Sixteen Tons is the new band from clarinetist Andy Biskin. In his first visit to the Soundcheck studio, Biskin implemented a jazz band to explore the legacy of Stephen Foster, the 19th century composer and so-called "father of American music." Biskin returned a few years later to play songs inspired by the labyrinthine contraptions drawn by the cartoonist Rube Goldberg. Now, with Sixteen Tons, Biskin is putting a swinging, brassy spin on the field music recordings of famed American musicologist Alan Lomax, for whom Biskin worked as a young man. Click the player above to hear Andy Biskin & Sixteen Tons play some of these songs and talk about Lomax's treasure trove of roots music.