In 1959 and 1960, at the height of the Folk Revival, Alan Lomax ventured again through the American South to document its still thriving vernacular musical culture. He and his assistant, the English folksinger Shirley Collins, traveled through Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, and North Carolina, making over 70 hours of field recordings, the first ever to be made on stereo tape. The trip came to be known as the "Southern Journey," and its recordings were originally issued for the Atlantic and Prestige labels in the early '60s.
"Worried Now, Won't Be Worried Long" collects recordings of Blue Ridge fiddler Norman Edmonds; Mississippi Hill Country fife and drum music and blueswoman Rosa Hill performing on Fred McDowell's porch; electric gospel from Ishman Williams and the William Singers; the United Sacred Harp Convention in Fyffe, Alabama; the Bright Light Quartet, a group of menhaden fishermen of the Eastern Shores of Virginia; and Almeda "Granny" Riddle, the great balladress of the Ozarks. Compiled and annotated by Nathan Salsburg, the albums feature remastered audio from transfers of the original tapes, and include considerable previously unreleased material and extensive booklets of photos and notes.
Download the liner notes here:
culturalequity.org/ce_images/features/globaljukebox/WorriedNowBooklet.pdf
released October 19, 2010