JOHN LOMAX "BALLAD HUNTER" 16" TRANSCRIPTION RECORDS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 - January 26, 1948) was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist and folklorist who was named Honorary Consultant and Curator of the Archive of American Folk Song, of the Library of Congress, a title he held until his death in 1948. His work, for which he was paid a salary of one dollar, included fund raising for the Library, and he was expected to support himself entirely through writing books and giving lectures. Lomax secured grants from the Carnegie Corporation and the Rockefeller Foundation, among others, for continued field recordings.

In July 1933, under the Library’s auspices, Lomax had acquired a state-of-the-art, 315 pounds, phonograph uncoated-aluminum disk recorder. Installing it in the trunk of his Ford sedan and with his son Allen in tow, Lomax soon used it to record, at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a twelve-string guitar player by the name of Huddie Ledbetter, better known as "Lead Belly," whom they considered one of their most significant finds. During the next year and a half, father and son continued to make disc recordings of musicians throughout the South, with a heavy emphasis on African American culture.

After John's death in 1948, his son Allen took over his position at Library of Congress as Curator of the Archive of American Folk Song. The Library archives now contain some 10,000 field recordings made by John and Allen Lomax.

In 1941, a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation provided for the establishment of the Radio Research Project in the Library of Congress. Archibald MacLeish, then Librarian of Congress, defined the purpose of the Radio Research Project as a means "to find through experiments and research, radio forms by which pertinent parts of the record of American culture maintained in the Library of Congress may be made available to the American people." Among the special radio programs prepared under the supervision of Philip H. Cohen, the Project's chief, in collaboration with Alan Lomax, were the ten broadcasts comprising John Lomax's ten part series, "The Ballad Hunter. The broadcasts were distributed on 5-16" transcription discs to radio stations for several years.

In the first episode of the series, "Cheyenne, Wyoming", Lomax tells the story of talking with Teddy Roosevelt about writing a forward to his book on Western folk songs. Heard in the program are field recordings of songs such as "Jesse James", "Sioux Indians" and "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie".

In the second episode, Blues and Hollers, John Lomax introduces recordings of blues songs and hollers made in the field and Woodie Guthrie discusses the blues.

List of songs below, contained on these three records is from the Library of Congress website:

1."Cheyenne: Songs from the Range and the Hill Country" Excerpts from: "Dreary Black Hills" and "Good-Bye, Old Paint", sung by Alan Lomax "Jesse James", sung by Henry E. Briggs "Jesse James", sung by Fields Ward with Bogtrotters' Band "Brennan on the Moor", sung by Blaine Stubblefield "The Jam on Gerry's Rocks", sung by Elmer George "Sioux Indians" and "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie", sung by Alex Moore

2."Blues and Hollers: `Being Lonesome' Songs" Excerpts from: "Red River Blues", sung by Frank Evans "Wasn't I Lucky?", sung by Irvin (Garmouth) Lowry "Another Man Done Gone", sung by Vera Hall "I'm Gwine to Texas", sung by Richard Amerson "A Discussion of Blues", by Woodrow Wilson (Woody) Guthrie "Prison Blues", sung by Robert Higgins "Mule Skinners' Hollers", sung by Henry Truvillion "Country Rag", sung by Smith Casey "Two White Horses", sung by Smith Casey

1."Chisholm Trail: Cowboy Songs along the Famous Old Cattle Trails" Excerpts from: "Trail to Mexico", sung by Woodrow Wilson (Woody) Guthrie "Chisholm Trail", sung by John Lomax and group "Chisholm Trail", "Careless Love", "Factory Girl", and "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo, Git Along Little Dogies", sung by Alan Lomax "Whoopee Ti Yi Yo, Git Along Little Dogies", sung by Woodrow Wilson (Woody) Guthrie "Rock Island Line: Woodcutter's Songs and Songs of Prison Life" "The Rock Island Line" and "Jumpin' Judy", sung by Kelly Pace and group "John Henry", sung by Arthur Bell "It Makes a Long Time Man Feel Bad", sung by Kelly Pace and group

2."Railroad Songs: Work Songs for Rail Tamping and Track Laying" Excerpts from: "Can't You Line 'Em?", sung by group of eight men "Track Laying Holler", "Wake Up Call", and "Track Calling", sung by Henry Truvillion "The Dallas Railway", sung by Will Rosenborough, Will Brooks, H. David, and Jess Alexander "No More, My Lord", sung by group of Negro men "Steel Laying Holler", sung by Rochelle Harris "Pauline", sung by Allen Prothero

1."Two Sailors: Sea Shanties and Canal Boat Ballads" Excerpts from: "Old Woman Under the Hill", sung by Captain Pearl R. Nye "Haul Away My Rosy" and "When Jones's Ale Was New", sung by John M. (Sailor Dad) Hunt "Trip on the Canal", sung by Captain Pearl R. Nye Interview with Captain Pearl R. Nye "Dark-Eyed Canaler", and "Barbara Allen", sung by Captain Pearl R. Nye

2."Boll Weevil: Songs about the Little Bug that Challenged King Cotton" Excerpts from seven Boll Weevil songs sung by: Woodrow Wilson (Woody) Guthrie, John Lomax, Finous (Flatfoot) Rockmore, Willie George King, Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly), Vera Hall, and Blind Willie McTell

CONDITION ISSUES: While the records appear to be in fairly good condition with only minor scuffing form handling, there are two notable condition issues. The "Sea Chanteys-Boll Weevil" disc has a piece missing from the edge which affects two or three grooves. The Blues & Hollers record has a very fine, tight crack on the edge, which is about 1/2" long.

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