Evening star., 1938-05-01

Secretary Ickes Of the Department.
Of Interior IS much interested in
having folk song festivals held during
the summer months in the great
National Parks in different parts Of
the country where thousands Of people
can congregate and hear the folk
music and see the dancing peculiar to
every State in the Union. The Secre-
tary Of State must remember the
square dances Of his youth down in
his native Tennessee Ladies
bow and gents duck under; hold your
holts and swing like thunder"
Alan Lomax Charms Hearers
When He Tunes Guitar.
When Alan Lomax, assistant cur
ator of archives of folk songs, music
department in the Library of Con-
gress, tunes up his old guitar and
begins in a chanting monotone with
semi-recitative and rhythmical
swing to reel off a ballad Of the
Southern Appalachian Mountain
chain. or a cowboy song Of the lonely
prairie, or maybe haunting Negro
melody Of the cane-brakes or cotton
fields, one just has to throw dignity
and religion to the wind. for no matter
what his rank or station he just
naturally begins to pat juba and
presently finds his whole body moving
In unison with the music. This was
proved not long ago when private
audience was made up Of solemn
solons Of Capitol Hill and learned
lawyers and scientists.
Alan Is the son Of Mr.. John Lomax,
honorary curator of archives Of folk
songs in the Library-a dollar-a-year
man-twice president Of the Folkl re
Society Of America. and well-known
lecturer of folk songs in the uni
versities and colleges. He constantly
travels throughout the country COL
lecting and authenticating the songs
and music of the people, and is per-
thorities, not only on the folk songs
and ballads of this country, but Of
Canada and several European coun-
tries. BY the way, he Is now abroad,
where he will remain until the fall.
Mr.. Lomax One Of Greatest
Living Authorities.
Mr.. Lomax, Mississippian by birth,
was taken to Texas when he was a
small boy and grew up on farm or
small ranch located on the Chisholm
Trail in the Lone Star State, over
which many thousands Of long horn
cattle were driven to Dodge City.
Kans., and sometimes to Montana
and the Dakotas. He says in his de-
laborated -"American Ballads and
Folk Songs" boys whom he knew each
spring went on the roundup and
trailed herd OF cattle to Northern
market. Sitting on stump or rail
fence watching the long droves OF
cattle and the picturesque cowboys Of
the range riding by and singing or
chanting the songs of the plains or
maybe some Negro melody, his heart
would thrill with enthusiasm and
longing to follow.
It must have been when lying on
the ground at night gazing up at the
sky strewn with stars like network
Of diamonds that he conjured up pic
lures of the scenes and peoples where
those songs and ballads originated.
He longed to know more Of the old
Scotch ballads and the folklore of his
beloved southland. So he grew up
and went to the University of Texas,
where he took his B.A., and then to
Harvard, where he took his MA. and
received the Sheldon Travelling Fell
lowship, after which he Travelled for
three years over every part Of the
West gathering information, talking
to many persons of whose lives the
songs were daily part. He visited
lumber camps In Texas; farm prison
camps in Louisiana, Mississippi and
Texas, as well as the two State prisons
Of Tennessee, where all singing was
done by the men. He talked to the
men. got their general reflexes on life
as they lived it, and he says in his
book: "Folksongs come straight from
the heart of the people and the iso-
lation Of the plains and in the places
Of confinement breed these songs
sometimes lonely and plaintive, and
sometimes lively and gay. No books,
no telephones or radios, but just the
sky and the stars after the days
work."
In a prison camp in the South on
. bright, moonlit night darkies sing
ing in the cotton fields or cane brakes,
and now and then the sudden burst
Of gay lifting warble or the plaintive
notes Of a mocking bird will come
clear and strong-just repetition Of
what he has heard the pickers sing
ing. It is not difficult to realize where
he gets his inspiration and his sauci-
ness.
Origin Of "Hcme on the Range"
A Favorite of the President.
In writing of what was one of the
most popular tunes of the first half
Of 1933-and great favorite with
President Roosevelt-Mr. Lomax, says:
Home On the Range" "The
music for that song was obtained %
years ago from the Negro proprietor
Of q low drinking and gambling den
in the slum district of San Antonio,
Tex. It remained safely ried in
cowboy songs for nearly a quarter
Of q century"
In his American Ballads and Folk