Between 1933 and 1942, folklorist and song-collector Alan Lomax visited Kentucky on behalf of the Library of Congress to document the vernacular music of farmers, laborers, coal miners, preachers, housewives—amassing some 60 hours of recordings. In 2015, the Association for Cultural Equity and its Alan Lomax Archive, in partnership with the University of Kentucky, Berea College, and the Library of Congress, launched “The Lomax Kentucky Recordings,” an online portal that presents the entirety of the collection for the exploration, study, and enjoyment of all Kentuckians and listeners worldwide. Lomax Archive curator Nathan Salsburg will discuss Alan Lomax and the Kentucky collections, play selected pieces, and discuss what it means for these historic recordings to “come home.”

Nathan Salsburg is a Grammy-nominated producer, archivist, guitarist, and writer. Since 2000 he has worked for the Alan Lomax Archive, currently serving in the capacity of curator: managing, editing, and promoting the Archive's digital media catalogs, including its popular YouTube channel, and facilitating initiatives to digitally repatriate Lomax’s collections to repositories in Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, and Mississippi. Salsburg has produced archival releases and written liner notes for many record labels and has been nominated for two Grammy awards in the Best Liner Notes (2014) and the Best Historical Album (2016) categories. In 2016 he served on the selection committee for the NEA National Heritage Fellowships, and he is a frequent contributor to the Oxford American magazine. As a guitarist, he's released two records of solo compositions in addition to albums in duet with multi-instrumentalist James Elkington and as an accompanist to songwriter-singer Joan Shelley.

Photo: Alan Lomax, Delta Blues Festival, Greenville, Mississippi, 1979. Photo by William R. Ferris