October 27, 2022
The community is invited to a concert on Nov. 2 with Jake Blount, an award-winning musician and scholar based in Providence, RI.
Blount will perform at 7 p.m. at the MCLA’s Church Street Center. The concert is open to the public with a nominal admission fee of $10 for the general public, $5 for faculty/staff/MCLA alumni, and free for current students.
A powerfully gifted musician and a scholar of Black American music, Jake 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.
Blount is a two-time winner of the Appalachian String Band Music Festival and a specialist in the early folk music of Black Americans. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Newport Folk Festival, and numerous other venues across the country and beyond.
His scholarly work has been presented at museums and universities including the Smithsonian Institution, Berklee College of Music, and Yale University. His writing has also appeared in Paste Magazine, No Depression, and NPR.
When Blount released his first solo album Spider Tales in September 2020, it debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart, was named one of the year’s best albums by NPR and The New Yorker, and earned a perfect 5-start review from The Guardian. Spider Tales highlights histories of Black and Indigenous peoples within popular American folk tunes as well as revived songs that are unjustly forgotten.
Blount’s latest album – The New Faith – was released this past September as part of the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings’ African American Legacy Series. The New Faith is spiritual music, filled with hope for salvation and righteous anger in equal measure.
Tickets may be purchased on Eventbrite or at the door.
Link: https://bit.ly/3THzviD
About MCLA
At MCLA, we’re here for all — and focused on each — of our students. Classes are taught
by educators who care deeply about teaching, and about seeing their students thrive
on every level of their lives. In nearly every way possible, the experience at MCLA
is designed to elevate our students as individuals, leaders, and communicators, fully
empowered to make their impressions on the world. In addition to our 128-year commitment
to public education, we have fortified our commitment to equitable academic excellence.
For 10 of the last 12 years, MCLA has been named a Top Ten College by U.S. News and
World Report. MCLA also appears on the organization’s list of top National Public
Liberal Arts Colleges. Since the list was created, MCLA has risen to #33 as a Top
Performer on Social Mobility and ranks first among all
Massachusetts liberal arts schools, which measures how well schools graduate students who receive Federal Pell Grants. Learn more at www.mcla.edu.
