The Alan Lomax Recordings document blues and gospel music recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax between 1945 and 1965. The files were digitized by the Association for Cultural Equity, which deposited digital research copies with the Blues Archive.
Folklorist, ethnomusicologist, producer, documentarian, and author Alan Lomax (31 January 1915 – 19 July 2002) was one of America’s most prolific collectors of folk songs. Documenting musical traditions in America, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean and many other areas, Lomax followed the folksong collecting work of his parents John and Ruby Lomax. Through his radio shows, concert promotions, audio productions, and books, Lomax introduced large audiences to the music of Woody Guthrie, Jelly Roll Morton, Muddy Waters, Leadbelly, and countless others.
Due to copyright concerns, the recordings in this collection can only be accessed by arrangement with the Department of Archives and Special Collections. If you are interested in reproducing any of these recordings, you must contact the Association for Cultural Equity.
Image credit: Cold Room at the Alan Lomax Archive at the Library of Congress
1947
Black, brown, and white blues, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on his career and segregation in the Army, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on his career in the Army, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on his childhood, learning guitar, and working as a musician, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on his early recording and song-writing career, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on his mother and fighting, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on Leroy Carr, Tampa Red, Georgia Tom Dorsey, and Blind Lemon Jefferson, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on Memphis Minnie, Lonnie Johnson, and Blind Blake, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on migration to and work in Chicago, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on playing music for black audiences, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on racism and amorous relationships, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on racism and leaving the South, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on railroad and levee gangs, work songs, and leaving the Army, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on receiving royalties and the company he kept, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Commentary by Big Bill Broonzy on working as a musician in New York City, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Unidentified guitar instrumental (fragment), Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Yonder come Alberta, Alan Lomax and Big Bill Broonzy
Good news boogie, Alan Lomax and Slim Memphis
Interview with Memphis Slim about 'Life is like that', Alan Lomax and Slim Memphis
Unidentified piano boogie. Session II, Alan Lomax and Slim Memphis
Unidentified piano boogie. Session III, Alan Lomax and Slim Memphis
Unidentified piano boogie. Session I, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about a racist plantation owner and Prince Albert tobacco, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about bear hunting, rabbit hunting, chasing chickens, and old time religion, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about chain gangs and prison camps, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about Charlie Houlin, food in levee camps and prison farms, and violence between workers, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about double-jointed and even-handed men, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about interracial violence and sexual desire, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about levee camps and camp bosses, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about levee camps and Southern prisons, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about the blues. Session I, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about the blues. Session II, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about the origins of the blues, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about the origins of the blues (continued), Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about ugly men, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about ugly men (continued), Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about violence between workers, card sharks, and dudes, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Dirty jokes, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
I could hear my name a-ringin', Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Life is like that, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Life is like that (test), Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Stackalee, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Stories about mean and double-jointed men, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Story of Captain Mack and a conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about the worth of African Americans, Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Unidentified instrumental boogie (test), Alan Lomax, Slim Memphis, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy and Sonny Boy Williamson about work songs from the swamps and bottomlands, Alan Lomax, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy
Conversation with Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson about levee camps and Southern prisons; Levee camp song fragments, Alan Lomax, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy