Introduction to Vol. 1, Musics of Alabama

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MUSICS OF ALABAMA:
A COMPILATION

This CD Volume 1 is the first in a series of CDs to be issued that deal specifically with traditional music of Alabama. Volume 1 is a compilation of various genres on a single CD. The following in the series will deal primarily one genre at a time. To Obtain This CD click here.

The musical examples found at the links below are highly compressed reproductions of what are featured on the CD. To hear the best quality you should get the CD.

All audio program links are in RealAudio format. To download the free basic RealAudio Player click > here.(once you are at the page you have to look hard to find the little link to the free basic program)

INTRODUCTION

In 1936, folksong scholar John Lomax, then head of the archive of American Folksong at the Library of Congress, admired the vital abundance of Alabama's traditional music and referred to the state as "rich in folk music." Sixty years later, Lomax' daughter, Bess Lomax Hawes, former director of the Folk Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, wrote of "the remarkable flowering of song that characterizes Alabama." And, over the years, scores of folk music collectors and scholars have been drawn to Alabama's abundant and diverse musical traditions--traditions which have, through history, served to define the state and inform our fundamental notions of where and who we are. From worksongs and blues to spirituals and gospel, from fiddle tunes and lullabies to mariachi and polka, the legacy of the Alabama experience has been engraved in the music made by the people who settled this state.

This album is the first of a comprehensive millennium series of recordings--an in-depth documentation of all the traditional musics of Alabama--a series which will feature nearly ten hours of Alabama music. This album celebrates the extraordinary polyphony of musical sounds which resonate across Alabama from Bayou la Batre to Ider, from Waterloo to Ashford. And this album honors those keepers of our culture who have preserved the beauty and vitality of those musical traditions passed down from one generation to the next, giving meaning to our present and continuity to our future.

Henry Willett
Director
Alabama Center for Traditional Culture
February 2001

CD LIST

1	EXCELSIOR BAND OF MOBILE "MEDLEY"
2	CHILD'S GAME "WALKING ON THE GREEN GRASS"
3	MOBILE DOCK WORKERS "CARRIE, CARRIE"
4	CORLY PENNINGTON "RA-TA-TUM-DE-DUM"
5	"CHILDREN'S PLAY SONG"
6	HARRIET MCCLINTOCK "COME BUTTER COME"
7	TOM BELL "CROSS-E SHIMMY DANCE TUNE"
8	NOAH LACY "HEN CACKLE"
9	JOHN HENRY MEALING "GIRL IN THE WHITE FOLK'S YARD"
10	BALWIN COUNTY POLKA BAND "RED ROSE POLKA-BABY DOLL POLKA"
11	ELDER DONALD SMITH "GRACE A CHARMING SOUND"
12	SPRING HILL UNION PRIMITIVE BAPTIST; ASSOCIATION "WE SHALL SLEEP BUT NOT FOREVER"
13	THE MELODY MEN "MY HEAVY BURDENS HAVE ROLLED AWAY"
14	LUELLA HATCHER "A CHARGE TO KEEP I HAVE"
15	THE SULLIVAN FAMILY "OLD BRUSH ARBOR"
16	THE BIRMINGHAM SUNLIGHTS "ANGEL'S WATCHING OVER ME"
17	WIREGRASS SACRED HARP SINGERS "PISGAH"
18	CAPITOL ROTUNDA SINGING "SWEET RIVERS"
19	ELDER JAMES COCKRELL "SURE BEEN GOOD TO ME"
20	DALE COUNTY GOSPEL ASSOCIATION; "LOOK UP"
21	GARY WALDREP "GOIN' ON THE MOUNTAIN"
22	ALBERT MACON AND ROBERT THOMAS "GOTTA MOVE"
23	REAGAN NGAMVILAY, KHAMSING DARAPHETH "SALAWAN"
24	RUSSELL JOHNSON AND J. C. BROCK "JOHNSON'S OLD GREY MULE"
25	MARIACHI GARIBALDI "GUADALAJARA"
26	THE STRIPLING BROTHERS "WOLVES A HOWLING"
27	THE THOMAS SISTERS "WHAT A DAY OF VICTORY"
28	NOTES AND STRINGS "GETTING READY TO LEAVE THIS WORLD"
29	THE SOUNDS OF JOY "FIX IT JESUS"
30	DIXIE BLUEGRASS "WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS"