Lomax recorded thousands of songs and interviews as director of the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress. I reviewed Lomax's field recordings of Muddy Waters in a column more than a decade ago; now is the time to revisit this collection. I first heard blues icon Lead Belly on Lomax's recordings. Szwed prefaces Alan Lomax's story with that of his pioneering father John Lomax, who was a well-known collector of cowboy ballads. This idea did make it to fruition, and you can sample a wide range of global sounds on theglobaljukebox.org.

Source: Bangkok Post September 14, 2021 01:30 UTC