Library of Congress

Treasures of the Archive of Folk Song at the Library of Congress

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Joe Hickerson at Jalopy by Down Home Radio etc.
Treasures of the Archive of Folk Song at the Library of Congress – a lecture by Joe Hickerson at the Jalopy Theater, Brooklyn, NY 1/16/10

Greetings from California.  I’m out on the West Coast playing some shows with my band The Dust Busters and our friends the The Dough Rollers.  But I’m still on the job, bringing out Down Home Radio shows!  Here’s a recording I made at the Jalopy Theater just before I left town.

Joe Hickerson was the librarian and head of the Archive of Folk Song at the Library of Congress from the 1960’s-90’s. This is a very cool “lecture-demonstration,” where Joe talks about the Archive of Folk Song/Culture, plays great examples from its collection and also plays and sings some of his favorite tunes from the Archive.

Got more stuff in the can waiting to come out, plus I’ve been making some great recordings as I’m traveling around, so look out for more great stuff here on Down Home Radio!

Joe Hickerson’s appearance at Jalopy was sponsored by:
Folk Music Society of New York - home page

http://www.loc.gov/folklife/guide/images/Rae0023_600.jpg
Joe Hickerson records Mississippi John Hurt for the Library of Congress, 1960’s.


Robert Winslow Gordon, first head of the Archive, with wax cylinder recordings and recording equipment, about 1930. Library of Congress Photo.


And don’t forget to check out the Down Home Radio advert in the Old Time Herald Magazine – www.oldtimeherald.org – lots of great articles, reviews and more!

Library of Congress Field Recordings LP

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Here is an early, influential and fantastic album issued by the Library of Congress in 1942.  It was first issued on an album of 78rpm records and then was reissued on this disc early in the LP era.  This record AAFS L2, “Anglo-American Shanties, Lyrics Songs, Dance Tunes and Spirituals from the Archive of American Folk Song,” is the 2nd in the “Folk Music of the United States” series and was edited by Alan Lomax.

There’s some pretty amazing stuff on here.  In fact, all of it is great.  It’s a great record! The field recordings on this album were newly made at the time of the album’s release.  This was the latest hot off the press stuff.  The field recordists who made these recordings, Alan and Elizabeth Lomax, Pete Seeger, Herbert Halpert, Charles Todd and Robert Sonkin are a good representation of the small group of early modern folklorists busy making field recordings of Southern music at that time.

There’s some clutch stuff on here.  These recordings were very influential early on to Pete Seeger, who made several of them, and to the members of the New Lost City Ramblers among others.  Mike Seeger has recorded his own versions of many of the song variants found on this album.

Here’s an unfair question:  How do you think this record, or better this series, of field recordings edited by Alan Lomax and issued in 1942, relates to the Anthology of American Folk Music, composed of commercially recorded 78s, which was edited by Harry Smith and issued in 1952? Contrary to some popular conceptions, there were amazing and influential compilations of folk music issued before the Anthology…
I will continue to post more volumes from this series, but I think this one is my favorite.

CLICK HERE to download the album cut up into tracks.

See below for track information and notes:

The Library of Congress Banjo Collection

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The Library of Congress Banjo Collection

I recently received a request to post this fine album of banjo music drawn from the trove of material at the Library of Congress.  This album of field recordings representing different pre-bluegrass banjo styles was put together by Bob Carlin and released on LP in 1988 by Rounder records.  Amazingly it has not been reissued on CD.

There is some seriously amazing and important music on here.

I didn’t upload this album, the fine people over at
www.timesaintliketheyusedtobe.blogspot.com did and that’s where I first got the record.  Thanks!  Be sure to check out their website for a scan of the back of the record so you can read the excellent notes by Alan Jabbour and Bob Carlin. There’s lots of great records available on “Time’s Ain’t Like They Used to Be”.  Well worth checking regularly.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD the record.

and be sure to check out my sort of complete list of free internet folk music resources