The act of a group of musicians coming together to make music should be a spontaneous occasion free of restrictions and form. If any musical unit knows that best, it’s the entirely genre-less Megafaun. But when they were asked to recreate the sounds of the south with the likes of Fight the Bull, Justin Vernon, and Sharon Van Etten for the sake of posterity, you have to think they’d jump at that faster than a cricket into a mason jar. Or whatever the appropriate metaphor is.

Alan Lomax was a prominent ethnomusicologist who recorded the rural musics of the 20th century south on his Sounds of the South compilation. And while it’s predominantly an academic recording, the aforementioned musical talents will bring the music to life, literally, with live performances of the tracks September 17th-19th at Durham, NC’s historic Hayti Heritage Center. Along with the performances, a live album will also be recorded for release in 2011.

For more information and tickets to the event, head here. As always, stay tuned for more info regarding the Sounds of the South album as it’s announced. If you can’t wait that long, Megafaun does have an EP coming out September 14th.

Heretofore Tracklist:
01. Heretofore
02. Carolina Days
03. Eagle
04. Volunteers
05. Comprovisation for Connor Pass
06. Bonnie’s Song