Archives Collection
GANDY DANCER CALLERS                                     96-025
AUDIO TAPES
 

Physical Description:

2 reel-to-reel audio tapes. (TTA-0200A/B)
 

Dates:

December 10, 1988
 

Provenance:

These selections, having been recorded by Maggie Holtzberg in 1988, were assembled by folklorist Joey Brackner (Alabama State Council on the Arts) for a documentary film and loaned to the Center for preservation copy in June of 1995.
 

Background History:

"Gandy dancers" were the men who worked on maintaining and straightening the railroad lines. The men appointed to keep the rhythm of the gang by singing and chanting were the callers.
 

Scope and Content:

The recordings (totalling approx. 1 hour) from a performance at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum in Calera, Alabama consist of talking and chanting by a retired railroad track section crew.
 

Location:

The audiovisual materials are filed first by format, then by tape number in the audiovisual archives.
 
 
 

dmj 9/96