John Szwed

To many people, Alan Lomax is simply the man who introduced the world to Woody Guthrie (and legendary folk songs like “This Land is Your Land”). But for Alan Lomax, Guthrie was just one of thousands of musical discoveries made over the course of more than half a century. Lomax, who served as Assistant Folk Song Archivist for the Library of Congress in the 1930s, recorded music from some of the most remote corners and people on earth — including Caribbean field workers, pygmies and black American prisoners. But how much do we know about the respected oral historian, producer, and interviewer? 

John Szwed discusses folklorist, archivist, anthropologist, singer, political activist, talent scout, ethnomusicologist, filmmaker, concert and record producer, Alan Lomax, who is best remembered as the man who introduced folk music to the masses. Szwed’s biography Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World tells his story. Lomax brought Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Burl Ives to the radio, brought white and black performers together, and was tracked by the FBI and MI5.