The Song Hunters

Have you ever heard of John and Alan Lomax? Probably not, but if you have ever cried, while caught in the perfect rapture of your favorite blues song, (and who hasn't) then I would like to introduce you to the two men, who perhaps more than anyone except the musicians themselves, deserve your unwavering thanks and gratitude. John and Alan Lomax are responsible for making the first recordings of many early bluesmen and jazz pioneers. Indeed without the efforts of this now famous father and son team, blues legends such as Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, and Muddy Waters---not to mention the Jazz pioneer JellyRoll Morton---may never have been discovered or had a lasting impact. John Lomax was the first director of the Archive of Folk Music at the Library of Congress and his personal recordings of cowboy songs, work hollars, prison songs, and African-American folk songs made up most of the archives original holdings. Alan Lomax continued his fathers work, traveling across America and especially the rural South capturing its rich vocal heritage. Many of his recordings are of songs that are so ingrained within our collective consciousness as to be inseparable from our self identity as a nation and a people including 'Home on the Range', ' John Henry', Midnight Special', and even Woody Guthrie's 'This Land is Our Land'.

Rounder Records captures the poignant beauty of Alan Lomax's recordings on a series of 17 compact disks.These recordings are absolutely necessary in the collection of anyone who fancies themselves a Blues, Jazz or Folk Music aficionado. A good place to start your inevitable Lomax Collection love affair is with the Alan Lomax Collection Sampler. It includes recordings from 10 of the other collections including southern work songs, prison songs, Irish and English folk songs, and other world folk songs. I personally find within this music what I long for but find so lacking within the 'produced' efforts of most contemporary musicians.....honesty and sincere feeling. These songs resonate within me with a simple beauty and elegance that captures the human condition and for a moment ,as it holds it vibrating on vocal chords or guitar strings, connects me to the spirit of another across generations, cultures and prejudices.