Country Blues > Down the Dirt Road

Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old another Alan Lomax movie

(1/1)

GavinG:

Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old   Alan Lomax film

http://www.folkstreams.net/film,127


An examination of the talents and wisdom of elderly musicians, singers, and story-tellers, who perform not for fame or fortune but to preserve and share their culture. Stories told by Janie Hunter (80 years old) of Johns Island, S.C.; ballads sung by ex-coal miner and union organizer Nimrod Workman (91), of Chatteroy, W.V.; fiddle tunes and tales of moonshining and feuds from Tommy Jarrell (83) of Toast, N.C.; Blues by Jack Owens and Sam Chatman of Mississippi, footage from the Alabama Sacred Harp Convention in Fyffe, Alabama, in which people of all ages gather to sing old-time shape-note hymn, and Jazz performed in Preservation Hall in New Orleans.

TenBrook:
I just watched this for the first time last night and was fairly amazed. I'd seen parts of the footage in other places before but had never seen it all together with Lomax's commentary. It's really a wonderful film and, seemingly, a great introduction (for those who might need one) to the history and legacy of Southern folk music/culture.

For anyone out there who may have a Roku, I've found a way to stream non-youtube web videos, including those on FolkStreams.net to my Roku using an iPhone app called iWebTV and it's corresponding Roku channel. It's free but if you don't want an annoying scrolling ad at the bottom you'll have to cough up $3. It's a fairly easy process involving pasting the link for the film into the phone app and then connecting to your Roku, though it can be a little buggy at times. I believe there are similar channels for non-iPhone users. It's something I've been searching for for awhile as I don't have a good set up for watching films from my computer, so being able to quickly cast them to my TV from the Roku is a dream and I'm planning on spending the winter poring over the FolkStreams offerings I've yet to watch.

Also, on the subject of Lomax's American Patchwork series, I'm not sure if this has been mentioned here yet, but Mississippi Records is working on a 5 LP box set culled from the footage Lomax shot for the series. Per Mississippi's usual enigmatic style there's not much out there about it yet but here's what they've got on their site:
"Alan Lomax - American Patchwork box set (5 LP's of completely unreleased audio from the films Lomax shot in the late 70's and early 80's.  Completely great stuff. Come with liners and is all housed in a beautiful cloth bound box.  Limited one time pressing)" You can read that blurb about halfway down their homepage: https://sites.google.com/site/mississippicsr/

I've thought about attempting to get a copy when it's out but now I'm hoping maybe they'll put it up on bandcamp as they did with the 'Root Hog or Die' set.

oddenda:
The "American Patchwork" series of films are Alan Lomax at his best and highly recommended.

pbl

Navigation

[0] Message Index