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Mack McCormick

Robert Burton "Mack" McCormick (August 3, 1930 – November 18, 2015) was an American musicologist, folklorist, and researcher best known for his lifelong dedication to documenting and preserving , folk, and related music traditions through fieldwork, recordings, and archival collections. Born in , , to x-ray technicians Gregg and Effie McCormick, he moved frequently in his early years before settling in , , in 1946 without completing high school. His interest in music ignited during a 1946 trip to New Orleans, where he encountered jazz historian Orin Blackstone, leading him to contribute as a jazz correspondent for Down Beat magazine starting in 1949 and later serve as Texas editor for the Index to Jazz. Supporting himself with odd jobs such as cab driving and census work, McCormick traveled extensively across to interview musicians, relatives, and acquaintances, amassing a vast "Monster" archive that included thousands of photographs, field recordings, and research notes on hundreds of blues artists. Among his most notable contributions, McCormick revived the career of blues guitarist by producing the 1959 album Autobiography in Blues and discovered 65-year-old sharecropper in 1960, arranging his debut recording for , which brought wider recognition to the musician. He also documented barrelhouse piano traditions, recording over 200 players and releasing the 1965 compilation Texas Barrelhouse Piano on his own Records label, while conducting groundbreaking research on figures like , , and —for the latter, he located the musician's death certificate, interviewed half-sisters who provided rare photographs, and compiled an unfinished manuscript titled Biography of a Phantom: A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey, published posthumously in 2023. McCormick co-authored an unfinished multi-volume work, The Texas Blues, spanning 38 chapters by 1971, and his efforts helped preserve the legacies of both famous and obscure musicians, though his reclusive nature and disputes over archival access sometimes complicated his reputation; following his death, the "Monster" archive was acquired by the in 2017, leading to releases of unreleased materials as late as 2023. He married Mary Badeaux in 1964, with whom he had a daughter, Susannah, born in 1971, and died of in , where he was buried at Memorial Oaks Cemetery.

Early Life

Childhood and Upbringing

Robert Burton McCormick, known as Mack, was born on August 3, 1930, in , , to Gregg Manson McCormick and Effie May McCormick, both pioneering technicians who traveled the country training medical professionals in the emerging technology. His parents separated in 1932, when he was two years old, leaving him primarily in the care of his mother amid a peripatetic existence that exposed him to diverse regional cultures across the . Effie May McCormick's restless lifestyle, driven by her work and personal circumstances, resulted in frequent relocations for young Mack, including stints in , , , , and other states, where he attended at least a dozen schools and adapted to varying social environments. This nomadic childhood, marked by instability following his parents' , fostered a sense of rootlessness that later influenced his deep dives into overlooked cultural histories, though it also instilled through constant adaptation. By his early teens, the family had gravitated southward, setting the stage for a more permanent shift. In 1946, at age sixteen, McCormick and his mother settled in , , a move that anchored him in the state where his lifelong pursuits would unfold amid its vibrant, multicultural landscape. That same summer, while still enrolled in high school, he briefly worked as a at the Cedar Point Ballroom in , handling errands for performers, an experience that prompted him to drop out upon returning to Houston. To support himself, he took on a series of odd jobs in the city, navigating economic pressures that reflected the broader challenges of his uprooted youth.

