American folklorist Alan Lomax spent most of his life documenting and recording folk music from around the world. Now thousands of the songs and interviews he recorded are available for free online in streaming form.
Lomax recorded a staggering amount of folk music. From the 1930s through the '90s, he traveled -- recording equipment in hand -- from the Deep South to West Virginia, to Ireland, mainland Europe and the Caribbean.
His recordings include bluesman Big Bill Broonzy singing "In A Shanty In Old Shanty Town" in a room in Paris in 1952, Mississippi prison recordings from the late '40s and interviews with bluesmen Sonny Boy Williamson, Memphis Slim and Broonzy from 1947.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
You can check out everything that's been posted so far right here at culturalequity.org and learn more about the project here, courtesy of NPR. You can listen to NPR's story here.
Lomax died in 2002.
“It was a complete and utter shock to my system – when his tech came in, he was like, ‘Keith’s using your rig!’” The night Keith Richards rocked up unannounced to an LA jam night
“That’s changed my playing a lot. I feel like the two of us now have almost like a telepathic relationship”: After a decade playing together in Dead & Company, John Mayer and Bob Weir reveal the invaluable lessons they’ve learned from each other
