In 1959 and 1960, at the height of the Folk Revival,
Alan Lomax undertook the first-ever stereo field
recording trip through the American South to document
its still thriving vernacular musical culture. He
traveled through Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama,
Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, and North
Carolina, making over 70 hours of recordings. The
trip came to be known as Lomax’s “Southern Journey,”
and its recordings were first issued for the
Atlantic and Prestige labels in the early ‘60s.
“Worried Now, Won’t Be Worried Long” features
recordings of Blue Ridge fiddler Norman Edmonds;
blueswoman Rosalie Hill performing on Fred
McDowell’s porch; electric gospel from Ishman
Williams and the William Singers; the United
Sacred Harp Convention in Fyffe, Alabama; fife
and drum music of the Mississippi Hill Country;
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.
The Alan Lomax Archive is the repository of thousands
of hours of Lomax’s field recordings from
across his seven-decade career, and Global Jukebox
is its first independent music label. It will draw
on the full range of the archive’s worldwide collections,
beginning with five albums commemorating
the 50th anniversary of Lomax’s storied Southern
Journey. Compiled and annotated by Nathan
Salsburg, the albums draw on new transfers of the
original tapes, and include considerable previously
unreleased material and extensive booklets of
photos and notes.
Title: Worried Now, Won’t Be Worried Long:
Alan Lomax’s “Southern Journey,”
1959–1960
Label: Global Jukebox
Catalog #: GJ1002
UPC: 847108077318
Genre: Folk, Blues, Traditional, Fife and drum,
Gospel, Appalachian, Prison Songs
Street Date: 12.21.10
PDF booklet: 12-page booklet of photos and
song notes.
Publicist: Howard Wuelfing,
Howlin’ Wuelf Media, 215-428-9119
Also available as an LP on Mississippi Records.
Track List
1. Sidney Carter: “Worried Now, Won’t Be
Worried Long” *
2. Norman Edmonds & the Old Timers:
“Walking In the Parlor”
3. Rosalie Hill: “Rolled and Tumbled”
4. Ishman Williams & the William Singers:
“The Old Ship of Zion” *
5. John Davis, Henry Morrison, and the Georgia
Sea Island Singers: “Hop Along, Let’s Get Her”
6. United Sacred Harp Convention:
“Hallelujah (#146)”
7. E.C. & Orna Ball: “The Cabin On the Hill”
8. Ed Young, Lonnie Young, and G.D. Young:
“Ida Reed”
9. Bright Light Quartet: “I’m Tired”
10. Viola James: “I’m Going Home to Live
With Jesus” *
11. Boy Blue & His Two: “You Got Dimples
In Your Jaws”
12. Wade Ward: “Cumberland Gap”
13. Johnny Lee Moore: “Levee camp holler
(Downtown Money Waster)”
14. Almeda Riddle: “Lonesome Dove”
15. Neal Morris: “Turnip Greens”
*Previously unissued.