Paris 5/52

Blues singer and guitarist Big Bill Broonzy (1893–1958) was a major figure in Chicago in the 1930s and '40s and brought his music to European audiences in the early 1950s. Alan Lomax, who held Broonzy in high esteem, had spent time with him in Chicago and recorded him at the Decca studios in New York in 1946 (see the Blues In the Mississippi Night Interview collection). In 1952 he and Big Bill met again in Paris, where Alan was on a research trip to the Musee L'Homme, and recorded two hours of songs and conversation on Black pride, American racism, and the blues as commercial popular music.

In A Shanty In Old Shanty Town (false start)

In A Shanty In Old Shanty Town

I Get The Blues When It Rains

Joe Turner Blues

Interview with Big Bill Broonzy about Joe Turner

Joe Turner Blues (fragment)

Interview with Big Bill Broonzy about the language and origins of the blues, Southern black identity, and blues musicianship

Interview with Big Bill Broonzy about the record industry and playing in bands

Interview with Big Bill Broonzy about the similarities between American blacks and the people of France

Interview with Big Bill Broonzy about why he loves the blues, reading and writing, pride, and black unity

Interview with Big Bill Broonzy about privilege, jealousy, disloyalty, and violence among Southern blacks

Interview with Big Bill Broonzy about black men and white women, sex, and relationships