by John Szwed
Scholars who have written on Lomax’s work in various parts of the world were essential to this book, and I thank them for their industry and care: Judith R. Cohen for her work on Lomax’s Spanish travels, E. David Gregory for his publications on Lomax in the UK, Goffredo Plastinino’s writings on the years in Italy, Nolan Porterfield’s biography of John A. Lomax, and Robert Hemenway’s research on Alan Lomax and Zora Neale Hurston. I also owe a great debt to Sara Villa for her support and her expert Italian translations.
A special thanks to Nat Hentoff, who is the most generous writer I’ve ever known, and who gave me permission to quote from his excellent but unpublished New Yorker profile of Alan Lomax. A thousand thanks and cheers to George Avakian, Gage Averill, Robert Baron, Erika Bourguignon, Oscar Brand, Dave Burrell, John Cohen, Hal Conklin, Alistair Cooke, Steve Feld, Grey Gundaker, Billy Joe Harris, Edward Hirsch, Bill Knowlin, Michael McLaughlin, Mike Meddings, Jon Meltzer, James Napoli, Roz Payne (daughter of Edith Berkman), Brian Priestley, Irwin Silber, Studs Terkel, and Izzy Young.
Anita Hoyvik, Sarah Lash, and Matt Sakakeeny assisted in the research, although “assisted” doesn’t cover the resourcefulness and creativity each of them brought to this project. Anita was especially helpful in her close readings of the various Jelly Roll Morton documents and in her knowledge of documentary photography and cinematography; Sarah steered through the complexity of libraries with the resourcefulness of a true scholar; and Matt read his way through stacks of Lomax publications and letters with the discernment of a world class ethnomusicologist and media specialist. Rita Putnam provided unique musical and editorial advice, for which I am eternally grateful.
My day job at Yale University and then Columbia University made this book financially possible; the Griswold Research Fund of the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale University gave me support in the early days of the research. My students and colleagues at both institutions were always inspirations.
Among the other saints of the book is my editor at Viking, Rick Kot, a man of infinite patience, optimism, and life-saving editorial eyes. My thanks also to Laura Tisdel, Kate Griggs, Carla Bolte, Roland Ottewell, and Patti Pirooz. And high in the pantheon of the book’s deities is my agent, Sarah Lazin, also blessed with patience and the long view, thank God, and who sticks by her clients even in the face of natural (and unnatural) disasters. Kudos also to her worthy assistant, Rebecca Ferreira.
Finally, there are those to thank who have sustained and tolerated my projects for years: Nick Spitzer, Robert Farris Thompson, and Dan Rose, without whom my life wouldn’t be the same. And as always, thankfully, there were Marilyn Sue Szwed, Matt Szwed, and now Heather Szwed to forgive and even aid my literary obsessions.
NOTES
Most of the research for this book was conducted when the bulk of the Lomax materials were located in the Alan Lomax Archive at the Association for Cultural Equity in New York City. Since that time most of these materials have been moved to the Alan Lomax Collection in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Materials labeled AL here were among those in New York City and have since been reorganized in the Alan Lomax Collection. Those labeled LC were always in the Alan Lomax Collection at the Library of Congress and remain there. The other major source of Lomax documents is the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin (UTA).
For more photographs of Alan Lomax, visit http://www.culturalequity.org/pubs/ce_pubs_books_szwed.php.
Chapter 1: From Chisholm Trail to Harvard Yard
5 Two years after the end of the Civil War: This account of John Lomax and his family is indebted to Nolan Porterfield’s excellent biography of John Lomax, Last Cavalier: The Life and Times of John A. Lomax (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1996).
9 “tawdry, cheap and unworthy”: John A. Lomax, Adventures of a Ballad Hunter (New York: Macmillan, 1947), 32.
9 “a nervous collapse”: Porterfield, 501.
9 “a general breakdown”: Ibid., 138.
14 “Our house was a two-story building”: Nat Hentoff, “Profile: Alan Lomax—Surprising the Folk Song,” January 18, 1969, 35, unpublished, The New Yorker Records, c. 1924-1984, New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division, Box 1506, folders 7-8.
15 “In addition to being a talent scout for the university”: Ibid., 36.
15 “successfully completed a course of study”: Ibid., 38.
15 “I was given an absurd notion”: Ibid.
16 “I’ve always had an oppressive sense”: Ibid., 39.
16 “I’ve always been afraid of being rejected”: Ibid., 40.
17 “I decided not to die”: Ibid., 49.
