February 1942. "Weslaco, Texas. Farm Security Administration camp (Mercer G. Evans farm workers' community). Return from Saturday shopping. FSA client Nathan Drake at right." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein. View full size.

February 1942. "Farm Security Administration Mercer G. Evans camp in Weslaco, Texas. Drake family playing for a Saturday night dance." Medium format negative by the under-appreciated Arthur Rothstein. View full size.

February 1942. Two members of the "Musical Drake Family," performing at a barn dance in the Farm Security Administration's Mercer G. Evans camp in Weslaco, Texas. Our pickers are brothers Weldon (1923-1977) and Jasper "Sleepy" Drake (1926-1992). More Drakes here, and you can read comments from their children and grandkids here. Photo by Arthur Rothstein. View full size.

February 1942. The fiddler Nathan Drake at the Farm Security Administration's Mercer Evans relocation camp in Weslaco, Texas. View full size. Medium format safety negative by Arthur Rothstein for the FSA.

February 1942 in Weslaco, Texas. "Boy musician" was the caption given by photographer Arthur Rothstein to this portrait of Weldon Drake, shown in yesterday's posts playing with his father and brother at a Farm Security Administration Saturday-night dance. View full size.

From February 1942, another of Arthur Rothstein's photos of the Drake family entertaining at a Saturday night dance for the Farm Security Administration's resettlement camp at Weslaco, Texas, home to many farm families displaced by the droughts and bankruptcies of the Dust Bowl years. The fiddle player is Nathan Drake; on banjo and guitar are his sons Jasper ("Sleepy") and Weldon. Thanks to Jasper's daughters Connie and Janette for providing the names. View full size. (I'm having a Shorpy family moment here, having heard from the photographer's daughter, Annie Rothstein-Segan, and now Jasper's daughters. Life is a circle.)

Weslaco, Texas. The "musical Drake family," performing at a barn dance in the Farm Security Administration's Mercer G. Evans camp, February 1942. Medium-format safety negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. Update: The fiddler is Nathan Drake, the younger boy is Jasper "Sleepy" Drake, and behind him is brother Weldon Drake. View full size.

February 1942. Weslaco, Texas. Saturday night dance at the Farm Security Administration camp with music by the Drake family. View full size. Medium-format safety negative by Arthur Rothstein for the FSA.

February 1942. Weslaco, Texas. Younger members of the Drake family, including the young man shown playing at the barn dance elsewhere in today's posts, at the Farm Security Administration's Mercer Evans camp. Acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the FSA. View full size. Update: The banjo player is Jasper "Sleepy" Drake; his sister Monnie is the guitarist.