Tag Archives: Folk

Reggie Harris – On Solid Ground

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Title: On Solid Ground
Artist: Reggie Harris
Label: Dist. CD Baby
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: April 16, 2021

 

Veteran folk musician Reggie Harris reflects on the current political and social climate in his new release, On Solid Ground. A descendant of a Confederate general and one of his slaves, Harris says his story also “includes aspects of my journey as a Black male growing up in Philadelphia during the ‘50s and ‘60s; pushed into integrating schools and neighborhoods which forced me to learn to live between two worlds using music as a foil to become a bridge-builder.”   He draws upon these experiences across the album’s 13 tracks, many of which harken back to the freedom songs of the Civil Rights Movement.  

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Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi – They’re Calling Me Home

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Title: They’re Calling Me Home
Artist: Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi
Label: Nonesuch
Formats: CD, LP, Digital
Release date: April 9, 2021

 

Acclaimed African American folk musician Rhiannon Giddens and Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi offer their second collaboration, They’re Calling Me Home. Sheltering in Ireland during the pandemic, the two artists decided to draw from traditional folk music of three countries for this project. The album’s title not only speaks to those who are sheltering in place during the pandemic, but also to the metaphorical “call home” or “homegoing” of death, in tribute to those who have lost their lives due to COVID-19. 

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Sunny War – Simple Syrup

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Title: Simple Syrup
Artist: Sunny War
Label: Org Music
Format: LP, Digital
Release Date: March 26, 2021

 

Following a captivating NPR Tiny Desk performance and an acclaimed album in 2019, Sunny War became an artist to watch for fans of acoustic roots music. Since then, the L.A.-based singer and guitarist has certainly kept busy, founding a Los Angeles chapter of the nonprofit Food Not Bombs, marching for BLM protests, and recording her newest album, Simple Syrup.

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December 2020 – January 2021 Black Music Releases of Note

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Following are additional albums released December 2020 and January 2021 across multiple genres—some will be reviewed in future issues of Black Grooves.

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L.A. Salami – The Cause of Doubt & a Reason to Have Faith

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Title: The Cause of Doubt & a Reason to Have Faith
Artist: L.A. Salami
Label: Sunday Best
Format: CD, LP, Digital
Release Date: July 17, 2020

 

Described as classy rap, street-poet blues and fierce folk, the music of London artist L.A. Salami creates a truly unique and always evocative experience. Born Lookman Adekunle Salami, L.A. Salami began writing poetry from an early age, a hobby which eventually blossomed into writing poetic lyrics with acoustic-oriented instrumental backing. On his most recent album, The Cause of Doubt & a Reason to Have Faith, Salami ventures into more experimental ground as he draws on everything from ‘90s hip-hop and rap to psychedelic folk and proto-punk of the ‘60s.

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Summer 2020 Black Music Releases of Note

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Following are additional albums released during June, July and August 2020 across multiple genres—some will be reviewed in future issues of Black Grooves.

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Camille Yarbrough – The Iron Pot Cooker

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Title: The Iron Pot Cooker  
Artist: Camille Yarbrough  
Label: Vanguard/Craft Recordings  
Formats: LP (first vinyl reissue; 180-gram Record Store Day ed.)*  
Release date: September 26, 2020  

 

Twenty-nine seconds into track one, “But It Comes Out Mad,” Camille Yarbrough takes a breath. This is not a simple breath, but a deep breath, an exasperated breath. In that one breath, she sets up listeners for the premise of the entire album. The Black community is under pressure, being cooked, and we are tired.

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May 2020 Black Music Releases of Note

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Following are additional albums released during May 2020 across multiple genres—some will be reviewed in future issues of Black Grooves.  

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Jake Blount – Spider Tales

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Title: Spider Tales 
Artist: Jake Blount 
Label: Free Dirt   
Formats: CD, LP, Digital 
Release date: May 29, 2020 

 

Jake Blount has teamed up with a group of talented, young, and mostly queer folk musicians to assemble a thoroughly moving and often harrowing collection of songs by Black and indigenous folk musicians. Blount is a rising star in the folk scene, becoming the first Black person to make the finals at the prestigious Appalachian String Band Music Festival (better known as Clifftop), and the first to win in the traditional band category. Three years later, he placed first in the banjo contest, playing three tunes from Black banjoists including Dink Robert’s “Roustabout,” which appears on Spider Tales, Blount’s first full solo album.  

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Le String Noise – L.E.S. Douze Volume 2

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Title: L.E.S. Douze Volume 2 
Artist: Le String Noise 
Label: Nouveau Electric 
Formats: CD, Digital 
Release date: April 17, 2020 

 

The Stone is a Lower East Side experimental music venue that has no bar and allows no speaking – the music is the sole focus. It was in this environment that artist-in-residence Louis Michot and the three other members of Le String Noise recorded their latest release, L.E.S. Douze Volume 2. The ensemble is a collaboration between fiddler and vocalist Louis Michot of Lost Bayou Ramblers, violinists Pauline Kim and Conrad Harris of String Noise, and cellist and vocalist Leyla McCalla, alumna of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Our Native Daughters.  

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Reverend Shawn Amos & The Brotherhood – Blue Sky

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Title: Blue Sky 
Artist: Reverend Shawn Amos & The Brotherhood 
Label: Put Together Music 
Formats: CD, LP, MP3 
Release date: April 17, 2020 

 

Self-proclaimed blues preacher Shawn Amos returns to his Americana, singer-songwriter roots on his latest album, Blue Sky.  Since his 2018 release, The Reverend Shawn Amos Breaks It Down, Amos shifted his home base to Texas and has been touring nonstop with a faithful band of compatriots. Designated The Brotherhood, this group includes drummer Brady Blade (Dave Matthews, Indigo Girls), bassist Christopher “CT” Thomas (Norah Jones, Macy Gray), and Amos’s longtime guitarist Chris “Doctor” Roberts. Collaborating with additional friends and family, Rev and The Brotherhood traverse spiritual and emotional territory littered with heartbreak, displacement and redemption.

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Dom Flemons – Prospect Hill: The American Songster Omnibus

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Title: Prospect Hill: The American Songster Omnibus 
Artist: Dom Flemons 
Label: Omnivore 
Format: 2-CD set, Digital 
Release date: February 28, 2020 

 

Multi-instrumentalist and music historian Don Flemons, otherwise known as “The American Songster” and co-founder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, has become one of the foremost experts and practitioners of African American folk music traditions. Flemons garnered a Grammy nomination and multiple awards for his last solo project, Black Cowboys (2018). Now Flemons is offering his first compilation, Prospect Hill: The American Songster Omnibus, which includes his Prospect Hill solo album from 2014, the EP What Got Over originally released on vinyl as a 2015 Record Store Day premium, and a new collection of twelve previously unissued instrumental tracks he’s pulled together under the title The Drum Major Instinct. If you didn’t score copies of these records when they first dropped, you should definitely pick up this nicely packaged two-disc set with extensive liner notes by Flemons and Vania Kinard and evocative tintype photographs by Timothy Duffy.   

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