Alan Lomax and the Search for the Origins of Music

Fascinating how the quasi-biography of Alan Lomax doesn't even mention his father: John Lomax, one of the original "folk song collectors" who traveled throughout the US in the 20s and 30s, transcribing and recording music from isolated rural communities.

In my view, John Lomax's project is more interesting: these old American folk songs provide a geneology of American myth, which is something with cultural import today. Ethnomusicology is fascinating from an abstract perspective (and interesting how they were mostly Jews, makes me more sympathetic as I am myself), but seems a little too distant, trying to solve a problem that might be a little too big...

Gonna take this opportunity to plug one of my favorite albums of recent years, Jayme Stone's Lomax Project https://open.spotify.com/album/0nfUQ0fq6JXOv8EyUGRgUY?si=ggw...

It's a collection of professionally arranged renditions of songs from Alan Lomax's archive. Brilliant project and album.

Weird! I’d never heard of Alan Lomax until yesterday while reading Ani DiFranco’s memoir, where she waxes poetical about his influence in bringing great voices forward and incredible dedication to recording a wonderfully diverse and inclusive set of musicians for decades.