Tony Glover's archive of material associated with folk harmonica player-turned-cult leader Mel Lyman, highlighted by 27 letters by Lyman, many handwritten, dating from 1960 to 1974. Like Bob Dylan, Lyman was a disciple of Woody Guthrie and visited him many times. A traditionalist, he followed up Dylan's electric performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival with a 20-minute improvisation on the traditional hymn 'Rock of Ages.' He went on to found the 'Fort Hill Community' in Boston, which expanded across the US and had been variously described as a family, commune, or cult. Lyman's letters are rife with great musical content:
From August 1960: "Sorry, I didn't look up John Lee Hooker. We went through Chicago late…I had a ball in New York & played a lot of music with Gary Davis & Woody Guthrie. J. C. Burris & I played a lot too…We're writing & singing protest songs about bomb testing, radiation & stockpiling."
In a long September 1960 letter, Lyman provides a banjo tuning, discusses traveling to New York to meet Sonny Terry ("He can play more harp & more blues than anyone has even thought about & then some"), talks about collaborating with Sonny's nephew J. C. Burris, and ends with a postscript about Woody Guthrie: "Woodie plays harp backwards like Sonny & chokes with his tongue."
In February 1961, he writes: "Obray Ramsey & I have been carrying on a hot correspondence lately…why have you & your magazine paid so little attention to the greatest mountain folk-singer ever? He puts old man Lunsford to shame…Read 'Bound for Glory' by Woodie Guthrie. It should be in the library…Whatever happened to your 'Sonny Terry Tribute' LSR?"
In a ten-page letter from March 1961, Lyman praises Gary Davis's new record ("I'm sure Gary was determined to get on permanent record all the skill & fabulous technique he has acquired once & For all (plus fidelity) before he dies because he knows as some of us do that he is the greatest blues picking style guitarist ever & this LP is proof"), references Pink Anderson ( "Nobody seems to remember him anymore & he is as great as Gary Davis of Leadbelly or all of them"), and discusses playing with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee ("Sonny stayed here & Brownie played across the street and we all played & played & drank home brew").
In November 1961, he makes note of Glover's musical career ("Nick tells me you're a hell of a good harmonica player. This comes as some surprise & I'm awfully glad. You sure must learn fast"), talks Woody Guthrie ("I didn't know you could get the unpublished Woody stuff. He told me himself that they only used about one third of his manuscripts he had prepared for 'Bound for Glory' I know he has written piles of pornography & such"), and reflects on recording his songs ("I would actually dig recording my favorite Woodie songs but I'm afraid it won't work. Who in the world besides you & me would ever want a copy of 'Mel Lyman Sings Woody.' I'm glad you like the way I sing them because I like the way I sing them too & so does Woody. God I love that man").
In November 1962, he writes to praise a recent issue of the Little Sandy Review: "I am sitting in a Tampa truck stop at 4:30 AM trying to get a truck anywhere so I can sell some of my vegetables and reading the LSR you sent from cover to cover having nothing else to read & laughing out loud at this strange world of criticism & authoritative comment & absurd observations & just general know-nothing habber & still don't stop sending them."
In a typed letter of January 1968, he discusses Indian music, in part: "Did it ever occur to you that I have been playing sitar music on the banjo for years, in fact I have IMPROVED on Indian music, I have added the pain and loneliness that eastern culture has not yet experienced. Ravi doesn't do much for me, he's an aries too you know, not quite human enough, extraordinarily skillfull, true mastery, but there is a lack there that few are aware of, but I am, I kid you not. Saw Maharashi on the tube this morning, what a joke, I can't believe people have so little going that they would turn to a pygmy like him for direction…You never knew me Dave but you sensed my spirit, well it has grown considerably. Everybody is looking for big daddy to make it all better, a reason to exist, something to live UP to, but they're looking for an easy way to do it, like (laugh) meditation."
In a typed letter from March 1971, he discusses the expansion of his 'community,' in part: "Yes, I'm expanding, have a full fledged community going in L.A. now along with Boston and New York plus I have two fine houses on the Vineyard and a chateau in France, lots of people and property but no money. I plan on filling this empty world up with the way of life I am creating and I'm off to a good start."
He expands further on his ideals in a typed letter from April 1971: "It is not so much a dictatorship as an organic hierarchy, already established spiritually, only to be realized on the physical plane as a system of Law and Order, and man has always strived to find that way of life, only I have FOUND it, and made it work…L.A. is a horseshit place to live, but an incredible place to work. All the people here are dead but I have brought out 30 of my own people and am buying three houses and we are slowly populating this spiritual wilderness. I've never been in a place where I could create so constantly. It's hard to explain, I've hated this city all my life, but I can work here because there is no environment to contend with, I create my own. Live in a big house surrounded by trees and never see the city or its inhabitants, work constantly on books, music, film, it is ideal for a man who is his own source and needs no interaction with the outside world to feel like he is alive." In letters from 1974, Lyman discusses trading tapes, asks for copies of old letters, and hopes to visit with Glover in Minneapolis.
Also includes 13 photocopies of letters from Lyman to Glover, evidently those that he traded back to Lyman in the mid-1970s, but including their original mailing envelopes. Also includes a folder and envelope that Lyman provided to Glover, containing numerous photocopies plus a few originals of Glover's letters to Lyman; in this way, what essentially amounts to their complete correspondence can be read.
Includes original softcover editions of Lyman's books, Autobiography of a World Saviour (Jonas Press, 1966) and Mirror at the End of the Road (American Avatar, 1971), the latter signed and inscribed in ink, "To Tony Glover, from Mel Lyman, Thank God you came along & took those pictures when you did—otherwise this Book would have been incomplete, Mel Lyman, Aug. 30, 1971, Los Angeles." Also includes six reel-to-reel audio tapes, three audio cassette tapes, and six CD-Rs. In overall very good to fine condition.
From the Tony Glover Collection.
