- NaN/100 votes
#1 - Jazz Parades: Feet Don't Fail Me Now
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 7/6/1990
A celebration of New Orleans’ musical culture — from its piano bars and barrelhouses to brass bands and street parades, with their colorful, riotous, and symbolic second lines, in which the community plays an essential part in the performance. Archival film footage, photographs, interviews with and performances by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Mardi Gras Indians, and Danny Barker tell the story of the New Orleans tradition.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#2 - Cajun Country: Don't Drop the Potato
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 7/13/1990
The bayous of Louisiana have combined French, German, West Indian, native American and hillbilly ingredients into a unique cultural gumbo. Cajun Country investigates the Cajuns’ roots in Western France, visits their cattle drives, horse races, and fais do-dos in rural Louisiana, and listens to the salty tales and raunchy songs of its black, white, and Indian music-makers.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#3 - The Land Where the Blues Began
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 7/20/1990
Alan Lomax, John Bishop, and Worth Long explore the enduring African-American performance traditions of the Mississippi Delta. Featuring bluesmen R.L. Burnside and Jack Owens; tall-tale tellers, fife and drum bands, and diddley-bow players; and former prisoners, railroad workers, and roustabouts singing field hollers, work chants, and levee camp songs. (re-edited version of a 1979 film)
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#4 - Appalachian Journey
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 7/27/1990
Investigating the songs, dances, and religious rituals of the descendants of Scotch-Irish settlers of the Southern Appalachian mountains. Preachers, fiddlers, moonshiners, cloggers, and square dancers recount the good times and the hard times of rural life. Performances by Tommy Jarrell; Janette Carter; Ray and Stanley Hicks; Frank Proffitt, Jr.; Sheila Kay Adams; and Ray Fairchild, the man reputed to be the fastest banjo-picker in the world.
Director: Mike Dibb, Mark Kidel
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#5 - Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 8/3/1990
Examining the talents and wisdom of elderly musicians, singers, and story-tellers, who perform not for fame or fortune but to preserve and share their culture. Stories told by Janie Hunter (80) of Johns Island, SC; ballads sung by ex-coal miner and union organizer Nimrod Workman (91), of Chatteroy, WV; fiddle tunes and tales of moonshining and feuds from Tommy Jarrell (83) of Toast, NC; and footage from the Alabama Sacred Harp Convention in Fyffe, AL, in which people of all ages gather to sing old-time shape-note hymnody.
Director: Mike Dibb, Mark Kidel
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of American Patchwork: Songs and Stories of America Season 1
Every episode of American Patchwork: Songs and Stories of America Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of American Patchwork: Songs and Stories of America Season 1!
From 1978 to 1985 Alan Lomax traveled the American South and Southwest with a television crew to document regional folklore with deep historical roots. From...
Genre:Documentary
Network:PBS
Season 1 Ratings Summary
"Jazz Parades: Feet Don't Fail Me Now" is the best rated episode of "American Patchwork: Songs and Stories of America" season 1. It scored N/A/10 based on 0 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 7/6/1990. This episode is rated NaN points higher than the second-best, "Cajun Country: Don't Drop the Potato".