American Patchwork Series: Songs and Stories About America

THE DREAMS AND SONGS OF THE NOBLE OLD celebrates the creative role of the elderly in American culture. Self-taught and unpaid, these talented people keep alive the traditions of America's heritage.

We meet characters like 91 year-old Nimrod Workman, a feisty union organizer with a love for medieval ballads, and Janie Hunter, an 80 year-old fisherwoman from Johns Island, who leads her fellow churchgoers in singing America's earliest spirituals. Through the eyes of Sam Chatmon, the sole survivor of the royal family of Mississippi blues, and Jack Owens, we hear the great blues traditions of the Mississippi Delta. Tommy Jarrell takes us on a journey with his old-time music from the hills of North Carolina. In the voices of the Sacred Harp Singers we hear the sound of our heritage come alive ­ their style of polyphonic singing dates back to the time of the American Revolution.

THE DREAMS AND SONGS OF THE NOBLE OLD offers us a gift ­ a reminder of a world of home-grown creativity in the days before entertainment became so homogenized. It reminds us that the "noble old" have a legacy to pass on to the younger generation. Through this fascinating and entertaining video their gift endures.

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 13080   $12.50