17 “He was everything Father wanted”: Bess Lomax Hawes interviewed by John Szwed, California, 2005.
17 Alan called the first ten years: Anna Lomax Wood interviewed by John Szwed, 2008.
18 “At thirteen I was a junior”: Alan Lomax to Bess Lomax, April 1934, AL.
18 The headmaster and his wife became so concerned: Cora St. John to Mrs. Lomax, February 1, 1930.
19 He had to be instructed how to use a knife and fork: Nat Hentoff, “Profile: Alan Lomax,” 40.
19 Alan apologized and promised: Alan Lomax to John A. Lomax, February 19, 1930, UTA.
19 His mother followed with her own thirteen-page letter: Bess Brown Lomax to Alan Lomax, undated, UTA.
19 But Alan was not to be threatened: Alan Lomax to Ruby Lomax, April 20, 1930, UTA.
20 “brought me to the brink of the greatest enjoyment”: Alan Lomax to John A Lomax, April 26, 1930, UTA.
20 “frighteningly smart”: Walter Goldschmidt quoted in Nat Hentoff, “Profile: Alan Lomax,” 39.
21 “Race and culture were central topics”: Ibid., 39.
21 “It wasn’t a matter of folklore”: Ibid., 44.
21 “a woman who played blues guitar”: Ibid., 44.
21 “In visiting Ruby’s place”: Alan Lomax, untitled, undated manuscript, AL.
22 “I was numb”: Nat Hentoff, “Profile: Alan Lomax,” 41.
23 “warped by their environment”: Alan Lomax to John A. Lomax, n.d., ca. 1932, UTA.
24 “For your own good and happiness”: Alan Lomax to John A. Lomax, n.d. ca. December, 1932, UTA.
24 Alan found himself sitting through Kittredge’s class: Alan Lomax to Peter (his psychiatrist), n.d., AL.
24 Alan was now the head of a student organization: Nat Hentoff, “Profile: Alan Lomax,” 41.
25 “By that time I shall be partially soaked”: Alan Lomax to John A. Lomax, undated, ca. April 1932.
25 “Dear Father”: Alan Lomax to John A, Lomax, n.d., ca. April 1932, AL.
27 “In dealing with me for the last two years”: John A. Lomax to Alan Lomax, n.d., ca. April 1932. AL.
27 There had been previous demonstrations: Robert A. Bakeman, “Lawrence Decides,” Nation 132, no. 3432 (April 15, 1931): 404-6.
28 Later he said that he expected half of Boston: Alan Lomax FBI files, April 3, 1942, 9-19.
28 The officials assumed that Alan’s bail had been paid: Nat Hentoff, “Profile: Alan Lomax,” 42.
28 The Boston Traveler wrote about his arrest: Boston Traveler, May 10, 1932.
28 “It is . . . simple truth”: John A. Lomax to Alan Lomax, n.d., ca. June, 1932, AL.
29 “They know nothing of the future”: Nat Hentoff, “Profile: Alan Lomax,” 43.
29 “First, it is imperative”: Alan Lomax, untitled, undated paper, UTA.
29 “had Mr. Lomax not had pneumonia”: Untitled, undated letter, AL.
3o “A year at Harvard has just run away from me”: Alan Lomax to Ruby Terrill, 1932, AL.
Chapter 2: Road Scholars
32 When John Jr. left them in July: Nolan Porterfield, Last Cavalier: The Life and Times of John A. Lomax (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1996), 285.
33 “he was living like a hippie”: Bess Lomax Hawes, interviewed by John Szwed, California, 2005.
33 “spend your years
in folk-song work”: Alan Lomax to John A. Lomax, April 1933, AL.
34 Walter Goldschmidt could not believe: Quoted in John Bishop, “Alan Lomax (1915-2002): A Remembrance,” Visual Anthropology Review 17, no. 2 (Fall-Winter 2001-2002): 15.
34 “Our cook, Ethel”: Nat Hentoff, “Profile: Alan Lomax—Surprising the Folk Song,” January 18, 1969, 43, unpublished, The New Yorker Records, c. 1924-1984, New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division, Box 1506, folders 7-8.
34 “the prettiest girl I had ever seen”: Alan Lomax, untitled, undated manuscript. AL.
36 “The voice of the skinny little black woman”: Alan Lomax. “From a Great Dark River,” Radio Times, November, 23, 1951, 6, AL.
37 “Poor farmer”: Alan Lomax, “Alan Lomax,” in Decade of Destiny, ed. Judith L. Graubart and Alice V. Graubart (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1979), 311.
