The Southern Journey of Alan Lomax: Words, Photographs, and Music

This multimedia release contains some of folk documentarian Lomax's iconic work alongside a wealth of previously unreleased material. Lomax traveled the world, most notably the American South, meeting unknown singers and musicians and recording their performances. He began this work as a teenager, traveling with his father to Southern penitentiaries in the 1930's and recording the prisoners' work songs. In 1959, Lomax began a long tour of the South called the "Southern Journey" where he recorded Almeda Riddle, Fred McDowell, and members of the Memphis Jug Band, among others. Following the tour, he was hired as music supervisor for the film Music of Williamsburg, about life in Colonial Williamsburg, and hired many of his discoveries to perform in it. He is credited with discovering Muddy Waters and, with his father, John A. Lomax, Huddie Ledbetter. Lomax's photography is collected here, mostly in black and white, and Piazza (City of Refuge) aptly notes that the photographs capture "a world rife with poverty and racism%E2%80%A6that had developed precious and vulnerable cultural strategies for transmuting pain and travail into beauty." The book also comes with a cd featuring 12 tracks Lomax recorded during the Southern Journey to complete a volume indispensable for fans of Lomax's work. (Dec)