Here's a link to Alan Lomax's notes in the Library of Congress--which issued the Afro-American Spirituals, Worksongs and Ballads CD that was my source for the first 10 songs on the DOWNLOAD for Weeks 4-5. These are Lomax's own field notes--take a look and you'll have a better sense of context for the songs:
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/LP/AfroAmerSpirtualsL3_opt.pdf
In general, I'd like you to be more adventurous--and more specific--in how you look into the material I'm giving you. For instance, take a song title and artist's names (let's try Lead Me To The Rock, listed as sung by Wash Dennis and Charlie Sims on track data) plug it into google and see where it leads. I just tried this and found several interesting starting points--including discussion of these songs by Alan Lomax.
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| Track data in iTunes after downloading |
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| Google search for song title & artists' names |
Obviously you can't do this with ALL the material--but following your own path to specifics will add a lot to your understanding--and to the work you do for the class! It's always a balance between getting an broad-range overall view (as in Week 4) and finding ways to follow leads that engage you to something specific about the songs and where they come from... I want you to do some of both!
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