Jail House Bound: John Lomax's First Southern Prison Recordings, 1933 [CD-Audio]

In 1933, John Lomax and his young son Alan traveled by car to a number of prisons scattered throughout Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. In the nation’s most restricted spaces, they recorded African-American convicts, who Lomax thought would be some of the last singers of traditional folk material due to the isolation of the institutions that held them.  As a result of this fieldwork, we now have access to a multitude of powerful songs, both well and little known, which provide some understanding of this folk group during the era of Jim Crow in America’s South.
 

Tracklist:

1. Rattler by Mose “Clear Rock” Platt 2. That’s Alright, Honey by Mose “Clear Rock” Platt 3. The Midnight Special by Ernest “Mexico” Williams 4. Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos by Ernest “Mexico” Williams 1933 5. Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos by Ernest “Mexico” Williams with James “Iron Head” Baker 6. My Yellow Gal by James “Iron Head” Baker with R.D. Allen and Will Crosby 7. Black Betty by James “Iron Head” Baker with R.D. Allen and Will Crosby 8. The Grey Goose by James “Iron Head” Baker with R.D. Allen and Will Crosby 9. Long Gone by “Lightening” Washington 10. Long John by “Lightening” Washington 11.Good God Almighty by “Lightening” Washington 12. Stewball 13. John Henry 14. He Never Said a Mumbling Word 15. Rosie 16. Alabama Bound by “Bowlegs” 17. Jumpin Judy 18. John Henry 19. Jumpin Judy by Allen Prothero 20. Sit Down, Servant by Adie Corbin and Ed Frierson 21. Levee Camp Holler by John “Black Sampson” Gibson 22. Track Lining Song by John “Black Sampson” Gibson 23. Steel Laying Holler by Rochelle Harris 24. Interview with John Lomax 1933.

John Lomax (1867-1948) was an American teacher, a pioneering musicololÏ