37 “Now, Mr. President”: “Folk Music in the Roosevelt Era,” transcription of interview by Ralph Rinzler, in Folk Music in the Roosevelt White House: A Commemorative Program (Washington, DC: Office of Folklife Programs, Smithsonian Institution, 1982), 14-17.
37 “When the record was over”: Lomax, in Decade of Destiny, 311-12.
38 “The Negro in the South”: John A. Lomax, Adventures of a Ballad Hunter (New York: Macmillan, 1947), 129.
39 “They were very polite”: Lomax, in Decade of Destiny, 312.
40 “They were slow-dragging”: Alan Lomax, “From a Great Dark River,” Radio Times, November 23, 1951, 6, AL.
42 But for John the true thrill of the place: John A. Lomax, Adventures of a Ballad Hunter, 119.
42 Alan was annoyed by what he saw as his father’s excessive romanticism: Alan Lomax, “ ‘Sinful’ Songs of the Southern Negro,” Southwest Review 19 (Winter 1934): 16.
42 “I’m goin’ tell you somethin’ ”: Ibid., 15.
43 On hearing his own voice in playback: “Who’s Here: Alan Lomax,” Dan’s Papers, July 27, 1990, 17, AL.
44 In a letter he wrote from Angola: John A. Lomax, Adventures of a Ballad Hunter, 121.
44 But then, just as they were leaving: Huddie Ledbetter’s nickname is here written as Lead Belly, the spelling preferred by his family and heirs.
46 “I knows what you wants”: Lomax, “ ‘Sinful’ Songs,” 12.
47 “a barren field for collection”: Alan Lomax to Carl Engel, August 1, 1933, LC.
47 “Were it possible for the world to listen”: Lomax, Adventures of a Ballad Hunter, 124.
48 “When the men finished with work”: Nat Hentoff, “Profile: Alan Lomax,” 70.
49 “The people who sang for us were in stripes”: Lomax, in Decade of Destiny, 313.
50 Alan wanted to help pay for the girl’s education: L. C. Henderson, Principal, Harlan Kentucky High School, to Alan Lomax, August 31, 1933, AL.
51 “So, for the first time”: Lomax, in Decade of Destiny, 314.
51 His father was beginning to see Alan’s success: Porterfield, Last Cavalier, 304-5.
51 Herbert Putnam agreed: Ibid., 305.
52 “part of the ceremonies”: Ibid., 307.
54 Carnegie then offered him money: Ibid., 314-15.
56 The leader’s part is short: Alan Lomax, Notes to Cajun & Creole Music 1934/1937, Vol. 2, Rounder 1843 CD, 5.
57 She called herself “the ghetto girl”: Walter Goldschmidt interviewed by John Bishop, July 2001.
57 “Why do you isolate yourself ”: Becky Machanofsky to Alan Lomax, June 4, 1934, AL.
58 “started to sing Negro worksongs”: Alan Lomax to Peter Neuman, psychiatrist, no date, AL.
Chapter 3: The Saga of Lead Belly
59 Alan and his father may nonetheless have felt: American Roots Music, “Oral Histories: Alan Lomax,” http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_oralh_alanlomax.html. A year after Lead Belly’s release from prison John wrote the warden and learned the conditions of his release. See letter to John A. Lomax in Wilton, CT, from R. L. Hines, General Manager of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Baton Rouge, LA, Mary Elizabeth Barnicle Papers, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, 1/15/35. John did acknowledge Hines’s letter and the reason for Lead Belly’s release in a footnote to Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Leadbelly, 33.
60 “If you get there”: Nolan Porterfield, Last Cavalier: The Life and Times of John A. Lomax (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1996), 322.
60 Alan wanted desperately for Lead Belly to be his friend: Bess Lomax Hawes interviewed by John Szwed, California, 2005.
61 His article also contained song texts: Henry Smith to Alan Lomax, February 6, 1934, AL.
61 It was Sandburg who first encouraged John: Carl Sandberg to Alan Lomax, November 3, 1934, AL.
62 Alan did find bookings for him: Carl Sandburg to Alan Lomax, March 1, 1935, AL.
64 “For Father I continue to be a source of disappointment”: Alan Lomax to Dr. Chris Mansell, December 21, 1934, AL.
65 “I can beat Calloway singin’ every time”: New York Herald Tribune, as quoted in Charles K. Wolfe and Kip Lornell, The Life and Legend of Leadbelly (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), 140.
