Alan Lomax Archive

The filmwork of Alan Lomax is a resource for students, researchers, filmmakers, and fans of America's traditional music and folkways. Shot throughout the American South and Southwest over the course of seven years (1978-1985) in preparation for a PBS series, "American Patchwork," which aired in 1991, these videos consist of performances, interviews, and folkloric scenes culled from 400 hours of footage.

The videos available are currently drawn from these collections:

Mississippi Delta & Hill Country (1978):

Bluesmen; fife-and-drum ensembles; former muleskinners and railroad tie-tampers; and tall-tale reciters. Performers include Skip James collaborator Jack Owens, former Mississippi Sheik Sam Chatmon, diddley-bow player Lonnie Pitchford, fife legend Otha Turner, and R. L. Burnside in his first film appearance.

Appalachia (1982-1983):

Cloggers and buck dancers; bluegrass and string bands; white gospel groups; stories, folktales, and ballads from coal miners, tobacco farmers, and former bootleggers, filmed in Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Performers include Ray Hicks, Nimrod Workman, Tommy Jarrell, and Raymond Fairchild, Janette Carter and her brother Joe Carter (children of A.P. and Sara Carter), and the singers at the 1982 United Sacred Harp Convention in Holly Springs, Georgia.

New Orleans (1982):

Funeral parades; Mardi Gras Indians; the Dirty Dozen Brass Band; and scenes from Jazz Fest and Preservation Hall.

Smithsonian Folklife Festival (1983):

Folk artists from across the country at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C.

Coming soon:

Cajun Louisiana (1982-1983):

Cajun cowboys; string bands; zydeco groups; fiddlers, and scenes from the Cajun and creole Mardi Gras celebrations. Performers include Dennis McGhee; Dewey Balfa; Canray Fontenot; Michael Doucet; and Boozoo Chavis.

Arizona (1983):

Pascua Yaqui dancers; Norteño bands; Papagos rituals; Apache desert rodeos; and Tuscon's Latino car clubs.

Johns Island, South Carolina (1983):

Spirituals, folktales, and children's game songs from Janie Hunter of the South Carolina sea island, Johns Island.

Philadelphia breakdancing (1982):

Footage of an early hip-hop breakdancing troupe called the Disco Kings and Queens, shot in Philadelphia's Market Square.

Brooklyn Giglio (1982):

Performances, hand-games, and the legendary carrying of the tower at the annual Giglio festival, celebrated by Italian-American descendents of the Italian city of Nola, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

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