Will discuss folk radio personality Alan Lomax
The William A. Wilson Folklife Archives Founder’s Lecture will feature Todd Harvey, folklife specialist at the Library of Congress, who will present “Your Ballad Man: Alan Lomax, Radio and Folk-Populism, 1939-1957,” Thursday, Nov. 13, at 11 a.m. in the Harold B. Lee Library Auditorium at Brigham Young University.
The late Alan Lomax is remembered primarily as a field worker, writer, scholar and record producer. During the 1940s and ‘50s, however, Lomax gained notoriety as a writer and program host on the CBS, BBC, Armed Forces, Mutual and NBC radio networks.
This lecture will describe the nearly 200 Lomax radio programs available at the American Folklife Center archive in the Library of Congress. It will also examine Lomax’s use of radio to promote his unique understanding of vernacular music, as well as the lasting impact of the broadcasts on the popularity and revival of these traditions.
At the American Folklife Center, Todd Harvey curates the International Storytelling Collection, the Pete and Toshi Seeger Film Collection and the Alan Lomax Collection. His book ,“The Formative Dylan: Transmission and Stylistic Analysis, 1961-1963,” details the roots of Bob Dylan’s early songwriting output.
For more information, contact Kristi A. Young, curator of the William A. Wilson Folklife Archives in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at the Lee Library, at (801) 422-6041 or kristi_young@byu.edu.
Writer: Norm Nielson
