas Traveler Hobart Smith
Blue Ridge Legacy, Rounder
CLIP: Ballads, Blues and Bluegrass Film
Going Down South Fred McDowell
from the Lomax Archive, unreleased
You Got to Move Rolling Stones
Sticky Fingers, Virgin
CLIP: Preston Smith welcoming Lomax
Excerpt: Drunken Hiccups Hobart Smith
Southern Journey: Sheep, Sheep, Don'tcha Know the Road, Rounder
The Farmer's Curst Wife Estil C. Ball
Sounds of the South / Blue Ridge Mountain Music, Rounder
Motorpsycho Nightmare Bob Dylan
Another Side of Bob Dylan, Columbia
Instrumental: Whoa Mule Mainer Band
Sounds of the South, Atlantic
Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby Mrs. Sidney Carter
The Alan Lomax Collection: Southern Journey 61 Highway, Rounder
Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby Emmylou Harris, Allison Krauss, Gillian Welch
O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack, Mercury
I'm Goin' Home Ervin Webb and the Prisoners
The Alan Lomax Collection: Southern Journey 61 Highway, Rounder
SEGMENT: Como, MS
End Bed: Hen Duck Lonnie Young, Ed Young and Lonnie Young Jr.
Sounds of the South/ Blue Ridge Mountain Music, Atlantic