Been All Around This World Alan Lomax Archive

The last episode of our survey of John A. and Ruby T. Lomax's 1939 Texas recordings features highlights of sacred performances in the collection.1) Eulalia Martinez, Paola Lopez, Genoveva Lopez: Gloria a Diós en las alturas (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63183)(Sugarland, Fort Bend County, Texas, April 23, 1939)2) Gonzalo Lopez, Cleofe Lopez: (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63185)Vela por tu amante (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63185)(Sugarland, Fort Bend County, Texas, April 23, 1939)3) Iron Head Baker: This Heart of Mine (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63200)(Camp #4, Ramsey State Farm, Otey, Brazoria County, Texas, April 23, 1939)4) Columbus Christopher, Wallace Chains, W.S. Harrison (Jaybird), Sylvester Jones (Texas Stavin’ Chain), Wade Bolden (Monkey): Jesus Getting Us Ready for that Great Day (Camp #4, Ramsey State Farm, Otey, Brazoria County, Texas, April 23, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63202)5) Smith Casey & Unidentified man: When I Get Home (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63170)(Dormitory, Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas, April 16, 1939)6) Unidentified women: It's A Blessing Just to Call My Savior's Name (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63365)(Goree State Farm for Women, Huntsville, Walker County, Texas, May 14, 1939)7) Alvin Brown, William Brown, Terrell Conley, and Eugene Blacker: Ride on King Jesus (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63196)(State Penitentiary (The Walls), Huntsville, Walker County, Texas, May 13, 1939)8) Henry Truvillion: Ride on Mighty Rider (The Mighty Rider) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63423)(The home of Henry Truvillion, Burkeville, Newton County, Texas, May 16, 1939)

An admittedly cursory holiday mix presenting performances from our new digital release, "Songs of Christmas, New Year, and Midwinter from the Lomax Collection," available now on the Lomax Archive's Bandcamp page (https://alanlomaxarchive.bandcamp.com/album/songs-of-christmas-midwinter-new-year) as well as the streaming services.We invite you to pair this mix with our older holiday-themed episode (http://culturalequity.org/node/1039), which features other related material (if some occasional overlap) and the complete "Sing Christmas" program. This ambitious radio broadcast was produced by Alan for the BBC on Christmas Day 1951, and featured regional Yuletide traditions transmitted via live hook-ups all across Britain. 1) Vera Ward Hall: No Room at the Inn story / song (The home of Vera Ward Hall, Livingston, Sumter County, Alabama, October 10, 1959). (https://archive.culturalequity.org/solr-search/content/list?search_api_fulltext=no+room+at+the+inn&not_type=&is_type=&sort_by=field_edtf_date_created&sort_order=ASC&items_per_page=75)2) United Sacred Harp Musical Association: Sherburne (56th Annual United Sacred Harp Musical Association Convention, Corinth Baptist Church, Fyffe, Dekalb County, Alabama, September 12, 1959) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/southern-us-1959-and-1960/fyffe-959/sherburne-186)3) Steven Wright: Jingle Bells (New York City, New York, 1950) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/steven-wright-1950/new-york-city-1950/jingle-bells)4) Group from Sangonera la Verde, Murcia: Rondalla (En tu puerta está la Virgen) ( (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/spain-1952-1953/monteagudo-1252/en-tu-puerta-esta-la-virgen)Monteagudo (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/spain-1952-1953/monteagudo-1252/en-tu-puerta-esta-la-virgen),  (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/spain-1952-1953/monteagudo-1252/en-tu-puerta-esta-la-virgen)Murcia (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/spain-1952-1953/monteagudo-1252/en-tu-puerta-esta-la-virgen),  (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/spain-1952-1953/monteagudo-1252/en-tu-puerta-esta-la-virgen)Región de Murcia (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/spain-1952-1953/monteagudo-1252/en-tu-puerta-esta-la-virgen),  (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/spain-1952-1953/monteagudo-1252/en-tu-puerta-esta-la-virgen)Spain, December 14, 1952) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/spain-1952-1953/monteagudo-1252/en-tu-puerta-esta-la-virgen)5) Alice Gibbs and group: Today, Today is Christmas Day ( (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/dominican-republic-and-sint-eustatius-1967/sint-eustatius-1967/today-today-christmas-0)Sint Eustatius (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/dominican-republic-and-sint-eustatius-1967/sint-eustatius-1967/today-today-christmas-0),  (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/dominican-republic-and-sint-eustatius-1967/sint-eustatius-1967/today-today-christmas-0)Bonaire,

Fiddlers, harp blowers, and guitarists recorded by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax during their 1939 Texas field-trip. 1) Frank Goodwyn & Manuel Salinas: Chinese Breakdown (Falfurrias, Brooks County, Texas, April 29, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63265) 2) Lake Porter: The Lost Girl (Falfurrias, Brooks County, Texas, April 29, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63273)3) Lake Porter: Drunken Hiccups (Falfurrias, Brooks County, Texas, April 29, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63268)4) Elmo Newcomer: Rye Whiskey (The home of Elmo Newcomer, Pipe Creek, Bandera County, Texas, May 3, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63345) [see here for Newcomer's later Cro-Mart release (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcPRwNw18d4) of "Rye Whiskey."]5) Elmo Newcomer: The Old Grey Mare (The home of Elmo Newcomer, Pipe Creek, Bandera County, Texas, May 3, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63339)6) Clinton Saathoff, and Otis Evans: Eeph Caught A Rabbit (Pipe Creek, Bandera County, Texas, May 4, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63349)7) Pop Warner: Inspiration (State Penitentiary [The Walls], Huntsville, Walker County, Texas, May 11, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63404)[see here (https://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/05/16/a-peek-at-the-golden-age-of-prison-radio#:~:text=In%201938%2C%20as%20the%20Great,strumming%2C%20dancing%2C%20and%20acting) for the fine Marshall Project piece on prison radio, which includes a discussion of "Thirty Minutes Behind the Walls" and the Ace Johnson photo discussed in the episode.]8) Ace Johnson: Rabbit in the Garden (Dormitory, Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas, April 16, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63164)9) Ace Johnson: Train song (Dormitory, Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas, April 16, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63178)10) Smith Casey: East Texas Rag, (Dormitory, Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas, April 16, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63450)11) L.W. Gooden: Clemens Rag (Dormitory, Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas, April 16, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63452)Bed Music:Wilbert Gilliam: Long Freight Train Blues (State Penitentiary [The Walls], Huntsville,

