Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old, a film by Alan Lomax, takes a loving look at the talents and wisdom of elderly musicians, singers, and story-tellers from southern American folk traditions. All the musicians featured in the film have soul and musical energy to spare: great, great performances and engaging reminiscences make this film a real treat. Please see the [more inside] for a collection of links to several of the outstanding performers featured in the film.
Fiddler
Tommy Jarrell's Wikipedia page, and his page at
Old Time Music. That site by the way: it's a good 'un.
Wikipedia page for bluesman
Jack Owens, who shares some common ground (particularly in repertoire, it would seem) with the great Skip James. Here's little more on
Owens.
The spry, occasionally bawdy and spectacularly bearded Sam Chatmon can be seen and heard performing
That's Alright and
Brownskin Woman.
And here's Chatmon's
Wikipedia page. Chatmon was a member of the
Mississippi Sheiks and a brother (reputedly) of Charlie Patton.
The wonderful Janie Hunter is profiled
here at the National Endowment for the Arts. And you might want to check
this out, and
this.
Wikipedia page for
Nimrod Workman, and
his page at National Endowment for the Arts. Here's his brief
NY Times obituary from 1994, when he died at the ripe old age of 99. Here's a link to a one-hour radio show focussing on Nimrod: feast your ears, courtesy of
Down Home Radio.
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posted by Faux Real at 2:15 PM on March 25, 2008