American Patchwork Series: Songs and Stories About America

Featuring: Jack Owens, Bud Spires, Sam Chatmon, Napoleon Strickland, Eugene Powell, R.L. Burnside and Lonnie Pitchford.

THE LAND WHERE THE BLUES BEGAN is the Mississippi Delta. It is the richest land in the world, where over a century ago, thousands of blacks came in search of work. Out of the hard life and sorrows of these wandering laborers came the blues.

Meet the men whose heart cries ring in their music. They describe a lifetime of hollering while working by day and picking the guitar while resting at night. Listen to them "converse" with their instruments in "hot" rhythms on homemade instruments that reflect the strong link between Africa and the Delta.

Hear firsthand about the work songs of the muleskinners in the levee camps, the exciting and violent lives of the river roustabouts, the bitter hot days of sharecropping, and the music that kept the spirits of men in the penitentiary alive. Pay a visit to a congregation whose sweet harmonies answer the passionate cries of their preacher, and to a barroom where storytellers please the crowds with their rapid-fire toasts.

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.

vestapol 13078   No longer available on VHS