I Feel That My Whole

He [alan Lomax] Started Right Off Trying To Find People Who Could Introduce Folk Songs To City People. He Found A Young Actor Named Burl Ives And Said, "burl, You Know A Lot Of Great Country Songs Learned From Your Grandmother, Don't You Know People Would Love To Hear Them?" He Put On Radio Programs. He Persuaded Cbs To Dedicate "the School Of The Air" For One Year To American Folk Music. He'd Get Some Old Sailor To Sing An Old Sea Shanty With A Cracked Voice. Then He'd Get Me To Sing It With My Banjo.

Alan [lomax] And His Father Started Off Changing The Definition Of Folk Music From Something Ancient And Anonymous To Something Very Contemporary.

Some Of My Ancestors Were Religious Dissenters Who Came To America Over Three Hundred Years Ago. Others Were Abolitionists In New England In The Eighteen Forties And Fifties.

I Love My Country Very Dearly, And I Greatly Resent The Implication That Some Of The Places I Have Sung And Some Of The People That I Have Known, And Some Of My Opinions, Whether They Are Religious Or Philosophical, Or I Might Be A Vegetarian, Make Me Any Less Of An American.

There's A Story Behind Every Old Ballad Or Work Song Or Nonsense Song That I Ever Knew. Sometimes It's A Fascinating Story. A Story Of People Struggling For Freedom, Struggling To Get Along In This Old World.