Introduction to Music and Self-Education

Upon relocating to at the age of sixteen in 1946, Mack McCormick developed an early fascination with and , shaped by the city's vibrant local radio broadcasts and phonograph records that exposed him to a diverse array of African American musical traditions. As a teenager, he immersed himself in these genres, listening intently to bands and emerging artists airing on local stations, which played records by performers such as and the emerging Houston blues scene. McCormick's practical engagement with music began through entry-level jobs that built his foundational knowledge, including hustling errands for local radio stations and assisting musicians during performances in Houston's nightlife venues. At seventeen, he worked as a for touring acts like and , handling logistics and gaining firsthand insights into the music industry, while also taking on odd jobs such as cab driving to fund his record purchases and attend live shows. These experiences, rather than structured training, allowed him to network with performers and absorb the improvisational and cultural nuances of and directly from practitioners. Lacking formal academic credentials after dropping out of high school, McCormick pursued self-education through methods, devoting hours to reading jazz discographies, analyzing record collections, and conducting informal interviews with musicians in Houston's Third and Fourth Wards. His approach emphasized relentless listening to rare 78-rpm records and early ventures into fieldwork, such as tracking down obscure releases in secondhand shops, which honed his skills as an intuitive archivist without reliance on university programs. This autodidactic path, inspired by encounters like his 1946 meeting with jazz discographer Orin Blackstone in New Orleans, equipped him with a practical expertise in musical genealogy. By the late , McCormick transitioned from passive listener to active researcher, compiling notes on musicians and contributing as the Texas jazz correspondent for Down Beat magazine starting in 1949, which marked the onset of his lifelong commitment to self-directed scholarly pursuits in blues traditions. This shift laid the groundwork for his deeper explorations, as he began systematically documenting oral histories and field recordings that would define his career.

Career

Music Journalism and Early Recordings

In 1949, at the age of 19, Robert Burton "Mack" McCormick was appointed as the Texas correspondent for Down Beat magazine, where he contributed articles on and scenes across the state. His self-taught knowledge of music, honed through avid listening and reading, enabled him to interview prominent figures and report on local performances, marking his entry into professional music writing. To support himself during this period, McCormick held various day jobs, including barge electrician, short-order cook, carnival worker, and taxi driver in , which not only provided income but also immersed him in diverse urban environments where he encountered emerging musical talents. Earnings from these roles funded his purchase of early recording equipment, such as reel-to-reel tape machines, allowing him to pursue audio documentation independently without institutional backing. By the mid-1950s, McCormick began making his first amateur recordings of local Texas musicians, capturing performances by emerging and artists in informal settings around and nearby areas. These efforts often involved self-financed trips across , where he traveled by car to track down and record musicians in their homes or small venues, establishing a pattern of grassroots, independent production that defined his approach to preserving regional sounds.

Fieldwork and Artist Discoveries

In the late 1950s and 1960s, Mack McCormick undertook extensive fieldwork across and the , crisscrossing rural counties in systematic grid searches to locate and document obscure musicians. He traveled to remote areas such as Navasota and along the , capturing oral histories, performances, and cultural artifacts like toasts and recipes in informal settings including homes and farms. These trips, often conducted with rudimentary recording equipment from his early days, yielded hundreds of hours of unreleased tapes that preserved the voices of aging performers in their natural environments. A pivotal achievement came in 1959 when McCormick revived the career of , a guitarist whose commercial success had waned. He arranged and produced Hopkins's recording sessions for the Autobiography in Blues, which highlighted Hopkins's storytelling style and introduced him to the burgeoning revival audience. Through promotions and live presentations to integrated crowds, McCormick helped reposition Hopkins as a folk- icon, leading to renewed performances and recordings that sustained his prominence into the . In 1960, during a trip initially aimed at recording Hopkins—who had relocated to —McCormick and founder discovered , a and multi-instrumentalist, at his home near . They conducted an impromptu session around Lipscomb's kitchen table, capturing his repertoire of , ballads, and reels on tape. This encounter resulted in Lipscomb's debut album for Arhoolie and his introduction to national folk festival audiences, including his debut at the Berkeley Folk Festival in 1961, marking the first time the 65-year-old musician left . McCormick's fieldwork also extended to Houston's Fourth Ward, where he interviewed and recorded barrelhouse piano players, a style rooted in early 20th-century juke joints. In 1963, he produced sessions with Robert Shaw, one of the last practitioners of "fast western piano," resulting in the album Texas Barrelhouse Piano released on his label in 1965. Through these efforts, McCormick documented over 200 professional barrelhouse pianists, tracing their training back to influential figures like Peg Leg Will and preserving a fading tradition of and piano.

