Image by: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection.

The Perfect Storm

From: This Land Press
Series: The Sound of Our Land
Length: 07:11

In this short documentary, folk musician and historian Tom Naples walks us through the dust bowl and tunes us into archival recordings and oral histories of the people who lived through the misery of those dark days. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: The Perfect Storm
From: This Land Press

Dust_storm_1_small

The 1930's felt like the end of the world in western Oklahoma. Month after month the sky grew dark, the air made people choke, livestock died and crops turned to dust. For a decade, the great plains were hit with dust storm after dust storm as a result of unsustainable farming practices, and the panhandle of Oklahoma was nicknamed the bull's eye of the Dust Bowl. Short on cash, food and work, many farmers and share-croppers gave up on the possibility of survival in the state and migrated to California. In this short documentary, folk musician and historian Tom Naples walks us through the dust bowl and tunes us into archival recordings and oral histories of the people who lived through the misery of those dark days.

Excerpts from oral history interviews are from the Dust, Drought, and Dreams Gone Dry: Oklahoma Women in the Dust Bowl Oral History Project, courtesy of the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program, Oklahoma State University Library with funding provided by the Puterbaugh Professorship of Library Service.

Additional archival tape, including Roy Turner's poem Hard Luck Okie, is provided by "The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, Library of Congress, American Folklife Center."

Photo courtesy Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection.

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Piece Description

The 1930's felt like the end of the world in western Oklahoma. Month after month the sky grew dark, the air made people choke, livestock died and crops turned to dust. For a decade, the great plains were hit with dust storm after dust storm as a result of unsustainable farming practices, and the panhandle of Oklahoma was nicknamed the bull's eye of the Dust Bowl. Short on cash, food and work, many farmers and share-croppers gave up on the possibility of survival in the state and migrated to California. In this short documentary, folk musician and historian Tom Naples walks us through the dust bowl and tunes us into archival recordings and oral histories of the people who lived through the misery of those dark days.

Excerpts from oral history interviews are from the Dust, Drought, and Dreams Gone Dry: Oklahoma Women in the Dust Bowl Oral History Project, courtesy of the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program, Oklahoma State University Library with funding provided by the Puterbaugh Professorship of Library Service.

Additional archival tape, including Roy Turner's poem Hard Luck Okie, is provided by "The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, Library of Congress, American Folklife Center."

Photo courtesy Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection.

Broadcast History

Published on thislandpress.com.

Intro and Outro

INTRO:

The following is a production of This Land Press. For more information, visit thislandpress.com.

OUTRO:

You just listened to a This Land Press production. Check out thislandpress.com to find out more.

Musical Works

Title	Artist	Album	Label	Year	Length
Plantation	Jason Shaw	Audionautix: Acoustic .	Independent	2011	01:32
owco2_introspection	elementperspective	EPV_063.	elementperspective	2011	00:49
hydroscope	Gallery Six	E.P.E 04 .	elementperspective	2012	01:03
Intervention	Dan Friel	Live at WFMU.	WFMU	2008	02:49

Images

Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection.

Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection.

Additional Credits

Excerpts from oral history interviews are from the Dust, Drought, and Dreams Gone Dry: Oklahoma Women in the Dust Bowl Oral History Project, courtesy of the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program, Oklahoma State University Library with funding provided by the Puterbaugh Professorship of Library Service.

Additional archival tape, including Roy Turner's poem Hard Luck Okie, is provided by "The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, Library of Congress, American Folklife Center."