Title
Boats up the river (fragment)
Other Form of Name
Lomax, Alan, 1915-2002
Identifier
T884R02; FRID (Lomax Number) 6025
Creation Date
9-16-1959
City
Parchman (Miss.); Sunflower County (Miss.)
Disclaimer
Some of the images and language that appear in the digital collections depict prejudices that are not condoned by the University of Mississippi. This content is being presented as historical documentation to aid in the understanding of both American history and the history of the University of Mississippi. The University Creed speaks to our current deeply held values, and the availability of this content should not be taken as an endorsement of previous attitudes or behavior.
Description
In 1959 and 1960, Alan Lomax revisited the American South to record the still-living stream of traditional music in newly developed stereo sound. The collection features some of the region's most representative musicians and styles: Delta blues guitarists, fife-and-drum ensembles, Sacred Harp singers, Ozark and Appalachian ballad singers, and prison work gangs. Performers include Sidney Carter, Vera Ward Hall, Sid and Rose Hemphill, Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers, Wade Ward, Willie Jones, Mississippi Fred McDowell, J.E. Mainer, Neil Morris, E.C. Ball, Almeda Riddle, Hobart Smith, and Ed Young. English folksinger Shirley Collins assisted Alan Lomax on the 1959 trip, and his daughter, Anna Lomax Wood, helped him on the 1960 trip. The endeavor resulted in a seven-album series issued on Altantic Records in 1960, reissued on CD as Sounds of the South, and in a twelve-volume series on Prestige International, reissued in 1997 on Rounder Records as the Southern Journey series of the Alan Lomax Collection (Rounder 1701-1713).
Subject Headings (Library of Congress)
Blues (Music); Blues musicians
Relational Format
audio recording
Extent
00:52
Original Collection
Alan Lomax Recordings
Rights
Media files in this collection are owned by the Association for Cultural Equity and made available solely for personal use. Copy or capture of media files is prohibited. Due to copyright concerns, the recordings in this collection can only be accessed by arrangement with the Department of Archives and Special Collections.
Comments
Parchman 9/59 (Camp 11). Lomax Classification: prison song. Lomax Collection Title: Southern U.S. 1959 and 1960. Recording Note: This fragment appears on the tape in the midst of a session Lomax recorded at Parchman's Camp 7. No mention is made of this, and Alan credits the song to Camp 7 workers. However, at the beginning, Alan announces 'Camp 11, Parchman, Mississippi, September the 16th' and calls out a name that sounds like 'Floyd,' possibly referring to Floyd Batts, a Camp 11 worker with whom Lomax recorded several solo performances. There doesn't seem to be much vocal resemblance, however, between the two performances, so this song has been credited simply to an 'unidentified group.' [Editor] Session Note: Work songs and hollers recorded at Camp 11 at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, better known as Parchman Farm (original note)