-
I knew I wanted to come to Oklahoma because every
time I came back it just seemed better and better.
-
And when I was in New York,
I really became enthused with
-
Oklahoma music, perhaps because I was
a little bit homesick, and I started to learn
-
about the tremendous volume of music that
was from Oklahoma that I never learned about.
-
And so that is when I started my
goal of coming back to the state
-
and putting together a book comprised
of all the significant Oklahoma music.
-
I didn't realize what that would lead
me to, that I would actually be in
-
a church environment where I would get
to learn about some of the most significant
-
Oklahoma music
that exists.
-
Before I really understood
the power of the songs, the meaning,
-
and all of that, it was really just trying to
get accustomed to what was happening.
-
After a while, I got more friendly with
everybody and people accepted me better.
-
I started asking a few questions, but
not too many questions, but I got to
-
a point where I asked a word
that was being said at the end of
-
prayers that was not amen,
that would say another word.
-
So I said in a joking way, well, I'm just
gonna bring cassette deck in here and
-
record it, and then you
guys can tell me what it is.
-
And they said, okay, that's fine.
And so I did. So I then brought the
-
cassette home and out of
the context of the church
-
and put in my cassette
player, started listening to it.
-
[p]
-
All of a sudden I immediately because of my
music history background heard African spiritual music.
-
Why am I hearing African spirituals
if this is a Muscogee Creek hymn?
-
And that led me down this path to
understanding where the songs come from.
-
And then once I started to understand
that, I realized it was a whole rich
-
story of American music history
that had never been told.
-
[p]
