There was another NPR bit interviewing Pete S. where he was asked about the copyright thing. His answer was, that Alan did not copyright anything until a group in England had a hit with Po' Lazarus, and the person from whom he collected it got nothing. He went home and told his people to copyright every single thing he had collected.

It is also worth noting, if you can't access the TOTN piece, that it was the Foundation Alan Lomax set up for that very purpose that delivered a check for $20K to a surprised old man.

His niece-in-law laughingly touched on how difficult he could be, but most of us agree I'm sure that is far outweighed by his work.