The Center for Studies in Oral Tradition Presents the 32nd Albert Lord and Milman Parry Lecture by Nick Spitzer

Nick Spitzer will co-host two events with the Missouri Audio Project. These events are public and open to all.

“From Roots to Routes: Oral Tradition, Recording, Broadcast and the Emergence of American Vernacular Music”

Thursday October 5, 4-5:30 Swallow Hall 101

Nick Spitzer will discuss the impact of the “Golden Age of 78s” when A & R men and national recording companies sought out great oral tradition performers in old-time country music, blues, Cajun fiddling, and others to produce 3-minute recordings to sell back to source communities and broader audiences. He will address the role of audio-driven folklorists like Alan Lomax who made field recordings and aired both oral tradition and mass-mediated forms of it on radio; the impact of oral forms on radio across lines of race in the emergence of new creolized traditions of both jazz and rock n roll, and the creation of new shared American vernaculars as popular culture; and how the public radio program American Routes is constructed both to acknowledge and extend forms of vernacular cultural continuity and creativity.

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“Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Making Good Radio and Talking About Smart Stuff on the Airwaves”

October 6, 10:00-11:30 AM Fred W. Smith Forum

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