The Lomax Collection reflects a variety of human experience—from the sacred to the profane, from the rural to the urban, and from the public square to the domestic scene. The Lomaxes recorded lullabies all over the...

This second episode exploring the 1939 Texas recordings of John A. and Ruby T. Lomax focuses on work songs: selections of "river songs" sung by Black men incarcerated in the prison-farms of the Texas Department of Corrections, as well as pieces from free-world agricultural settings and the railroad section gang. 1) Alan Lomax interview with Charles Kuralt, 1991 (watch the complete interview here) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdj0pmQMTQI)2) Tommy Woods & group: Go Down Old Hannah (Dormitory, Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas, April 16, 1939)  (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63448)3) Clyde Hill & group: Long Hot Summer Days (Dormitory, Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas, April 16, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63171) 4) Charles Eckhardt: Calling the animals, (Pipe Creek, Bandera County, Texas, May 4, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63362) 5) Henry Truvillion: calling track (Truvillion’s home, between Newton and Burkeville, Texas, May 16, 1939 (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63419)) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63419)6) Jose Suarez: Cotton-pickers corrido (The home of J.K. Wells, Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas, April 26, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63235)7) John Lowey Goree, Who Curled Your Hair, Who Combed Your Bangs (At Goree's home, 2908 Jackson St, Houston, Harris County, Texas, April 12, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63131) 8) Mose “Clear Rock” (or “Wyandotte”) Platt: Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos (Hotel Blazilmar, 107 Porter Street, Taylor, Williamson County, Texas, May 10, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63382) 9) Unidentified men: Hammer Ring (Dormitory, Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas, April 16, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63176) Bed MusicSmith Casey: East Texas Rag ( (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63450)Dormitory, Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas, April 16, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63450)Elmo Newcomer: Unfortunate Puppy ( (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63344)The home of Elmo Newcomer, Pipe Creek, Bandera County, Texas, May 13, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63344)

Between 1933 and 1946, John A. Lomax made some 80 hours of recordings in the state of Texas, his home state. (John was born in Mississippi in 1867, but his family moved to rural Bosque County, Texas, near Waco, just after his second birthday.) It’s a massive amount of material, reflecting an extraordinary diversity of vernacular traditions, and featuring the first and last recordings that John made. We’ve labored for quite a few years to secure the funding to digitize, catalog, and make available the collection in its entirety, but have to date come up short. In 2020 our colleagues at the Library of Congress’ American Folklife Center kindly provided us with the transfers they’d done some years earlier of the ten hours of Texas recordings that John and his second wife Ruby Terrill Lomax (“Miss Terrill,” as he always called her) made in the spring of 1939—our idea being that this discrete collection could function as a representative sample of all the Lomax Texas material while we continue our efforts to digitally preserve and make the entirety available. With the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, we digitally cataloged all of the ‘39 recordings and prepared the catalog for inclusion in the Lomax Digital Archive, where they are now available for your exploration and enjoyment (here (https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/texas-1939)). 1. Charles Eckhardt, Otis Evans, and Clinton Saathoff: The Fox and the Hounds (Pipe Creek, Bandera County, May 4, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63346)2. Gonzalo and Cleofe Lopez: La vida de los arrieros (The life of the muleteers) (The home of Gonzalo Lopez, Sugarland, Fort Bend County, April 23, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63193)3. Lake Porter: Black Jack Grove (The home of Lake Porter, Falfurrias, Brooks County, April 29, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63271)4. Elmo Newcomer: Glory to the Meetinghouse (Mabel) (The home of Elmo Newcomer, Pipe Creek, Bandera County, May 3, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63336)5. Shirley Duggan Lomax: Crows in the Garden (Calloway Ranch, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Calloway, Comanche, Comanche County, May 7, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63378)6. Sylvester Jones (Texas Stavin’ Chain) and Wallace Chains: My Mother Keeps On Praying for Me (Camp #4, Ramsey State Farm, Otey, Brazoria County, April 23, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63203)7. Smith Casey: Shorty George (Dormitory, Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Brazoria County, April 16, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63173)8. Hattie Ellis w/ Cowboy Jack Ramsey: Desert Blues (Goree State Farm For Women, Huntsville, Walker County, May 14, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63409)9. Francisco Leal & Agapito Salinas: La Potranquita (The Little Filly) (At the home of Rev. William A. Moye and his wife Carmen Taffinder Moye, Kingsville, May 2, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63311)10. E.A. Briggs: Sam Sherman’s Barroom (The home of Beal D. Taylor, Medina, Bandera County, May 5, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63354)11. Frank Goodwyn: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie (Falfurrias, Brooks County, April 29, 1939) (https://archive.culturalequity.org/node/63278)12. Manuela Longoria: Love Song (El Sentimiento) (The home of Manuela Longoria, Brownsville, Cameron County, April 24,