Research Focus

Robert Johnson Investigation

In 1968, Mack McCormick began his extensive research into the life and death of blues musician under a contract with the , where he served as a fieldworker for the Festival of American Folklife. This initiative involved traveling from to , and extending his efforts across the , including towns like Robinsonville and Greenwood, to gather firsthand accounts and documentary evidence. A key breakthrough came in 1970 when McCormick acquired Johnson's 1938 death certificate from local records in , which provided details of the musician's passing at age 27, listing the probable cause as (though McCormick questioned its accuracy). During the same travels, he photographed potential gravesites associated with Johnson, including those in the Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church cemetery near Greenwood, amid ongoing debates over the exact burial location. These discoveries were part of McCormick's methodical fieldwork, which also yielded two previously unpublished photographs of Johnson obtained from his half-sisters in 1972. Over the following years, McCormick conducted interviews with more than 200 relatives, associates, and contemporaries of Johnson, including his son Claud Johnson and half-sisters Carrie Thompson and Bessie Hines, compiling oral histories that traced the musician's itinerant life, relationships, and mysterious death. By the 1980s, this research culminated in a manuscript titled Biography of a Phantom, which detailed Johnson's biography but remained unpublished during McCormick's lifetime due to his perfectionism and personal struggles. The project faced significant challenges, including disputes with Johnson's family members—such as conflicts over rights and narratives with his half-sisters—and McCormick's own issues, including and periods of that led to self-imposed delays. These obstacles, compounded by legal entanglements with figures like estate manager Stephen LaVere, prevented completion until after McCormick's death in 2015, when Smithsonian curator John W. Troutman edited and prepared the manuscript for in 2023.

Texas Blues Traditions

Mack McCormick's research into traditions emphasized the evolution of regional styles, particularly the transition from barrelhouse piano traditions to rural guitar blues, rooted in early 20th-century African American communities across the state. Through extensive fieldwork in the 1950s and 1960s, he documented over 200 piano players in Houston's Fourth Ward, identifying influences from figures like Peg Leg Will, who trained musicians in "barrelhouse," " style," or "fast western piano" variants tailored to specific neighborhoods such as the Fourth and Fifth Wards. In 1963, McCormick recorded pianist Robert Shaw in Austin, releasing the Texas Barrelhouse Piano on his label in 1965, which preserved these boogie-woogie-infused styles originating from lumber and railroad camps. This work highlighted how barrelhouse piano laid foundational rhythms for later , bridging urban performances with rural elements. A significant aspect of McCormick's contributions involved the rediscovery and biographical tracing of early recording artist Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas, whose 1927–1929 Vocalion sides exemplified pre-blues songster traditions blending guitar, quills, and folk narratives. Born around 1874 in , Thomas's itinerant life as a and musician was pieced together by McCormick through interviews, records, and locality searches in , revealing his Upshur County roots and distinctive regional accent in recordings like "Ragtime Texas" and "Bulldoze Blues." McCormick's exhaustive research culminated in approximately 10,000-word for the 1974 Herwin Records compilation Henry Thomas: Complete Works 1927–1929, which not only reissued Thomas's 23 tracks but also contextualized his role as a link between 19th-century folk forms and emerging guitar blues. This effort underscored Thomas's influence on later artists, including , who covered his "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance." McCormick also delved into the oral and performative traditions of prison work songs among Texas ex-convicts, capturing their call-and-response structures as extensions of field hollers and chants. In 1965, at the invitation of folklorist , he organized a group of former inmates, including and others like Chopping Charlie Coleman, to perform these songs at the after the denied access to active prison crews. Their presentation, featuring raw renditions of work chants, provided festival audiences with an authentic glimpse into the ' penitentiary roots, influencing perceptions of Southern musical authenticity. Throughout the 1950s to 1970s, McCormick's hundreds of interviews with musicians and their families illuminated connections between local and broader Southern folk traditions, revealing shared motifs in ballads, hymns, reels, and cowboy songs that transcended state lines. Collaborating with British scholar Paul Oliver from 1959 to the mid-1970s, he gathered oral histories from regions like the Brazos Bottoms and , tracing how styles absorbed elements from and music. This research, compiled in the posthumously published The Blues Come to Texas (2019), demonstrated how rural guitarists like embodied hybrid forms, performing pre- narratives alongside electric innovations, thus enriching understandings of the genre's migratory and cultural interconnections.

