What audiences are saying...
“Absolutely beautiful! It is a must see!”---Aimee Gottino
“The show is so rewarding, warm and musical!”-- Jennie Bowen
“I loved the history and culture expressed in
beautiful harmonies and spirited fun, educational and
great for the whole family!”---Lorraine Fairmont
“ Soul-wrenching, joyous, fantastic!”---Sarah Triffleman
“I experienced an openness to very profound music
performed by very talented musicians.”---Loren Donaldson
“It was so moving and connected me with my own heritage. The music and singing carry so much soul and an important part of oral history.” ---Dharjey Snow
“I loved the music--the variety of talents. It was uplifting, spiritual, moving and fun. The theme and focus on Lomax made it unique.”--Barb Donaldson
“I loved it--it was like watching America growing up! The information offered to enhance the experience of the songs did not overwhelm the music. Bravo!” ---Susan Coneys
“I felt really connected to the people who wrote the songs. This was very powerful and meaningful. The group really plays with the songs. They make the stories come to life!”--audience member
“This was really wonderful--great to have such a large group of musicians on stage presenting this heartfelt and soulful music in such an intimate and warm setting. The intention to share and honor the background and cultural origins of the songs was beyond entertainment as per usual.” ---Carah Wertheimer
“Terrific soloists and ensemble! I loved the selection of tunes--a balance of joy, sorrow, pain and beauty. It is a particularly timely experience of authentic American folk music reflecting, speaking, singing, lamenting...the music speaks for us in these times, a reminder of those who got through it before and a salve for our own struggles--thank you!”---Susan Berman
Southern Journey and Marta Burton receive letter of support from the Alan Lomax Family and the Association for Cultural Equity! Read below!
Southern Journey: A Tribute to Alan Lomax
Marta Burton's: A Tribute to Alan Lomax is inspired
by musicologist Alan Lomax’s Southern Journey, a thirteen volume
series of original field and studio recordings capturing the musical
world of the rural South.
Alan Lomax, one of the great figures in American music, is indelibly
linked to the folk music he worked tirelessly to preserve. His career
stretched over six decades and his recordings of folk music fill the
vaults at the Library of Congress.
He drove thousands of miles down nameless roads seeking out the
jewels of the human spirit and is most famous for his work in the
penitentiaries, plantations, and lonely farms of the Mississippi Delta
collecting songs and stories of the folk who lived there. These recordings would eventually be published as Southern Journey.
“The music reflects essential American values: freedom, democracy, and diversity. It is a connecting force between the immigrant experience,” the slave experience and the “process of becoming an American.” (The Smithsonian’s New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music Exhibition) “Out of the tune stock that poured from the British Isles and out of the heritage of rhythms and song-styles welling up in the hearts of the African slaves, a deep river of song was formed that has coursed through the lives of all Americans. A deep river of melody and profoundest emotion that washed the pain and sorrow from the souls of the millions pioneering who made America strong and free. A deep river of song that caught up the best tunes from every hand and linked them with the stubborn convictions and the most poignant longings of all the people.” (Alan Lomax)
Southern Journey is a two hour staged performance bringing to life the Lomax archives through story and song. Audiences experience what Lomax described as the “deep river of song that runs through the lives of all Americans” as a cast of ten diverse musicians and singers revive the spirit of his collection with compelling authenticity.
The exuberant performance of songs from Lomax’s collection are contextualized through the use of narrative that includes Lomax’s own eloquent descriptions of the songs and people whom he recorded singing them.
Southern Journey captures a uniquely American experience as the musicians and singers gather together on the porch. Work-calloused hands take up guitar and bass, banjo and fiddle, shake off the dust of the day’s labor and fill the night air with song.
“Absolutely beautiful! It is a must see!”---Aimee Gottino
“The show is so rewarding, warm and musical!”-- Jennie Bowen
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