The Last Cavalier: The Life and Times of John A. Lomax, 1867-1948 (Folklore & Society) - Hardcover

Porterfield, Nolan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0252022165 ISBN 13: 9780252022166

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 1996

Synopsis

Winner of the Carr P. Collins Award and the Miss Ima Hogg Historical Achievement Award, "Last Cavalier" is the never-before-told story of the remarkable life and career of John A. Lomax, pioneering American folklorist, canny businessman, influential educator, and patriarch of an extended family of artists, performers, and scholars.

About this title

Review:

"A stunningly fair and objective portrait. Analytical, without being judgmental, Porterfield allows the 'facts' of Lomax's story to unfold themselves with narrative eloquence and perceptive grace." -- Ron Pen, College Music Symposium "One of the most brilliant yet overlooked American culture volumes of recent vintage." -- San Francisco Examiner "Here's something to sing about! ... Nolan Porterfield has written an admirable study of one of America's earliest and greatest cultural heroes. Last Cavalier reveals the real man to whom we owe a lasting debt." -- Dan Rather "More than anyone else, John Lomax was responsible for introducing on a national scale America's folk voices. He collected songs from school children and saloon keepers, buffalo hunters and ranch hands. He introduced 'Home on the Range' in a Louisiana prison to the legendary songster Leadbelly. Historian Nolan Porterfield masterfully explores Lomax's long life: his complexity, industriousness, and temperament. Last Cavalier, a work of great understanding, chronicles America's folksong pioneer." -- Stephen Wade, creator of Banjo Dancing and On the Way Home "As long as we remember songs like 'Home on the Range' and 'Whoopee Ti Yi Yo,' the spirit of the West will live on in our hearts. Porterfield's illuminating and entertaining biography is a three-dimensional, warts-and-all look at the man we have to thank for it." -- Jesse Sublett, Southwestern Historical Quarterly

From the Publisher:

Praise for THE LAST CAVALIER!

--BILLBOARD "A lively and meticulously researched saga of the life and adventures of the complex pioneering folklorist. Lomax almost single-handedly preserved America's cowboy songs. He saved 'Home on the Range' from disappearing and also discovered and introduced to the world the blues singer Leadbelly. Lomax's broad range of field recordings--he literally rode off on horseback with a giant recording machine strapped on behind--led to the development of the Library of Congress's song archives."

--THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS "LAST CAVALIER vibrates with social history of populist Texas. J Frank Dobie observed that it would be a pity for history to lose 'Lomax and his posturing and his anecdotes, the warty reality.' Nolan Porterfield has written the John Lomax story, warts and all."

--BLUES & RHYTHM "LAST CAVALIER is a magnificent success."

--AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN "LIFE OF A LEGEND: Nolan Porterfield's new book LAST CAVALIER is out. . . . Researched for eight years, it's the first full account of the life of the folksong collector who first introduced 'Home on the Range' and who tracked down Leadbelly in a Louisiana prison. Nolan Porterfield is the first writer willing to tackle the elusive story of John Avery Lomax and his family, who number among America's greatest pioneers in folk song. LAST CAVALIER not only correctly places Lomax and his son in the pantheon of American music, it tells a compelling story about Texas higher education, politics, and business--and portrays the senior Lomax as an irascible but irreplacable figure in all of those arenas."

--FORT WORTH MORNING STAR TELEGRAM "Nolan Porterfield's warts-and-all presentations gives us a figure who spent his career so intensely on the admiration of legends, that he at length became a legend in his own right. The John Lomas who emerges here is no austere academic, but rather a passionately stern crossbreed of philanthropist and opportunist. He seems to have been as bent on exploiting the Leadbellys of this world as Howard Hughes was keen on exploiting Jean Harlow--but also to have been devoted to the preservation of America's native musics in as pure a form as possible."

--CHOICE "Porterfield has once again painted a vivid word portrait of a significant and colorful musical personality. With full documentation and appropriate illustrations, the author tells a marvelous story."

--AWARDS: Winner of the Texas Institute of Letters Carr Collins Award for Best Book of Nonfiction. Winner of the Ima Hogg Historical Achievement Award, presented by the Center for American History.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0252022165
• ISBN 13: 9780252022166
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 608