Arkansas

Superintendent Reed of the Cummins State Farm was busy receiving new inmates, white men who crawled out of the "bus" under guard just as the Lomaxes drove up to his office on May 20, 1939. John Lomax's conference with the office was only long enough to explain his mission, present his letter of introduction from the Governor of Texas, get permission to proceed and information about the location of camps and the names of some of the captains. Captain Acklin, who was apparently in charge of the African-American farm workers, offered the Lomaxes a bed for the night and breakfast.

The Lomaxes first went to Camp #6, where John Lomax had previously found some songs. There they found Captain Allen in charge, who came riding up from his inspection of the fields and recognized John Lomax at once. Allen had formerly been in charge of a camp near Little Rock where John Lomax had recorded previously.

After a bountiful supper the Lomaxes, the Allens and some guests adjourned to the barracks where African-American prisoners were incarcerated. By the aid of kerosene lamps and flash-lights the Lomaxes set up the machine. John Lomax explained to the prisoners, through the bars, the purpose of his trip and what kind of songs he wished to record. He asked for volunteers. After several rejections, a "big fellow" timidly offered ► Mary Mack Dressed in Black

As Williams searched his memory, John Lomax appealed to the other prisoners "What have you boys heard him sing? Help him out here." "Sing Jody Grand, Garmouth" one of the prisoners called. Willie "Garmouth" grinned, nodded his head and sang ► Joe de Grinder a mule-driving song which Garmouth used in the field. Williams told the Lomaxes that he was brought up on a farm, had a wife and one child, and was given three years and seven months for shooting a boy.

After the songs of Willie "Garmouth" Williams were played back with the announcement of his name, other prisoners crowded up to the bars to offer their songs. Blues were particularly popular, "sorrow songs", as one of the prisoners called them. ► Milk Cow Blues, ► Corn Field Blues, ► Po' Laz'us and ► Boll Weevil. The Captain had allowed the Lomaxes stay past nine o'clock, but the kerosene lamps were burning low and the Lomaxes were packing up to go when a "big fellow", one of the quartet who had sung a lined hymn, offered to sing the iconic ► John Henry

The Lomaxes spent the night in the home of Captain Acklin, about four or five miles away from Camp #6. After breakfast the next morning, Sunday, they talked to Captain Miller who had charge of the African-American barracks of Camp #1 nearby. Trusties sat on guard with guns ready in case of a break. Other trusties helped get the men together. The convicts were very poorly dressed; proceedings had to wait until some of the men could get on more clothes when they saw Ruby Lomax, a woman, in the car. The Captain said that some of them had better clothes; "but", he said, "Sunday is the day when the trusties in charge of clothing go around among the groups and pass out cleaner or better garments to those who appear to need them most. Some of the fellows try to look their worst. No, they don't have stripes or any other kind of uniform."

After several experiments with shovels and picks in an effort to get the right sound effects, a group finally recorded ► Rock Island Line in the mess hall where the machine was set up. Laroy Martin, a 'cripple', volunteered to sing ► Crawdad, with a small group of assistants. When John Lomax asked for game songs or children's songs, Virgil Lamb offered ► Long-tailed Rat, amid great guffaws of his fellows. Then Willie Johnson tried to recall a version of the "Ram of Darby", though he called his version ► Didn't He Ramble which he used to hear his grandfather sing. Willie, known as "Little Life" because of his sluggish movements, could not "get together" many of the stanzas.

In the afternoon, finding Superintendent Reed at home, the Lomaxes received his permission to interview the African-American women who were housed in the rear of the superintendent's residence under the supervision of Mrs. Reed. The girls who were interested or curious gathered into a large room which served as a sewing room and a laundry. At first nobody knew anything. Then John Lomax told them about the girls of Goree Farm in Texas. One of the women, who "lived in Texas but got into trouble in Arkansas for something I didn' do", knew Hattie Ellis and her singing. The Lomaxes felt that some of the songs offered came from the radio or from the phonograph, but in most cases the women had changed them and improvised them to suit their own fancy and to make them their own. Songs recorded include ► Hush Little Baby and ► I Goin' Pack My Suitcase

Newly made red-clay roads led the Lomaxes to Camp #9. Captain Burt Clayton invited them to dinner and extended the noon rest period so that the prisoners might make recordings for John Lomax. This camp was at that time only three months old. The Lomaxes report that the men here were better dressed than the men at Camp #1. They gathered under the large trees in the dormitory yard and sang and joked. One of the men busied himself making a list of nicknames in which this camp especially seemed to abound. At a penny per nickname he earned a considerable tip. The men were willing but no significant songs were contributed.