In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

297 Miscellaneous Radio Cut y In 1934 radio was just emerging as a dominant medium in southern Louisiana, the first statewide broadcasts having begun in the mid-1920s. By 1934 Huey Long was reaching national audiences by radio, and the nascent recording industry was just beginning to take advantage of the new means of distribution. The Lomaxes saw the influence of radio as corrosive, a threat to pristine folk traditions they were hard at the task of preserving . Ironically, of course, they were in possession of some of the most advanced recording and audio technology of their day. Why exactly they recorded clips from the radio we may never know, but one senses disdain in the act of sampling this somewhat maudlin, light-classical mood music—so at odds with the rough-hewn material they were looking for. Whistling y This somewhat virtuosic whistled version of a complex arrangement of “The Saint Louis Blues” is one of the many mysterious anonymous performances recorded by the Lomaxes in 1934. Marcia Gaudet points out that brass bands and big bands often featured a professional whistler, and the accomplishment on display here leads us to speculate that the performer could have been associated with such a group, perhaps the Evangeline Band (pers. comm., April 2011). ...

Share