By the 1980s, even the well-informed listener might have considered the ‘folkloric’ musical traditions of the rural South and Southwest to be virtually extinct. But a trip into the country spaces where artists like RL Burnside, Napoleon Strickland, Boyd Rivers, Tommy Jarrell lived could easily deconstruct this myth. Alan Lomax was the preeminent documentarian of American musical traditions, particularly blues and blues-adjacent folkways. He built his career around a series of iconic field trips taken into the rural south collecting field recordings that would form the bedrock of the American archive. Compiled by Mississippi Records and pressed to two 160gram LPs, this collection represents his last journey, taken across the South between 1978 and 1983 trolling some of his most famous haunts with a video crew in tow. The trip would produce a wealth of footage edited down to the American Patchwork Series, which aired on American Public Television in the early 90s, but the audio has rarely been released. With liner notes by Nathan Salsburg of the Lomax Archive and artwork by the American painter Joe Light, these recordings shed light onto the full, persistent life of these still vibrant traditions.
Tracklist
| A1 | –R.L. Burnside | See My Jumper Hanging On The Line | |
| A2 | –Janette* and Joe Carter | Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? | |
| A3 | –Sheila Kay Adams | Suite: Little Margaret / Banjo Instrumental / Dinah | |
| A4 | –Joe Savage | Peace In The Valley | |
| A5 | –Holly Springs Sacred Harp Singers | David's Lamentation (#268) | |
| B1 | –Clyde Maxwell And Group* | You Got To Cross That River Jordan | |
| B2 | –Vaughn Eller | Fly Around My Blue-Eyed Girl | |
| B3 | –Dennis McGee | Two Step De Eunice | |
| B4 | –Dink Roberts | Fox Chase | |
| B5 | –Laethe Eller | Way Up In The New Bright World | |
| B6 | –Boyd & Ruth May Rivers | Somebody Touched Me | |
| B7 | –Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers | Give Me Just A Little More Time | |
| C1 | –Lois Short | Little Birdie | |
| C2 | –Dellie Chandler Norton* | Early, Early In The Spring | |
| C3 | –Tommy Jarrell | Reuben | |
| C4 | –Canray Fontenot | Bonsoir Moreau | |
| C5 | –Ray Hicks (3) | Reuben | |
| C6 | –Belton Sutherland | Blues #2 | |
| C7 | –Nimrod Workman | Mother Jones' Will | |
| D1 | –Napoleon Strickland & the Como Drum Corps* | My Babe | |
| D2 | –Lawrence "Black" Ardoin & Band* | Why You Wanna Make Me Cry | |
| D3 | –Moving Star Hall Singers* | I'm Going To Trust The Lord | |
| D4 | –Napoleon Strickland | Jesus Stop By Here | |
| D5 | –Boyd & Ruth May Rivers | Fire Shed In My Bones |
