Preface by R. Nathaniel Dett: "In the Bottoms" is a Suite of five numbers giving pictures of moods or scenes peculiar to Negro life in the river bottoms of the Southern sections of North America. It is similar in its expression, and in a way a continuation of the sentiments already set forth in the "Magnolia" Suite, but suggests ideas incidental to life in a more particulat geographic territory. Neither Suite, like Dvorak's famous "New World Symphony" is dependent for its effect upon the introduction of folk-songs, either in their natural, or in a highly developed form. As it is quite possible to describe the traits, habits and customs of a people without using the vernacular, so is it similarly possible to musically portray racial peculiarities without the use of national tunes or folk-songs. "In the Bottoms", then, belongs to that class of music known as "Program music" or "music with a poetic basis". The source of the "program" or "poetic basis" has already been referred to, and the following notes are appended to show that its relation to the music is intimate. No.2 His Song - The psychological phenomenon is historic, that the moods of suppressed people have oftenest found their most touching expression in song. An aged Negro will sometimes sit for hours in the quiet of an evening, humming an improvised air, whose weird melody seems to strangely satisfy a nameless yearning of the heart.