The historic Oakwood Cemetery, along with Austin Arts, Music, Culture and Entertainment and Save Austin’s Cemeteries, present the first-ever Lomax Legacy American Music Concert at the Oakwood Cemetery Chapel, 1601 Navasota Street, at 12 p.m. Saturday, September 27, 2025.

The free concert celebrates the incomparable legacy of pioneering ethnomusicologist John Avery Lomax Sr. as well as the monumental contributions to American and World music of his sons Alan Lomax, John Lomax Jr. and daughter Bess Lomax Hawes, who continued their father’s life’s work documenting and promoting the diverse forms of American and World music and folklore.

The Lomax Legacy American Music Concert features performances by local acoustic musicians Xavier Shannon, Matthew Brodnax, Jess Ledbetter and Kiko Villamizar. The artists will interpret songs originally recorded by the Lomax family, ranging from the African American blues of Lead Belly to the Anglo-American folk ballads of Austin's Gant Family to the Hispanic/Caribbean folk traditions documented by Alan and John Jr. on their international travels.

John Avery Lomax Sr. lived in Texas and is buried at the historic Oakwood Cemetery along with his wife Bess Brown Lomax and many of his family. Alan Lomax was born in Austin, Texas. His cenotaph is located at the historic Oakwood Cemetery next to his mother and father.  John Jr. and John Sr.’s daughter Bess Lomax Hawes, both legendary folklorists, and musicians, were born in Austin, Texas.

The free Lomax Legacy American Music Concert concludes with light refreshments at the Chapel and a tour to the Lomax Family Lot, where guitar picks will be laid on John Sr.’s and Alan's monuments as a tribute. Seating is limited within the Oakwood Chapel. Event parking is free along the Oakwood Cemetery “Main Street.”

Decades before the 1950s folk music revival and the "birth of rock ‘n’ roll", historian and preservationist John A. Lomax was sent by the Smithsonian Institute with a one ton "portable recording device" in his truck bed to investigate, record and preserve various folk music traditions of the blue-collar workers and the “under classes.” While the Jazz-Age was booming in the dancehalls of the elites, John and his sons Alan Lomax and John Jr. took to the road to document the forgotten music of the American people. John Sr., Alan and John Jr. recorded, preserved and celebrated musical traditions that would have been lost to time had it not been for their vast and expansive efforts.
 
Alan Lomax, whose cenotaph is at Oakwood Cemetery, is the legendary ethnomusicologist, musician, folklorist, music collector, archivist, writer, scholar, broadcaster, political activist, concert promoter (Folksong ‘59), oral historian, and filmmaker. Alan served as the Director of the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress. Alan independently collected the folk songs of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the Caribbean. Alan Lomax founded The Association for Culture Equity and consulted with Carl Sagan in selecting music for the Voyager Golden Record sent into space in 1977. The Library of Congress acquired Alan’s independent work in 2004.

Bess Lomax Hawes, an accomplished folk musician and educator in her own right, served at the Smithsonian Institution where she led the Smithsonian’s 1976 Bicentennial Festival of American Folklife on the National Mall, was the first director of the Folk and Traditional Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts and created the National Heritage Fellowships recognizing traditional artists and performers.

The results of the family’s—John Avery Lomax Sr., Alan Lomax, John Jr. and Bess Lomax Hawes—monumental music and cultural work can still be heard today in almost every form of popular music around the world.

About Save Austin's Cemeteries
Save Austin's Cemeteries is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to preserving historic cemeteries in Austin through documentation, preservation, and education and promoting them as local and state cultural resources.