American Patchwork Series: Songs and Stories About America

Featuring: Denis McGhee, Canray Fontenot, Bois-Sec Ardoin, The Hackberry Ramblers, Dewey Balfa and Wade Fruge.

The American tradition is a colorful patchwork pieced together from the songs of all its many regions and ethnic groups. CAJUN COUNTRY explores one of the brightest spots in the pattern, romping in with a wild horseback mardi gras, crossing the Atlantic to investigate Cajun roots in Western France, and visiting the cattle drives, horse races and barroom dances of these unique people probing all the while the mystery of the Cajun sound.

The musical gumbo from the bayous of Louisiana combines French, German, West Indian, native American and hillbilly ingredients into unforgettable dance music. Through the salty tales and raunchy songs of its black, white and Indian music-makers, this delightful video shows how this infectious music actually grew.

CAJUN COUNTRY also takes us into the heat of the modern Cajun cultural revival. It introduces us to young Cajuns learning to speak the distinctive Cajun French of their grandparents and taking up the ballads and fiddle tunes of their ancestors.

Alan Lomax has created the American Patchwork series to celebrate the backwoods and back-alley traditions that lie behind jazz, rock, bluegrass, blues, gospel and Cajun music. Lomax has been committed to opening the media to authentic American music since the 1930's, when he first recorded Jelly Roll Morton, Blind Willie McTell, Muddy Waters, Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and many others who made American folk music known throughout the world.

The American Patchwork Series was developed by the Association for Cultural Equity at Columbia University and Hunter College. It is written, directed and produced by Alan Lomax.

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