Folklorist, ethnomusicologist, radio and concert producer, "Father of the Folk Revival"
Ah... Alan Lomax. So unknown, so under-appreciated, and so fascinating. Few people know or have even heard of him, and yet his contribution to the preservation of American and Global folklore has enabled and nourished the development of folk music (and its subsequent inspirations), as we know it today.
I'm not joking, this man is hugely important to capturing and saving evidence of our American folk music!
Starting in 1936, Alan Lomax began traveling across the United States, looking for and recording traditional songs before they would be virtually wiped out and replaced by the then-newborn, modern culture of pop music, robbing the people of cultural links to their rich musical heritage. He did this for the Library of Congress first, and then for Rounder Records later.
He recorded Negro work songs in prisons in Texas, where traditional songs still endured, isolated from outside sources and preserved in their own microcosym. He discovered and recorded musicians like Lead Belly, Ed Young, Hobart Smith, and Lucius Smith, in Kentucky, Virginia, Mississippi, Tennesee, Arkansas, Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, among others.
He knew, played, and worked with Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Zora Neal Hurston!
What a cool guy.
Insightful documentary about Lomax's European exploits, "Lomax: the Songhunter":
Library of Congress Collection:
Lomax Archive, a multimedia archive of documentation and scientific research:
WIKIPEDIA:
Ooooh!! I just heard a piece on NPR about him! very cool!
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