Down on the levee blues
Other Form of Name
Lomax, Alan, 1915-2002; Forest, City Joe, 1926-1960
Identifier
T911R02; FRID (Lomax Number) 6113
Creation Date
10-1-1959
City
Hughes (Ark.); Saint Francis County (Ark.)
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
08:03
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
Memphis III 10/59. Lomax Classification: blues; holler. Lomax Collection Title: Southern U.S. 1959 and 1960. Session Note: Recordings of Forrest City Joe (accompanied on some tracks by 'His Aces' as well as by the Boy Blue band. John Cowley, in Alan Lomax: Blues Songbook (Rounder 1866), writes this about Charley Houlin: 'Gambling tout, whiskey merchant, and sometime bootlegger, Houlin migrated to Hughes from eastern Texas. He became a U.S. Marshall, demonstrating his reputation as a sharpshooter, and set up shop running a whiskey store/juke joint where many blues musicians (such as B.B. King) played. It was Houlin who directed Lomax to the settlement's two high-powered juke bands that entertained his black patrons; the groups run by Forrest City Joe and Boy Blue.' Alan lists the drummer and guitarist for some of this session as being Thomas Martin and Sonny Boy Rogers, respectively, but it is not certain whether they play on all the tracks. We have, therefore, referred strictly to Alan's notes for accompanist information (editor's note). Charley Houlin's Juke Joint (Hughes, Ark.)