Publications and Productions

Written Works

McCormick's written output primarily consisted of magazine articles and posthumously published books, with much of his extensive research remaining unfinished at the time of his death. In the 1960s and 1970s, he contributed numerous articles to jazz and blues periodicals, focusing on Texas musicians and the genre's regional roots. Notable examples include his multi-part series "A Conversation with Lightnin’ Hopkins" in Jazz Journal (November 1960, January 1961, February 1961), which captured the bluesman's personal stories and performance style through direct interviews. He also wrote "Lightnin’ Hopkins: Blues" for Jazz Review (January 1960), later reprinted in the anthology Jazz Panorama (1962), providing early scholarly analysis of Hopkins's guitar techniques and lyrical themes. Additional pieces appeared in Blues Unlimited, such as "The Talent Label" (February 1967), discussing independent record labels in the blues scene, and "An Open Letter from Mack McCormick" (January/February 1976), reflecting on his fieldwork challenges. These articles established McCormick as a key documenter of overlooked Texas blues figures, blending discography, biography, and cultural context. McCormick's book-length works emerged from long-term collaborations and personal archives, published after his passing. The Blues Come to Texas: Paul Oliver and Mack McCormick's Unfinished Book, co-authored with British blues historian Paul Oliver, was compiled and edited by Alan Govenar and released in 2019 by Press. Drawing on their joint fieldwork from the 1960s onward, including interviews with over 200 performers, the volume traces the genre's evolution from rural juke joints to urban migration patterns, emphasizing African American contributions and regional variations. This synthesis filled a gap in historiography by prioritizing oral histories over commercial recordings. Another major publication, Biography of a Phantom: A Blues Odyssey, originated from McCormick's obsessive 40-year investigation into the legendary guitarist's life, initiated in the late . Edited by Smithsonian curator John W. Troutman from McCormick's extensive notes, interviews, and photographs, it was issued by Smithsonian Books in 2023. The book reconstructs Johnson's 1938 through witness accounts and challenges mythic narratives, incorporating details from McCormick's travels across the and . It includes 40 previously unpublished images, underscoring the odyssey-like nature of the research. Beyond these, McCormick left numerous unfinished manuscripts, particularly on and traditions, which wove in rich transcriptions from his field recordings. These drafts, spanning topics like barrelhouse piano, cowboy songs, and the multi-volume (co-authored and spanning 38 chapters by 1971), highlight his method of integrating performer narratives with but were never completed due to his health struggles.

