What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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6 WHAT'S UP! AUGUST 14-20, 2022 Legends Share Stage John Lomax III, Michael Martin Murphey talk music APRIL WALLACE NWA Democrat-Gazette I n the late 1880s, when John Lomax would sneak out into the desert, he could hear cowboys singing around campfires. "He wasn't a musician, but he wrote what they were saying," says Troy Campbell of The House of Songs in Bentonville, who read about the Lomax history in Austin's Texas Highways magazine. Once in college, Lomax showed the notes to a professor who had never seen anything like it and encouraged him to collect more. That was the beginning of the Lomax family's reputation for creating the largest collection of music in American history. "Lomax is synonymous with discovering blues and country; going into the hills of Arkansas and looking for people's music that there were no records of and presenting it to the public," Campbell says. When vehicles became available, that meant loading up the lightest recording unit they could find into a Model A, driving around and making stops to ask people to play through mountain history. "They were the reason we have things like rock 'n' roll. They made it available to the masses in a sort of cultural equity — this is the way to get the common person who is not heard to be heard. This is important." Campbell thinks about similar qualities in his own work with The House of Songs, not only about finding storytellers, but connecting them with each other and sharing them with audiences. The House of Songs helps coordinate Crystal Bridges' Forest Concert Series each year and earlier this summer held a weeklong songwriting collaboration with artists of FreshGrass music festival at the Momentary. Campbell's most recent pairing will take the stage Aug. 18 in the Great Hall at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art — acclaimed journalist, music distributor and manager John Lomax III with Michael Martin Murphey, "America's No. 1 Singing Cowboy." Among many others, Lomax managed Townes Van Zandt and was recognized for his work sharing country music with the Jo Walker Meador International Award by the Country Music Association. Murphey is a multiple Grammy nominee with six gold albums, including "Cowboy Songs," which was the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Marty Robbins' "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" in 1959. The two icons of country and western music will have a discussion on the history of contemporary western music and the ties of the music to the Crystal Bridges exhibit "Let's Talk: Art of the West." It will end with a brief concert by Murphey. "We've staged (the evening) so that we don't know what might happen," Campbell says. "We'll hear … whatever comes into their heads for 30 minutes, then an amazing concert after the stories. It's a one-time thing." Not only are Lomax and Murphey both incredibly knowledgeable and share a deep love of history and music, but their paths have crossed before. Lomax wrote liner notes on one of Murphey's records. Both have a lineage of music and the west and come from the outlaw country movement, Campbell says, but they of course have different perspectives. Murphey emerged from a robust, manic period of music in the United States. "He was one of the ones who broke out and became a star," Campbell says. "He's a prolific writer, charismatic, who got a record deal early on and had several hits." The one that captured Campbell was "Wildfire," about a girl who loses her horse in a blizzard and has to chase it. The song will give you chills, he says. Murphey was enjoying a successful career when one of his songs got banned from the radio for being pro-Native American. His voice has become one of the leading storytellers of the west and his songs have made quite the collection of western literature. Not knowing what will happen when two legends get on stage this week is part of the magic. "I love that about things like this," Campbell says. "It plays a vital role in storytelling and truth." If you like rare conversations or love to hear a song before anyone else does, he urges you to not miss out. Michael Martin Murphey, a multiple Grammy nominee with six gold albums, will share the stage Aug. 18 at Crystal Bridges Museum with acclaimed journalist, music distributor and manager John Lomax III for a lecture exploring the history and impact of contemporary western music and its ties to the focus exhibition "Let's Talk: Art of the West." (File Photo) John Lomax III FAQ Lomax-Murphey Lecture WHEN — 7-9 p.m. Aug. 18 WHERE — Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville COST — Free, but tickets are required INFO — crystalbridges.org/ calendar/lecture-john-lomax- michael-murphey/ BENTONVILLE