Interview with Big Joe Williams about early blues and railroad work songs

Audio file
Date recorded: February , 1966
Contributor(s): Performer: Hillery, Mable; Performer: Lomax, Alan; Performer: Williams, Big Joe; Recordist: Halifax, Joan
Subject(s): Blues; Joe Turner (Song); Peggy Lee (Song); Leather Britches (Song); Boll Weevil (Song); Alabama Bound (Song)
Genre: interview/commentary
Instruments: voice
Setting: Alan Lomax's apartment, 670 West End Ave.
Location: New York City, New York, United States
Physical form: Reel to Reel
Tape number: 2025
Track Number: 16
Archive ID: 2025R16
Note: Joe Williams reminisces about early blues and other songs he heard as a child, among them "Joe Turner," "St. Louis Blues," "Peggy Lee," "Leather Britches" (which he remembers as "Jimbo"), "Boll Weevil," "Alabama Bound." He discusses working on the railroad and steel-laying songs; Lomax attempts to prompt his memory with some work-song fragments. Mable Hillery can be heard singing to herself in another room.
Belongs to: New York City 2/66
About the session: Big Joe Williams and Alan Lomax swap songs and accompany each other along with occasional vocal contributions from Mable Hillery at the apartment Lomax shared with John Henry Faulk at 670 West End Ave. It's not known if there was a purpose intended for the recording beyond documenting the casual event. Joan Halifax is credited as the recordist on the tape box.
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