It's been covered on various BBC4 programs in the past [especially the Lomax/Leadbelly aspect] but this had new material. We got to see Rock Island, the rail network, an original recording machine etc. What a lucky congruence, Lomax as a bit of a gentle Diplomat, finding then being able to employ Leadbelly [of all people] as driver/front man with the rural musicians while they both picked up so many "new" songs. What were the chances
. A repeat of Rock'n Roll Britannia was also shown and I'm sure that has early Lonnie Donegan etc in it as well. The guys from the Quarrymen have also been in quite a few programs recently. I've read that, apart from the powerful voice, Lonnie didn't really identify that much with the aims and values of the Folk Movement and was rather more to the right-grumpy and conservative with a small c! These BBC4 programs [sometimes 1 or BBC2 as well] will be very highly valued in the future having preserved the story of many historical and contemporary artists, in much the same way that Lomax pioneered it at the Smithsonian and The Library of Congress in his day.
I tried to explain to my daughter that before Oasis v Blur, Punk v Progressive Rock and Beatles v Stones there was Trad Jazz [mouldy figs] v Skiffle. I was a Lonnie fan, my brother Tommy Steele [Little White Bull].
Dave W