Adventures of a ballad hunter / John A. Lomax.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lomax, John A. (John Avery), 1867-1948, author.

Series:

Focus on American history series.

Focus on American History Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lomax, John A. (John Avery), 1867-1948.

Lomax, John A.

Ethnomusicologists--United States--Biography.

Ethnomusicologists.

Ballads, English--United States--History and criticism.

Ballads, English.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (316 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Austin, Texas : University of Texas Press, 2017.

Summary:

Growing up beside the Chisholm Trail, captivated by the songs of passing cowboys and his friend Nat Blythe, an African American farmhand, John A. Lomax developed a passion for American folk songs that ultimately made him one of the foremost authorities on this fundamental aspect of Americana. Across many decades and throughout the country, Lomax and his informants created over five thousand recordings of America's musical heritage, including ballads, blues, children's songs, fiddle tunes, field hollers, lullabies, play-party songs, religious dramas, spirituals, and work songs. He acted as honorary curator of the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress, directed the Slave Narrative Project of the WPA, and cofounded the Texas Folklore Society. Lomax's books include Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, American Ballads and Folk Songs, Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Leadbelly, and Our Singing Country, the last three coauthored with his son Alan Lomax. Adventures of a Ballad Hunter is a memoir of Lomax's eventful life. It recalls his early years and the fruitful decades he spent on the road collecting folk songs, on his own and later with son Alan and second wife Ruby Terrill Lomax. Vibrant, amusing, often haunting stories of the people he met and recorded are the gems of this book, which also gives lyrics for dozens of songs. Adventures of a Ballad Hunter illuminates vital traditions in American popular culture and the labor that has gone into their preservation.

Contents:

Boyhood in Bosque

College

Hunting cowboy songs

Twenty years interim

American ballads and folk songs

Penitentiary negroes

Iron head and Clear Rock

Alabama red land

Burials, baptizings and a penitentiary sermon

Chanteys, ballads, work songs and calls

Some interesting people

Melodies and memories.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4773-1372-9