We owe a great musical debt to folks like Alan Lomax (Harry Smith, too) for their love of traditional American music and saving it from the trash bin of history for all future generations to enjoy!
, They say whenever a man's name is spoken or his music played... he lives......Sid Hemphill R.I.P bless you. and thank you mr Lomax..you loved and understood all this wonderful music, i take my cap off to you sir!
I read recently that Alan Lomax considered Sid Hemphill to be his greatest musical find. That's saying a lot. Lomax is an American legend and an American hero. (And many thanks to whoever posts these and other Smithsonian recordings.)
American heritage Music Preservation some of the best if not the best preservation & distribution is credited to Alan Lomax as he well deserves the recognition WE at American Heritage Studio's wish to acknowledge ALan and give him thanks for taking on this great project *)O(* Barry Shankman
39:10 One of the few times you can clearly hear Lucius’ banjo playing before the 1959 session. You can also hear him vaguely under Sid’s fiddling on Soon in the Morning at 1:13:38 playing in much the same style he does on “Make Lulu Behave Herself”, “Goodbye Honey, You Call That Gone”, etc etc.
Sledge, Mississippi where this was recorded is the Mississippi Cotten-Picken Town, with one of those streets that go up and down, that Charlie Pride grew up and sang about.
If you'd like to hear the next musical evolution in the Hemphill family, check out the music of his granddaughter, Jessie Mae Hemphill. You won't be disappointed.
Question for musicologists: does this music owe more to the British Isles or to African healing dance? The melody seems British, but there's a lot of drone in there also...?
the melody only “seems” british bc it’s jus as melodically complex as it is rhythmically so, but if anything i think the kongo kingdom had the most influence on Blk old time fiddle playing. the lungoyi-ngoyi was a court fiddle that was used to announce Muene Kongo (king of kongo) & the way it’s played sounds jus like these songs.
Good stuff. Is Rose Hemphill any relation? I love her performance with Fred McDowell on When The Train Comes Along. I'm trying to find more info on her.
thanks for carrying on with help of Lomax's works. There's only one Lomax and he is a national treasure just like Woody. He was very interested in the history of the songs like I am. Fascinating. Keep posting Lomax archive stiff. If you have some Woody Guthrie stuff never heard before and its good to post, please do so.