Audio Recordings and Liner Notes

McCormick played a pivotal role in producing Mance Lipscomb's debut album, Texas Sharecropper and Songster, released on in 1960. He collaborated with label founder to record the sessions at Lipscomb's home in , on August 13, 1960, capturing over 50 songs that showcased Lipscomb's guitar work and songster style rooted in traditions. McCormick also penned the album's , providing detailed biographical context on Lipscomb's life as a sharecropper and musician. His liner notes extended to key reissues of historical recordings, including the 1974 Herwin Records compilation Henry Thomas: “Ragtime Texas” (Complete Recorded Works, 1927 to 1929 in Chronological Order), where McCormick contributed approximately 10,000 words tracing Thomas's itinerant career as a songster and quills player across rail lines. Similarly, for ' 1965 release Texas Barrelhouse Piano featuring Robert , McCormick wrote extensive notes detailing the pianist's background in Houston's Fourth Ward juke joints and the decline of the barrelhouse tradition due to jukeboxes and legal restrictions, drawing from his 1963 recording sessions with . McCormick's fieldwork from the 1960s contributed significantly to releases, particularly compilations of prison songs captured during visits to facilities like Ramsey State Farm. In 1965, he recorded work songs and performances by incarcerated musicians, including sessions with Johnny Jackson, Page, Fredell Fly, and Robert Hopwood, which highlighted the harsh conditions under figures like Tom Moore; selections from these appear in the 2023 Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971. Earlier efforts informed Treasury of Field Recordings, Vols. 1 & 2 (1960), incorporating his documentation of from prisons and farms. Throughout his career, McCormick amassed over 1,000 hours of unreleased field tapes from the to the , documenting blues, work songs, and folk traditions across . These were later compiled into posthumous box sets, such as the 66-track release Playing for the Man at the Door (2023), which drew from his 590 open-reel tapes to preserve performances by artists like and .

Archives

Collection Overview

Robert "Mack" McCormick amassed a vast personal archive dedicated to the documentation of and traditions, particularly those rooted in and the surrounding regions. Beginning in the , McCormick self-funded his early acquisitions through personal resources, purchasing rare 78 rpm records, musical instruments, and such as flyers and tickets from local performances, often while working odd jobs to support his research. This initial phase laid the foundation for what would become one of the most significant private collections of blues-related materials, reflecting his obsessive drive to preserve overlooked aspects of American musical history. By the time of his death in 2015, the collection had grown to include 590 reels of audio recordings capturing field sessions and interviews with hundreds of musicians, approximately 10,000 photographic negatives documenting performers, venues, and daily life in blues communities, and 165 boxes filled with manuscripts, research notes, and correspondence. These materials encompass a rich array of blues artifacts, including playbills from juke joints and roadhouses, promotional posters for Texas tours, and letters exchanged with artists like and , providing intimate glimpses into the social and economic contexts of mid-20th-century scenes. McCormick's documentation efforts extended beyond recordings to capture the ephemeral elements of these traditions, such as handwritten set lists and booking contracts that reveal the precarious livelihoods of itinerant musicians. As the archive expanded through the and into the , McCormick developed a personal cataloging system to manage its increasing complexity, organizing materials by artist, location, and theme using custom indexing and cross-referencing methods that blues scholars later described as both ingenious and labyrinthine. This bespoke filing approach allowed him to navigate thousands of documents and artifacts efficiently during his research, though it also contributed to the challenges of posthumous organization. The system's emphasis on contextual interconnections—linking a single photograph to related audio tapes and letters—underscored McCormick's holistic approach to preservation, ensuring that individual items were not isolated but part of broader narratives about cultural transmission in the South.

