Compiled and narrated by Alan Lomax

In this, the first of four programmes based on material collected during a long tour of the Southern States of the U.S.A., Alan Lomax illustrates the heritage of folk music brought by the British colonists who swarmed into the rich American wilderness.

The second programme, on April 11, sketches the history of the white folk-song tradition of the Southern Mountains culminating in the contemporary mountain music known as 'Blue Grass.'

(BBC recording: second broadcast)