Alan Lomax

In February 1937, Lomax got married to Elizabeth Harold Goodman, who often accompanied him on his field trips; the couple had a daughter Anne. Elizabeth and the popular folklorist got divorced after twelve years.

The musicologist fell in love with Shirley Collins, a folk singer from England, in the 1950s. However, after their last journey together towards the end of the decade, Collins got married to record producer Austin John Marshal.

On August 2, 1967, he got married to Antoinette Marchand, but the relationship lasted only a year.

Alan was born to author John Lomax and his wife Bess Brown, on January 31, 1915, in Austin, America. John was an English teacher at the Texas A&M University, and a famous writer who wrote about folklore and cowboy songs of the city. He was the youngest amongst four siblings.

The young boy received his primary education at home since he suffered from medical ailments like asthma and ear infections. He later pursued his education from the 'Terrill School for Boys', Dallas and then completed eighth grade in 1930 from the 'Choate School' in Connecticut.

He got his matriculation degree from the 'University of Texas', where he became interested in philosophy and the works of Greek scholar Friedrich Nietzsche. Lomax also wrote for 'The Daily Texan', the university paper, but left it when they rejected his editorial piece on birth control measures.

During this time he developed the hobby of collecting phonograph records meant for African American audiences. At the age of sixteen he started studying philosophy and physics at the 'Harvard University' on a scholarship and was also taught the works of Plato and Pre-Socratic thinkers, by Professor Albert P. Brogan.

While studying in college, his scores decreased drastically due to his interest in radical politics and a bout of pneumonia. Alan dropped out of 'Harvard' and accompanied his father in collecting folk songs for the 'Library of Congress'.

In 1934, he helped his father write a book titled 'American Ballads and Folk Songs'. The next year he went on a field trip collecting folk songs, accompanied by folklorists Zora Neale Hurston and Mary Elizabeth Barnicle.

In 1936, he co-wrote 'Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Lead Belly' with his father. The same year he earned his degree in Philosophy from the 'University of Texas'.

Alan was appointed as the 'Assistant in Charge of the Archive of Folk Song' by the 'Library of Congress', in 1937. Two years later, he hosted two episodes called 'American Folk Song' and 'Wellsprings of Music', on the show 'American School of the Air', which were broadcast by America's 'CBS' television network.

In 1940, Lomax helped the 'Radio Corporation of America' ('RCA') release two folk music albums titled 'Dust Bowl Ballads' by singer Woody Guthrie and 'Midnight Special and Other Southern Prison Songs', by musician Lead Belly.

The same year along with American filmmaker Nicholas Ray, he produced 'Back Where I Came From', a program that was telecast by the 'CBS' network thrice a week. The show included American musicians like Lead Belly, Brownie McGhee and Josh White.

One of the most famous works by this eminent folklorist and archivist is 'The Land Where the Blues Began', which is a non-fictional account of the origins of the African American blues music. The memoir states that the origin of the blues is deeply connected to the history of racism and slavery in America.