ABSTRACT
When Alan Lomax burst out of Texas onto the folklore scene, he came out with the force of a powerful Texas Norther. By the age of eighteen, he was a force to be reckoned with. In the years between 1933 and 1950, he established himself as a collector, popularizer, performer, writer, and folklore theoretician, as well as a behind-the-scenes political activist. Any of these avenues would have been sufficient for a fruitful career, but Lomax chose to pursue them all. In the years that followed, we can see the fruits of the seeds he sowed during these early years of his career. In his early work, we see his initial interest in folksong, folk music theory, dance, folk narrative and the relationship between these expressive materials and the broader cultural context.