66 “Lead Belly,” John wrote his wife: John A. Lomax to Ruby Terrill, January 1935, quoted in Wolfe and Lornell, Life and Legend of Leadbelly, 144.
66 “Up to now this experiment has been a sort of nightmare”: John A. Lomax to Ruby Terrill, January 6, 1935, AL.
66 Despite his ambivalence: Wolfe and Lornell, Life and Legend of Leadbelly, 147.
67 The deal granted the publisher the right: John, in fact, never copyrighted individual songs, but did copyright them when they were anthologized as part of a book.
67 “We retired to the country”: American Roots Music, “Oral Histories: Alan Lomax,” http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_oralh_alanlomax.html.
68 “We went over Lead Belly’s repertory with him”: Ibid.
68 “We asked Lead Belly how his songs came to be”: Frederick Ramsey in Playback magazine, 1950, 4.
69 “He sang, he was very pleasant socially”: Alan Lomax, “Alan Lomax,” in Decade of Destiny, ed. Judith L. Graubart and Alice V. Graubart (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1979), 314-15.
70 In February, for example, they were visited: John A. Lomax to Oliver Strunk, March 16, 1935, AL.
71 But he also claimed: Wolfe and Lornell, Life and Legend of Leadbelly, 195.
71 Some of the guitar accompaniments: Ibid., 183; “Appendix on Lead Belly’s Music by George Herzog,” unpublished manuscript, in AL.
71 “We present this set of songs”: John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Leadbelly (New York: Macmillan, 1936), xiii.
72 “Beyond the doggerel”: Lawrence Gellert, New Masses, December 11, 1934, 21-22.
72 A few years later, Richard Wright: Richard Wright, “Huddie Ledbetter, Famous Negro Folk Artist, Sings the Songs of Scottsboro and His People,” Daily Worker, August 12, 1937.
73 “Have you got a pistol?”: March of Time newsreel, No. 2, 1935.
73 Stripes were the visual identifier of prisoners: Al Rose and Edmond Souchon, New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album (Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press, 1984), 244.
73 Alan also detested: Some forty years after the events had occurred, Alan commented on Parks’s film, and on the media’s development of the Lead Belly narrative:
Whoever was responsible [for this film], they made a creampuff out of a tiger of a man. They turned the tough and rancid landscape of Texas and Louisiana into the “perpetual spring of the downs of southern England.” None of the prisoners were shown to sweat, whereas in actuality it was so hot that sweat poured off them in sheets.... The baby-faced, smooth-muscled actor playing Lead Belly doesn’t begin to do justice to Lead Belly’s genius. When Lead Belly first sang as a complete unknown before an audience of 3,000, the purity of his thrilling tenor voice drew a standing ovation.
The prison farms of the American South were living hells of violence, evil, and despair. They were American Dachaus, where inm
ates worked from before sunrise to dark of night, supervised by trusties with shotguns. A surly look or even a reluctant move could get you killed by the guards, no questions asked. The existence of these prisons inspired a terror that kept the population in line throughout the South. There was one way and one way only to respond and that was through accommodation. Yet in the film, Lead Belly is shown grabbing the whip out of a guard’s hand and indignantly protesting injustice like a 1960s civil rights leader.
By sentimentalizing Lead Belly and making him into a contemporary black man openly protesting injustice, the filmmakers missed an opportunity to tell the grimmest, strangest, important American story of the camps that kept blacks in line for 100 years. There was no way for an individual to survive if he fought back. Lead Belly played it the other way. He smiled and kowtowed and came out stronger than ever. Lead Belly was made of indestructible steel, “a piece of human carborundum.” When the filmmakers ignored this authentic character and made up a pastiche, a softie, a protester, they turned an American story into treacle. The prison camp was turned into a 1960s era TV-comedy Nazi prisoner of war camp. It was not hot. The sukey jump was choreographed like an Alvin Ailey ballet. Lead Belly and Blind Lemon Jefferson are shown playing North Carolina mountain-style blues in front of a Confederate flag while dancers do a 1965 white hop.
Alan Lomax, untitled, unpublished note, ca. 1976.
74 When Lomax returned he was furious: Porterfield, Last Cavalier, 356.
74 “I found some of my color”: Wolfe and Lornell, Life and Legend of Leadbelly, 171.
75 As they were leaving he gave Martha $298.94: Porterfield, Last Cavalier, 361, 365; Wolfe and Lornell, Life and Legend of Leadbelly, 179.
