“I’ve loved going back to old source recordings to learn tunes and songs,” Stone said. For Stone, who describes himself as “more of a modern player with contemporary influences,” Lomax’s recordings of early 20th century folk music are a good way to reconnect with the roots of American music. The collection is available to the public at the American Folklife Center. Lomax collected field recordings that span 70 years, and his collection contains thousands of sound recordings, images and moving pictures. The concert will features songs from “Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project,” as well as songs from his upcoming album “Jayme Stone’s Folklife,” which is slated for an April 7 release. Stone comes to Lansing Wednesday for a rare midweek Ten Pound Fiddle show at Old Town’s UrbanBeat Event Center. “‘Lomax Project’ was more of a family gathering than a band.” “I thought, ‘What if I gathered together some of my favorite musicians to make new versions?” Stone said. This reawakened interest led to a recording project, 2015’s “Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project,” which features 19 songs from Lomax’s archives.
“Hearing the stories behind songs that I knew and then getting hit with all of these other, more arcane corners of the collection was really eye- and ear-opening.” “I started listening voraciously again to every recording that was mentioned in the book,” Stone said. But a recent encounter with biographer John Szwed’s “Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World” really got Stone’s gears turning. The ‘man who recorded the world’ would, one feels, approve most heartily.Like many folk musicians, banjoist Jayme Stone has spent a lot of time with the field recordings made by Alan Lomax, one of the 20th century’s most important folk musicologists. Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project celebrates the Lomax centenary with an album that both honours the singers from whom Lomax sourced this material, and stands as a hugely enjoyable album of outstanding new performances in its own right. The warmth and spontaneity wins you over. The album is a leap through time and an introduction to the life of a man worthy of being celebrated." The Lomax Project is an album that warrants an actual listen. In every track you'll hear the utter joy that came from making this record, and that joy is infectious.Ī musical evangelist, Stone loves using fresh approaches to get people hooked on wider musical traditions. This project is not about the collector-it's about the songs and the way Stone and his musical team take them to new, often harmonious, heights.Ī testament to the endless inspiration the songs Lomax recorded are still able to conjure. It places new wonders alongside old favorites, for a listening experience that's fresh and fun no matter how familiar you are with Lomax's collection.
What results is a marvelous expression of Stone's collaboratory distillation of the folk process. One of the most compelling and rich roots music recordings of recent years. It rewards that attention as much as it captures it, leading us to the music, rather than pushing us to it. asking us, as listeners, to immerse ourselves in the idea of it all. It's an album with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
They’ve put a fresh contemporary sound on musical treasures found in Lomax's deep and rich archives.Īn album of beautiful, intriguing, thoughtful music coming from a collaboration of outstanding musicians who apply their talents together. A transatlantic session with blood, guts and grit.Ī truly inventive spin on some very old tunes.