Jasper Recordings
In fall 1940, folklorist John A. Lomax and his wife Ruby visited Jasper where a friend introduced them to an elderly African American man they referred to as "Uncle Billy McCrea." Documented in most other records as Bill McCray, he had been interviewed three years earlier by the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) for the slave narrative project. Although McCray told the Lomaxes that he was either in his 80s or 117, he had told the FWP worker that he was born into slavery in 1851 in Sabine County, about 40 miles north of Jasper.
The Lomaxes first visited McCray at his farm on the east side of Jasper where he grew collard greens, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. He had a large home, but preferred to sleep in a log cabin which he showed to John. The Lomaxes interviewed and photographed McCray at his farm and also arranged for him to come to their hotel where they recorded over two nights. He shared his varied work experiences, like cooking on a steamboat and log rolling, and he discussed his memories of the "Yankee" presence after slavery ended. McCray told the Lomaxes that as a boy he was a "singer and a dancer and a patter," and he danced and sang for them, sometimes disturbing the recording equipment. The Lomaxes recorded several short songs, mostly "play tunes" McCray recalled from slavery and work songs associated with lumber and maritime labor, that were interspersed in his longer interviews.
While in the city of Jasper, the Lomaxes also recorded a group of African American students ranging from about five to ten years old. They identified the boys and girls by name and, according to census records, the children also lived on the east side of the city. They sang play songs like "Clap, Clap, Partner," "Sissy in the Barn" and "Walking on the Green Grass," and a version of the minstrel song "Jump Jim Crow."
Outside of the city, John and Ruby recorded an African American preacher they had met the year before in Merryville, Louisiana. John R. Gipson lived in Merryville but his church was located in Buna, Texas. The Lomaxes noted in 1939 that he sang "jazzed" spirituals and played piano as part of his sermons. In Jasper County, the pastor made at least a dozen recordings including two songs, "Old Ship of Zion" and "I'm Looking for the Man that Don't Know Jesus," which the Lomaxes had also recorded with him a year earlier.
West of Jasper, John and Ruby recorded white members of a church who performed sacred harp singing at the Beech Grove School. The congregation members, of whom six were identified by name, recorded four songs in the sacred harp or shaped note style, an early American a cappella tradition. The songs were referenced by their titles and also by their page number in the book "The Original Sacred Harp" published in 1911.
