Stavin' Chain playing guitar and singing the ballad "Batson" in Lafayette, Louisiana, June 1934. Lomax says Stavin' Chain is also a legendary African-American folk character he calls a "sexy Paul Bunyan."Library of Congress/Alan Lomax Blind Willie McTell in a hotel room, Atlanta, November 1940. The legendary bluesman was known for his smooth vocal style and fluid 12-string guitar playing.Library of Congress Unidentified one-man band at the Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, North Carolina, between 1938 and 1950.Library of Congress Bill Tatnall, Frederica, Georgia, June 1935. Tatnall specialized in highly rhythmic "jook" music.Library of Congress/Alan Lomax Cajun fiddler Horace Foreman, Morse, Louisiana, 1934.Library of Congress/Ruby Lomax Mexican girls singing in San Antonio, Texas, April 1934.Library of Congress/Alan Lomax Folk musical instruments including homemade horns, homemade drum, and washboard, between 1934 and 1950.Library of Congress Homemade horns, between 1934 and 1950.Library of Congress Alan Lomax himself playing guitar at the Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, North Carolina, between 1938 and 1950.Library of Congress Members of the Bog Trotters Band, Galax, Virginia, 1937.Library of Congress Doc Davis of Bog Trotters Band, Galax, Virginia, 1937.Library of Congress Wade Ward of Bog Trotters Band, Galax, Virginia, 1937. Ward's Gibson RB-11 banjo is now in the Smithsonian.Library of Congress Fields Ward of Bog Trotters Band, Galax, Virginia, 1937.Library of Congress Uncle Alex Dunford, of Bog Trotters Band, Galax, Virginia, 1937.Library of Congress Unknown band performing at the Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, North Carolina, between 1938 and 1950.Library of Congress Bascom Lamar Lunsford and two "Alabama visitors" at the Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, North Carolina, between 1934 and 1950. Lunsford was known as the "Minstrel of the Appalachians."Library of Congress Pedro Zuniga playing the guitar with his daughter Zenovia, San Antonio, Texas, May 1934.Library of Congress/Alan Lomax Man with a drum, Cat Island, Bahamas, July 1935.Library of Congress/Alan Lomax Gabriel Brown and Rochelle French, Eatonville, Florida, June 1935.Library of Congress Guitarist Joe Harris and mandolin player Kid West in a hotel room, Shreveport, Louisiana, October 9, 1940. Harris and West recorded 11 songs that day for the Library of Congress Folk Archives project.Library of Congress/Ruby Lomax Lolo Mendoza and Chico Real, Kingsville, Texas, September 1940.Library of Congress/Ruby Lomax Noel Lebeau with trumpet, Shreveport, Louisiana, October 9, 1940.Library of Congress/Ruby Lomax Sunny Side Boys, Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, North Carolina, between 1938 and 1950.Library of Congress Two guitarists performing at the Mountain Music Festival, Asheville, North Carolina, between 1938 and 1950.Library of Congress Wayne Perry playing fiddle, Crowley, Louisiana, between 1934 and 1950.Library of CongressLike this gallery?
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25 Lomax Family Photos From The Archive Of American Folk Song View GalleryBetween 1933 and 1950, John Lomax, Sr., his son Alan, and John's second wife Ruby lugged a 315-pound phonograph recorder throughout the United States and the Caribbean on a mission to capture and preserve folk music in its myriad forms.
It was a heroic expedition sponsored by the Archive of American Folk Song (now the American Folklife Center) at the Library of Congress that netted more than 700 field recordings of work songs, ballads, blues, bluegrass, Appalachian music, traditional folk, ragtime, and everything in between.
John was already a celebrated longtime collector of American music, having curated a book of cowboy and frontier songs in 1910 with an introduction written by none other than Teddy Roosevelt. But this latest journey would be a bit more high-tech, with actual recordings to show for it.
But a lesser-known element of the Lomax family's efforts were the hundreds of snapshots they took along the way, often (but not always) of the singers and musicians in action. Sometimes the curious folklorists captured everyday scenes such as baptisms in ponds, children at play, and prisoners at work.
The gallery above, however, is a collection of Lomax family photographs of the amateur artists in action or posing proudly with their instruments. Some remained amateurs, known only for the recordings that the Lomax family made, while others — such as the legendary Blind Willie McTell — continued to record into the 1950s.
In the middle of the family's historic endeavor in 1940, 25-year-old Alan Lomax declared on the radio, "The essence of America lies not in the headlined heroes, but in the everyday folks who live and die unknown, yet leave their dreams as legacies."
These photographs highlight the diverse faces behind the field recordings, including figures such as guitarist Joe Harris and mandolin player Kid West, who recorded 11 blues and ragtime songs with the Lomax family and then quietly left that modest spotlight, never to record their work again, their dreams captured on wax as a legacy that lives on to this day.
Next, check out more Lomax family photos chronicling the beginning of the blues.
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