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Collection Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip

Related Resources

Selected Bibliography

The curators of this online collection found these sources particularly helpful in researching and writing essays for the online presentation of the John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip Collection. Other articles, books and unpublished dissertations by and pertaining to the Lomaxes may be available to researchers at the Library of Congress, but fall outside the scope of this online presentation.

Abernathy, Francis Edward, ed. Texas Folklore Society, 1909-1943. Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press, 1992.

Bartis, Peter T. "A History of the Archive of Folk Song at the Library of Congress: The First Fifty Years." Ph.D. diss, University of Pennsylvania, 1982.

Brown, Virginia Pounds, and Laurella Owens. Toting the Lead Row: Ruby Pickens Tartt, Alabama Folklorist. University, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1981.

Cochran, Robert. "Ride It Like You're Flyin': The Story of ‘The Rock Island Line.'" Arkansas Historical Quarterly 56, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 201-29.

Dobie, J. Frank. "John A. Lomax." In The Sunny Slopes of Long Ago, edited by Wilson M. Hudson and Allen Maxwell. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1966.

Dobie, J. Frank, ed. Happy Hunting Ground. Austin: Publications of The Texas Folk-Lore Society Number 9, 1931.

Duran, Gustavo. 14 Traditional Spanish Songs from Texas. Washington, D.C.: Pan American Union, 1942.

Filene, Benjamin. "‘Our Singing Country': John and Alan Lomax, Leadbelly, and the Construction of an American Past." American Quarterly 43, no. 4 (December 1991): 602-24.

Goodwyn, Frank. "Folk-Lore of the King Ranch Mexicans." In Southwestern Lore, edited by J. Frank Dobie. Austin: Publications of The Texas Folk-Lore Society Number 9, 1931.

Hirsch, Jerrold. "Modernity, Nostalgia, and Southern Folklore Studies: The Case of John Lomax." Journal of American Folklore 105, no. 416 (Spring 1992): 183-207.

Holden, Eunah Temple. Our Heritage in The Delta Kappa Gamma Society (2 vols). Austin, Texas: The Delta Kappa Gamma Society, 1960-70.

Lomax, John A. Adventures of a Ballad Hunter. New York: Macmillan Co., 1947.

–. Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads. New York: Sturgis & Walton Co., 1910.

–. Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp. New York: Macmillan Co., 1919.

Lomax, John A., and Alan Lomax. American Ballads and Folk Songs. New York: Macmillan Co., 1935.

–. Folk Song USA. New York: New American Library, 1947.

–. Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Lead Belly, "King of the Twelve-String Guitar Players of the World," Long-Time Convict in the Penitentiaries of Texas and Louisiana. New York: Macmillan Co., 1936.

Lomax, John A., Alan Lomax, and Ruth Crawford Seeger. Our Singing Country. New York: Macmillan Co., 1941.

Lomax, Susan Frances. "A Trip to Texas." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 48, no. 2 (October 1944): 254-61.

Porterfield, Nolan. Last Cavalier: The Life and Times of John A. Lomax, 1867-1948. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1996.

Thompson, Stith. "John Avery Lomax (1867-1948)." Journal of American Folklore 61, no. 241 (1948): 305-6.

–. Round the Levee. Austin: Publications of The Texas Folk-Lore Society Number 1, 1916.

Selected Discography

The following published recordings contain portions of the John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip.

Recordings Published by the Library of Congress

The recordings issued by the Recording Laboratory of the Library of Congress are currently sold in cassette format only through the Public Services Office of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540. A selected number of these titles is currently being reissued in CD format by Rounder Records in cooperation with the Library of Congress.

  • Afro-American Blues and Game Songs. Folk Music of the United States from the Archive of Folk Song, Recording Laboratory AFS L4.

    Recorded in the southern United States by John and Alan Lomax and others, 1933-41. Edited by Alan Lomax. 16-page liner note booklet. Now available as Rounder CD 1513.

  • Afro-American Spirituals, Work Songs, and Ballads. Folk Music of the United States from the Archive of Folk Song, Recording Laboratory AFS L3.

    Recorded in the southern United States by John and Alan Lomax, 1933-39. Edited by Alan Lomax. 17-page liner note booklet. Now available as Rounder CD 1510.

  • The Ballad Hunter, Parts I and II. Folk Music of the United States from the Archive of Folk Song, Recording Laboratory AFS L49.

    Radio programs on American folk music with musical illustrations. Narrated by John Lomax, 1941. Part I - Cheyenne: Songs from the Range and the Hill Country. Part II - Blues and Hollers: "Being Lonesome" Songs. No booklet; liner notes on back of LP sleeve.

