Ballads, Blues & Bluegrass

In the early 1960s, when Greenwich Village was bursting with a folk music revival, the Friends of Old Time Music made it their mission to introduce urban audience to some of the legends of pre-war American traditional music. After a 1961 series of concerts featuring Roscoe Holcomb, Clarence Ashley and Doc Watson, Alan Lomax invited the artists and a who’s who of the folk revival back to his West 3rd Avenue apartment for an impromptu song swap. Filming was arranged on the fly and a raw, many-layered evocation of the art and attitude of the period emerges from the footage, with some of the biggest names of the era, old timers and revivalists alike: Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon, Jean Ritchie, Ernie Marrs, Peter LeFarge, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Guy Carawan,the Greenbriar Boys, and the New Lost City Ramblers.

Alan Lomax

Self

Memphis Slim

Self

Willie Dixon

Self

Jean Ritchie

Self

Jack Elliott

Self

• Alan LomaxDirector · Producer
• George PickowDirector of Photography · Producer
• Jean RitchieProducer
• Anna Lomax WoodEditor

Release date

June 19, 2012

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

35m

Genres

Documentary, Music