See Hear Podcast Episode 78 - Interview with Rob Curry, director of Southern Journey Revisited and The Ballad of Shirley Collins

An English woman and an American man drive through the American
south in 1959. Their mission is to record folk songs for the
Library of Congress, but they also record what peoples' lives are
like at that time. How did this bode for the future? Welcome to See
Hear podcast episode 78. The man was ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax,
and the woman was folk singer Shirley Collins. Their travels came
on the cusp of the civil rights movement, and Alan had returned to
America after an extended time away avoiding HUAC. The journey
should have just been a study in peoples' living conditions and
preserving a wealth of songs previously passed down from generation
to generation. The fact that Lomax had been responsible for
recording music from Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger meant that
anything he did was considered a political act – not a safe thing
in 1950s America. Bernie and Maurice had the pleasure of speaking
with English film director Rob Curry about two of his films –
2017's The Ballad of Shirley Collins and 2020's Southern Journey
(Revisited). The two films are intertwined with each other, so it
made sense to discuss both. The Ballad of Shirley Collins reveals
its subject in the 21st century living her life in Sussex. She
hadn't been able to sing for over 30 years, something she struggled
with as singing was at the core of her being. Southern Journey has
Rob and his co-director Tim Plester taking the same journey in 2018
that Lomax and Collins did in 1959. They meet up with many people
in the same regions – some are actual descendants of the people
recorded in 1959, others are part of the spiritual lineage. In
2018, this may be just as political, but presents a very different
picture to those on our news programs. Like Lomax and Collins, Rob
and Tim were also travelling in a politically charged time. We
speak to Rob about both films, the differences between the roles of
folk music and commercially popular song, southern hospitality, the
ties of community,.....and Morris dancing. We also discover that a
popular rap artist of the early 90s lifted his biggest hit from a
traditional drum-and-fife tune. Who was it???? You'll have to tune
in and find out. Unfortunately, Tim Merrill was unavailable this
month, but Bernie and I are hugely grateful to Rob for taking the
time to speak with us. We recommend both of these magnificent films
for your viewing pleasure. The Ballad of Shirley Collins is
available at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/shirleycollinsmovie.
Southern Journey (Revisited) is currently on limited cinema
release, but will hopefully be available to stream in 2021. If
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