  • The Ballad Hunter, Parts III and IV. Folk Music of the United States from the Archive of Folk Song, Recording Laboratory AFS L50.

    Radio programs on American folk music with musical illustrations. Narrated by John Lomax, 1941. Part III - Chisholm Trail: Cowboy Songs Along the Famous Old Cattle Trail. Part IV - Rock Island Line: Woodcutter's Songs and Songs of Prison Life. No booklet; liner notes on back of LP sleeve.

  • The Ballad Hunter, Parts VII and VIII. Folk Music of the United States from the Archive of Folk Song, Recording Laboratory AFS L52.

    Radio programs on American folk music with musical illustrations. Narrated by John Lomax, 1941. Part VII - Spirituals: Religion Through Songs of the Southern Negroes. Part VIII - Railroad Songs: Work Songs for Rail Tamping and Track Laying. No booklet; liner notes of back on LP sleeve.

  • Ethnic Music of French Louisiana, the Spanish Southwest, and the Bahamas. Folk Music of the United States from the Archive of Folk Song, Recording Laboratory AFS L5.

    Recorded in the Bahamas, 1935; Louisiana, 1934; southwest U.S., 1934-40, by John and Alan Lomax and others. Edited by Alan Lomax. 21-page liner note booklet.

Recordings Published by Commercial Recording Companies

  • Afro-American Blues and Game Songs. Rounder CD 1513, 1999.

    Reissue of Library of Congress Recording Laboratory AFS L4. Recorded in the southern United States by John and Alan Lomax and others, 1933-41. Edited by Alan Lomax. 29-page liner note booklet.

  • Afro-American Spirituals, Work Songs, and Ballads. Rounder CD 1510, 1998.

    Reissue of Library of Congress Recording Laboratory AFS L3. Recorded in the southern United States by John and Alan Lomax, 1933-39. Edited by Alan Lomax. 33-page liner note booklet.

  • Cream of the Crop. Roots RL-332.

    One LP with sixteen songs, six of which are AFS material, including two by Booker T. Washington ("Bukka") White, recorded as Washington "Barrel House" White on May 24, 1939 at the State Penitentiary at Parchman, Mississippi, by John A. Lomax and Ruby T. Lomax.

  • Deep River of Song: Black Texicans: Balladeers and Songsters of the Texas Frontier. Rounder CD 1821, 1999.

    One CD with twenty-nine songs documenting African-American life on the Texas frontier. Recorded in Texas by Alan, John A., and Ruby T. Lomax, 1933-1940. 38-page liner note booklet.

  • Deep River of Song: Mississippi: The Blues Lineage. Rounder CD 1825, 1999.

    One CD with sixteen songs documenting the roots of the blues in African-American folk expression and its future development and influence on popular music. Recorded in Mississippi by Alan, John, and Ruby T. Lomax, Lewis Jones, and John W. Work, 1933-1946. Includes liner note booklet.

  • Deep River of Song: Mississippi: Saints & Sinners. Rounder CD 1824, 1999.

    One CD with twenty-five songs documenting the realities of everyday life in early twentieth-century rural Mississippi. Recorded in Mississippi by Alan, John A., and Ruby T. Lomax, Lewis Jones, and Herbert Halpert, 1933-1942. Includes liner note booklet.

  • Library of Congress Field Recordings from Texas. Herwin 211.

    One LP with twenty-four songs, including eleven songs by Smith Casey. Reissued from Flyright/Matchbox SDM 264.

  • Sic 'em Dogs on Me. Herwin 201.

    One LP with eighteen songs, including two songs that are AFS material by Booker T. Washington ("Bukka") White, recorded as Washington "Barrel House" White on May 24, 1939 at the State Penitentiary at Parchman, Mississippi, by John A. Lomax and Ruby T. Lomax. Reissued from Herwin 92400 (78 rpm).

  • Smith Casey. Heritage [Australia], unnumbered.

    One 10-in. LP with eleven songs by Smith Casey. Released by Tony Standish.

  • A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings. Rounder CD 1500, 1997.

    One anthology CD containing thirty previously published selections from the Library's series of folk recordings, digitally remastered from original acetate and aluminum discs made between 1933 and 1946. Selected and annotated by Stephen Wade. Forty-page booklet with notes by Wade has introductory historical essay, song histories, and some new information on performers.

  • Two White Horses Standin' in Line: 1939. (LC series, vol. 5.) Flyright/Matchbox SDM 264, 1976.

    One LP with nineteen songs recorded at Clemens State Farm, Goree State Farm, and Ramsey State Farm in Texas during April and May 1939 by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax. Six-page booklet with notes by John H. Cowley. Portions reissued on Herwin 211.