Song leader and Mississippi State Penitentiary inmate Heuston Earms discusses work-songs, his time in the penitentiary, his childhood and parents' fights, and the murder that landed him in prison. Recorded by Alan Lomax at Parchman's Camp B, Lambert, Miss., September 19-20, 1959. Earms told Lomax he was eligible for parole in 1962; when and if he got out of Parchman is unknown. He died July 4, 1989. His place of death was listed as Tutwiler, Miss., 16 miles southwest of the Lambert camp. 

Interview with Parchman Farm inmate Heuston Earms (1959)

"Richard Williams was born in Jonesville, Florida, in 1887. When he was nine, he tried unsuccessfully to play his cousin’s banjo, but decided he would rather learn to play the guitar. Ella Mae (Williams) Wilson was born March 28, 1921, in Jonesville. Her mother’s love of singing sacred music and her father’s constant guitar playing and blues singing provided her and her sisters and brothers with a variety of musical experiences." — from <i>Drop on Down in Florida: Field Recordings of African American Traditional Music 1977-1980</i> http://dust-digital.com/florida

"Motherless Children" by The Williams Family

Jonathan Ward runs the Blog Excavated Shellac, where he uploads rare 78 rpm records. Plus he compiled the 4-CD Box «Opika Pende – Africa At 78 RPM», Grammy nominee for best historical album of 2012. In this Norient.com podcast Ward tells me about his fascination with shellac, about how bloggers and ethnomusicologists don’t meet, and about a typical phenomena: «Blogger fatigue». Keep checking out his work! By Thomas Burkhalter, norient.com. More Info: http://norient.com/podcasts/the-world-at-78-rpm/

"Motherless Children" by The Williams Family

Dust-to-Digital

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