Listening to the Lomax Archive : The Sonic Rhetorics of African American Folksong in the 1930s

In 1933, John A. Lomax and his son Alan set out as emissaries for the Library of Congress to record the folksong of the “American Negro” in several southern African-American prisons. Listening to the Lomax Archive: The Sonic Rhetorics of African American Folksong in the 1930s asks how the Lomaxes’ field recordings—including their prison recordings and a long-form oral history of jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton—contributed to a new mythology of Americana for a nation in the midst of financial, social, and identity crises. Jonathan W. Stone argues that folksongs communicate complex historical experiences in a seemingly simple package, and can thus be a key element—a sonic rhetoric—for interpreting the ebb and flow of cultural ideals within contemporary historical moments. He contends that the Lomaxes, aware of the power folk music, used the folksongs they collected to increase national understanding of and agency for the subjects of their recordings (including the reconstitution of prevailing stereotypes about African American identity) even as they used the recordings to advance their own careers. Listening to the Lomax Archive gives readers the opportunity to listen in on these seemingly contradictory dualities, demonstrating that they are crucial to the ways that we remember and write about the subjects of the Lomaxes archive and other repositories of historicized sound.

In 1933, John A. Lomax and his son Alan set out as emissariesfor the Library of Congress to record the folksong of the "AmericanNegro" in several southern African American prisons. Listeningto the Lomax Archive: The Sonic Rhetorics of African AmericanFolksong in the 1930s asks how the Lomaxes' fieldrecordings-including their prison recordings and a long-form oralhistory of jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton-contributed to a newmythology of Americana for a nation in the midst of financial,social, and identity crises. Stone argues that folksongscommunicate complex historical experiences in a seemingly simplepackage, and can thus be a key element-a sonic rhetoric-forinterpreting the ebb and flow of cultural ideals withincontemporary historical moments. He contends that the Lomaxes,aware of the power of folk music, used the folksongs they collectedto increase national understanding of and agency for the subjectsof their recordings even as they used the recordings to advancetheir own careers. Listening to the Lomax Archive givesreaders the opportunity to listen in on these seeminglycontradictory dualities, demonstrating that they are crucial to theways that we remember and write about the subjects of the Lomaxes'archive and other repositories of historicized sound. ThroughoutListening to the Lomax Archive, there are a number ofaudio resources for readers to listen to, including songs, oralhistories, and radio program excerpts. Each resource is marked witha ? in the text. Visithttps://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9871097#resources to access this audiocontent.

In 1933, John A. Lomax and his son Alan set out as emissaries for the Library of Congress to record the folksong of the "American Negro" in several southern African American prisons. Listening to the Lomax Archive: The Sonic Rhetorics of African American Folksong in the 1930s asks how the Lomaxes' field recordings—including their prison recordings and a long-form oral history of jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton—contributed to a new mythology of Americana for a nation in the midst of financial, social, and identity crises. Stone argues that folksongs communicate complex historical experiences in a seemingly simple package, and can thus be a key element—a sonic rhetoric—for interpreting the ebb and flow of cultural ideals within contemporary historical moments. He contends that the Lomaxes, aware of the power of folk music, used the folksongs they collected to increase national understanding of and agency for the subjects of their recordings even as they used the recordings to advance their own careers. Listening to the Lomax Archive gives readers the opportunity to listen in on these seemingly contradictory dualities, demonstrating that they are crucial to the ways that we remember and write about the subjects of the Lomaxes' archive and other repositories of historicized sound. Throughout Listening to the Lomax Archive , there are a number of audio resources for readers to listen to, including songs, oral histories, and radio program excerpts. Each resource is marked with a ♫ in the text. Visit https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9871097#resources to access this audio content. In 1933, John A. Lomax and his son Alan set out as emissaries for the Library of Congress to record the folksong of the ""American Negro"" in several southern African-American prisons. This volume asks how the Lomaxes' field recordings contributed to a new mythology of Americana for a nation in the midst of financial, social, and identity crises. Exploring The Rhetoric And Cultural Significance Of African American Folk Music During The Great Depression