Digitization and Public Access

Following McCormick's death, his daughter Susannah Nix donated his extensive and folklore archive to the in 2019. The gift encompassed 590 reels of audio recordings, now housed with Recordings, along with 165 boxes of manuscripts, photographs, research notes, and related ephemera. This transfer marked a pivotal step in institutionalizing the collection, enabling systematic preservation and broader scholarly access. To facilitate public engagement, the Smithsonian initiated digitization efforts on key components of the archive shortly after acquisition. Over 4,000 photographs and negatives were scanned and made available online through the Smithsonian's Open Access portal, allowing global researchers and enthusiasts to explore visual documentation of blues performers and fieldwork sites. A comprehensive 200-page finding aid was also released in 2023, detailing the collection's scope and serving as a roadmap for in-depth study; it is accessible via the Smithsonian's archival database. These digital resources transformed McCormick's previously private holdings into a vital tool for music historians, emphasizing ethical considerations in folklore documentation, such as artist consent and cultural context. Digitized materials formed the core of the exhibition Treasures and Trouble: Looking Inside a Legendary Archive, which opened on June 23, 2023, at the and ran through 2025. The display showcased selected artifacts, including rare photographs, field notes, contracts, and instruments, to illuminate both the archival "treasures"—such as intimate artist interviews—and the "troubles," like challenges in verifying oral histories and McCormick's obsessive research methods. Admission was free, with on-site access daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and researchers could request appointments for deeper consultation via the Archives Center. This initiative not only highlighted the archive's scale but also prompted discussions on the responsibilities of folklorists in representing marginalized voices in American music. A major outcome of the digitization was the 2023 release of the box set Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971. This three-CD or six-LP compilation featured 66 previously unreleased tracks captured during McCormick's fieldwork, capturing raw performances by artists like and Grey Ghost. The set included a 128-page with essays, transcriptions, and photographs, providing context for the recordings' historical significance in documenting post-World War II Southern traditions. Produced in collaboration with audio engineers who processed the original quarter-inch tapes, it represented the first public unveiling of substantial portions of the 590 digitized reels, earning acclaim for preserving acoustic authenticity. In 2025, the Smithsonian announced further expansions of public access, including additional publications, audio releases, and a new two-year exhibition drawn from the archive. These initiatives, building on prior digitization, aim to release more field recordings and scholarly works, ensuring ongoing dissemination of McCormick's contributions to scholarship while addressing archival ethics and accessibility.

Personal Life and Legacy

Family and Health Struggles

McCormick married Mary Badeaux, a Houston native who worked at , in 1964, finding some stability amid his intensifying research pursuits. The couple settled in , where McCormick had relocated as a young man, and he balanced his family life with extensive travels across and beyond, often leaving home for weeks or months to document blues musicians. Their daughter, Susannah McCormick Nix, was born in 1971, completing the family unit that grounded McCormick during periods of professional and personal turmoil. Throughout his adult life, McCormick managed , a condition diagnosed in his early adulthood that manifested in intense manic episodes of hyper-focused productivity followed by deep depressive blocks. These cycles often led to , straining his relationships and causing him to withdraw from collaborators, as he described in correspondence about "bizarre funks" that halted his work. His daughter later reflected on the repetitive nature of these episodes, noting how they resulted in alienations from those closest to him, including family members. The disorder profoundly impacted McCormick's productivity, most notably delaying the completion of his long-gestating on for decades due to paranoid suspicions and self-imposed isolation. What began as a promising project in the stalled amid depressive periods and manic diversions into other research, exacerbating family tensions as McCormick prioritized his archival obsessions over domestic stability. Despite treatment efforts, these health struggles contributed to a pattern of unfinished works and relational rifts that defined much of his later years.

Death and Enduring Influence

In his later years, Mack McCormick faced significant health challenges, including a diagnosis of that ultimately led to his death on November 18, 2015, at the age of 85 in his home. Despite the progression of his illness, McCormick persisted in his scholarly pursuits during the , devoting time to refining his longstanding research on traditions and organizing his vast personal archive with assistance from his daughter, Nix. This effort reflected his lifelong commitment to preserving the raw, unfiltered voices of performers, even as physical limitations slowed his fieldwork. McCormick's enduring influence as a foundational figure in blues historiography stems from his pioneering fieldwork, which uncovered and amplified overlooked artists like and , shaping subsequent scholarship and cultural revivals. His meticulous documentation inspired modern researchers, including those at institutions like the Smithsonian, and contributed to the programming of festivals across , where his discoveries continue to inform performances and tributes to regional traditions. Posthumously, McCormick's legacy received formal validation through honors that highlighted the authenticity and depth of his decades-long efforts. In 2023, Recordings issued Playing for the Man at the Door, a three-disc of 66 previously unreleased field recordings from his , alongside the publication of Biography of a Phantom: A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey, his long-gestating manuscript on the legendary guitarist. These releases, drawn from over 590 audio reels and 165 boxes of materials donated by his family, underscored the unparalleled value of his contributions to American music history.

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