The Sound Century of US Highway 50: The History of Art Fusion
In the 1920s and 1930s, US Highway 50 and its regional connectors were conduits and intersections for rural folk, blues, jazz, musical theater, and the great American road trip. Today, where art centers, museums, schools, churches, parks, campgrounds, and communities gather along the "Loneliest Highway," there is folklore, stories, and songs that stretch from the Mid-Atlantic in Maryland to the Pacific Ocean of California. At Sound Century, we have documented many of the recordings and broadcasts of early radio and portable recorders. It is the main route where Alan Lomax documented folk songs of immigrants, spirituals, cowboy songs, and blues. It is where Sweet Jazz met Hot Jazz, rhythm met blues, and Celtic, German, African, and Scandinavian traditions merged through intersections when the highway was the confluence of rivers and roads of the Midland.
Traveling Troubadours
US Highway 50 was designated on November 11, 1926, spanning 12 states, called the "Backbone of America." By 1934, American folk art and Depression Era works such as murals, sculptures, photographs, and traditional homespun textiles became a melting pot of culture — along with folk, jazz, blues, swing, and country string heard at roadhouses, dance halls, churches, campgrounds, and in homes across the "Loneliest Highway." Adding to the lore is the hospitality of motor inns, diners, roadside coffee cafés, farm stands, and filling stations. In Colorado, from Lamar to Gunnison and Montrose, solo folk, blues, and songwriters shared songs, formed string bands, and connected with regional musicians on their way to California and Maryland. Freight trains, travel guitars, and hitchhiking were modes of transportation. The same artists who played the roadhouses and dance halls often shared songs on Sunday at a local church service. Potlucks and a room were often what was paid to these traveling troubadours. The "Loneliest Highway" was not always a lonely place to be — it provided fellowship, food, and hospitality!
The Blending at the Intersection
In Lamar, Colorado, there is The Shore Arts Center. Sound Century and The Arkansas Valley Percussion and Brass Organization are working on blending the intersection of scores and sound in a collaboration designed to preserve the music, the art of manuscript scoring, and the sharing of music in a way that commemorates song gathering, songwriting, and song sharing. The goal is to blend performing arts and cultures through recordings, documentaries, exhibits, and performance series at art centers and churches along Highway 50, and to work with visual artists in sculpture, murals, textiles, and album covers — as well as in instrument building, recording arts, and broadcasting. Community centers, eateries, roadhouses, and cafés, as well as house concerts, will be complemented by a new digital radio platform and podcast featuring community bands like Celtic Mountain Strings and The Arkansas Percussion and Wind Ensemble, along with musical theater groups. The project will also feature an exhibit and display of the handwritten scores of Carmen Lombardo, as well as broadcasts of Lombardo's musicals "Arabian Nights," "Paradise Island," and "Mardi Gras." The Mardi Gras recordings feature performances by Louis Armstrong and His All Stars.
The Sweet Jazz Connection
The Highway 50 connection to the Lombardos is through Paul Whiteman. Both The Royal Canadians and The Whiteman Orchestra dominated the airwaves in the 1920s and '30s, and their broadcasts were among the earliest heard on radio in St. Louis, Cincinnati, and community stations throughout the 3,000-mile stretch of Highway 50. Paul Whiteman and his orchestra played the circuit and were among the earliest well-known artists to do so. A notable African American "Hot Jazz Band" to play the circuit was George Morrison and His Jazz Orchestra. Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of Joy played Black gospel. Furry Lewis, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and other blues travelers brought the bottleneck styles — often with a jackknife — and traveled the Arkansas River Valley by freight train.
The Shore Arts Center
Sound Century is raising funds to repair the roof at the historic Shore Arts Center, which will house The Sound Century Academy of Recording Arts and Broadcasting and The Arkansas Valley Wind and Percussion Lending Library of Scores and Music. The main objectives are to preserve recordings and broadcasts, digitize and share these audio treasures, and teach and mentor the next generation of artists and producers — as well as to build the largest library of sound, scripts, and scores in North America. By the 100th anniversary of US Highway 50 as the cultural backbone of America in November, Sound Century will launch a Colorado Art Center along US 50. The Public Domain Recordings and Music Publishing division will be recording jazz, blues, Celtic, and Americana folk and country with the Celtic Mountain String Band, Highland String Band, Richard and Jill Beattie, and ensembles from the Arkansas Valley Wind and Percussion Ensemble.
America's musical heritage along US Highway 50 is too important to lose. To support the preservation of this living history — through recordings, education, and community performance — join Sound Century, The Recording Alliance, and Analog and Digital Recording Arts. Email richardbeattie809@gmail.com to get involved, donate, or learn more.