Alan Lomax
Important to the history of ethnic music recordings was the work of John Lomax (1867-1948) and his family, particularly his son Alan (1915–2002). Beginning in 1933, father and son began traveling throughout the United States to record musicians of various ethnic groups, particularly African Americans. Their initial intent was to preserve music that they considered endangered; along the way, they discovered American music legends, such as Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter (1888–1949). After the elder Lomax passed, Alan continued to record musicians from the United States and throughout the world, particularly those from Europe and the Caribbean, until the final years of his life.