Thursday, October 20, 2022 7pm
Dewey Hall, 91 Main Street, Sheffield, MA 01257
Tickets: Suggested donation of $25
For concert information contact: 413 429 1322
Dewey Memorial Hall is wheelchair accessible.
A reception will follow the concert.
The W.E.B. Du Bois Center for Freedom and Democracy and Dewey Hall are pleased to present Jake Blount in a benefit concert for the Du Bois Freedom Center. An acclaimed musician and scholar of traditional Black folk music, Blount speaks ardently about the African roots of the banjo and the subtle, yet profound ways African Americans have shaped and defined the amorphous categories of roots music and Americana.
His 2020 album Spider Tales — named one of the year’s best albums by NPR and The New Yorker, and recipient of a perfect 5-star review from The Guardian — highlighted the Black and Indigenous histories of popular American folk tunes.
Blount’s new album, The New Faith, tells an Afrofuturist story set in a future world devastated by climate change. Conceived, written and recorded during the darkest months of Covid lockdown and just after the unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd, the album invokes age-old spirituals, familiar in their content but extraordinary in their presentation. “It hits you like a fiery mountaintop sermon,” wrote the Boston Globe of The New Faith, which was released by Smithsonian Folkways on September 23.
Proceeds from the concert will support the creation of the Du Bois Freedom Center whose mission is to educate the public about the life and legacy of civil rights pioneer W.E.B. Du Bois and the rich African American heritage of the Berkshires. Located at the historic Clinton A.M.E. Zion Church in Great Barrington, where Du Bois was born and raised, this vibrant center of Black thought and remembrance constitutes the first museum and living memorial in North America dedicated to Du Bois’ life and legacy. Learn more at duboisfreedomcenter.org.
For more information: https://www.deweyhall.org/dewey-hall-calendar/2022/6/22/exploring-black-roots-music-with-jake-blount-a-benefit-concert-for-the-du-bois-freedom-center
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/3322754284672911
Jake Blount Website: https://jakeblount.com/
Jake Blount video: https://youtu.be/j3Z9JGWrMmU
Jake Blount video: https://youtu.be/6d9NeSJ6xC0 (Where did you sleep last night? Music only)
Jake Blount video: (Band): https://youtu.be/fWZGUeJoO_I