An overview of the traditional, changing folklife from a vibrant southern state

Stetson Kennedy was born in Jacksonville on October 5, 1916. From 1937 to 1942, Kennedy traveled the cities, towns, and rural backwoods of Florida documenting the cultural heritage of the state's diverse populations for the WPA's Florida Writers' Project. Kennedy later infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan, exposing their secrets. He was an activist for positive social change, working to make life better for all Floridians until his death on August 27, 2011. This book is the first comprehensive look at the life and work of author, activist, folklorist, investigative journalist, and oral historian Stetson Kennedy.

Based on four years of fieldwork throughout the state, the Florida Folklife Program released the two-album, 27-track LP "Drop on Down in Florida" in 1981. The album was intended to highlight African American music traditions for a statewide public audience, blues and sacred traditions in particular. In recent years, the Folklife Program sought the opportunity to produce an expanded reissue of the album that would include previously unissued fieldwork recordings and photos. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork materials now housed in the State Archives of Florida, the expanded reissue includes nearly 80 previously-unreleased minutes of music on 28 new tracks, plus numerous photos documenting the musicians and communities that perpetuated these traditions.

This biography of 97-year-old fiddler Richard Seaman, who grew up in Kissimmee Park, Florida, relies on oral history and folklore research to define the place of musicianship and storytelling in the state's history from one artist's perspective.