Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads (Illustrated Edition)

by John A. Lomax

Overview

The importance of "Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads" cannot be overstated. It created an understanding among academics and the public of the need to preserve all forms of early music. The John Lomax clan spent their lives doing just that. This edition of the book contains the lyrics of the 153 original songs and ballads, of which 18 include illustrations, rejuvenated, of the full musical score, as well as an index and 10 additional illustrations unique to this edition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538075128
Publisher:	Kim Idynne
Publication date:	03/27/2018
Series:	Classic Songs of the Western Frontier , #7
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	826,991
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.82(d)

About the Author

John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 – January 26, 1948) was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist, and a folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk music. He was the father of Alan Lomax (also a distinguished collector of folk music) and Bess Lomax Hawes. In 1910, Lomax, who had had a lifelong interest in collecting mostly "cowboy" songs, published the first (and very rare) edition of Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, by Sturgis and Walton. The book was reprinted by Sturgis and Walton in 1911 and 1915, and published and reprinted a new edition in 1916, 1917, 1918, and 1919. In 1922, apparently, Lomax published yet another edition of "Cowboy Songs...", but this time by Macmillian, who was probably larger than Sturgis and Walton and had more marketing avenues. President Theodore Roosevelt wrote the preface to the book and, recognizing the value of preserving early music of all styles, created the Folk Song Dept. within the Library of Congress. He appointed Lomax as its first director. Many songs so common today were first printed in this book, including "Home On the Range" and "Down In the Valley." Without Lomax's efforts, these and many, many other songs we have come to view as traditional would have been lost.