'Alan Lomax,' The Man Who Preserved America's Folk Music
A review by Curt Schleier
Most people who know American music probably have heard of Alan Lomax. He's the guy who visited rural areas of the country around the time of the Great Depression, recording -- and thereby preserving -- American folk music (including jazz, the blues, prison songs, etc.). Now, thanks to John Szwed's comprehensive biography, Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World, we learn that he achieved much more. Lomax's efforts were not limited to the U.S. He recorded the folk music of several European and Caribbean countries as well. More than just recording music, he taped singers' oral histories. Equally important, he tried to place the songs in a sociological context of the economic, social and political times in which they were created. Lomax (1915-2002) helped create in America the academic discipline of ethnomusicology. And that is just a partial list of his accomplishments. Lomax was an early leader in efforts to protect the rights of folk singer/ creators; he wrote extensively on ...
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