The idea behind Jayme Stone’s all-star group, Lomax Project, is so brilliant it leads one to wonder why no one has thought of it before. Alan Lomax was the legendary song-catcher and in-the-field recorder who went out into rural areas, wrong sides of the tracks and the outskirts of America in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s to collect obscure ethnic Folk music. Lomax took along a portable reel-to-reel tape recorder and captured the music of many unknown artists who would go on to be recognized by the larger population.
Decades later, enter Jayme Stone, who has put together a 21st century band of musicians to bring to life many of those amazing Lomax recordings in a concert setting. A revolving cast of artists are featured on this tour, culled from a lineup that includes accomplished musicians like Brittany Haas, Julian Lage, Tim O’Brien, Bruce Molsky, Margaret Glaspy, Greg Garrison, Moira Smiley, Eli West and others. (For the local stop, O’Brien, Glaspy, Haas and bassist Joe Phillips are scheduled to appear.)
The Lomax Project is lucky in that it gets to choose from more than 17,000 recordings made by Lomax. (The recordings were made available for free to the public three years ago; find it under the “Sound Recordings” tab at research.culturalequity.org.) The group will perform everything from Appalachian fiddle tunes and Country Blues and cowboy fare to Bahamian sea shanties and African-American a cappella songs from Georgia’s Sea Islands.
JAYME STONE'S LOMAX PROJECT plays the Southgate House Revival's Sanctuary Tuesday. Tickets/more info here .
