Jake Blount: “a sonic postcard from a future world”

July 14, 2023 6:59 AM

“I play fiddle and banjo music from black and Native American musicians, mostly in the Southeastern United States, which is not a genre, but a sentence.” Jake Blount has been reinterpreting Black folk music through a modern lens, producing what he terms “Afrofuturist folklore”.

His latest album The New Faith “tells an Afrofuturist story set in a far-future world devastated by climate change. Jake Blount and his collaborators embody a group of Black climate refugees as they perform a religious service, invoking spirituals that are age-old even now, familiar in their content but extraordinary in their presentation. These songs, which have seen Black Americans through countless struggles, bind this future community together and their shared past; beauty and power held in song through centuries of devastation, heartbreak, and loss.”

The Smithsonian Sidedoor podcast recently discussed his work and the role which archives have played in his work and the history of the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings record label. (transcript)

Library of Congress’ American Folklife Center's Homegrown concert series kicked off the 2023 season with a video interview, extended blog post, and hour-long free concert which is now available online: Jake Blount: African American Folk Music.

In “Jake Blount's ‘Genrequeer’ vision” Country Queer reviews his first album, Spider Tales.

posted by adamsc (9 comments total)

Currently really digging this record. Great post.
posted by spitbull at 8:03 AM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is awesome! Thanks for sharing.
posted by heteronym at 8:09 AM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Between this and Joy Oladokun, Metafilter is knocking it out of the park with new music recommendations.

Bonus: After digging Joy's album that was posted here, I saw she's playing in my hometown in August! Tickets acquired.
posted by skullhead at 8:33 AM on July 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

I went to see Jake Blount in concert in London a few weeks ago, and captured this cover of the Horse Flies 'Sally Ann'. The Supreme Court decision on affirmative action in college admissions had just been published, and Jake made a few sharp observations on that in his introduction to the song.
posted by verstegan at 11:01 AM on July 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

Listening to the YouTube playlist of the album while I power through the last of my Friday data entry stuff and it's great! Thanks for sharing this.
posted by the primroses were over at 12:06 PM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Between this and Joy Oladokun, Metafilter is knocking it out of the park with new music recommendations.

Thank hippybear for that great series of posts for Pride month – it was the inspiration I needed to say “this is great, I should share”.

For anyone who missed her before, I'll second the recommendation for Joy Oladokun.
posted by adamsc at 6:41 PM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Jake Blount is amazing. The rhythm parts done on some tracks done with flatfooting/clogging are so well done.
posted by scruss at 7:16 PM on July 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

Since I dated my way into the old-time community (much to my surprise, as I'm a lifelong electronic musician) by way of my banjo-playing fiancé, I've been continually delighted by the culture of the old-time scene and how incredibly open and affirming it is for LGBT+ folks, at least in the circles we run in. We're heading to Clifftop in a couple weeks (aka the Appalachian String Band Festival in West Virginia), and while the music itself is still a taste I haven't fully acquired (I famously have to hit the woods in earbuds now and then to clear my head with the sweet machinery of drum machines and synthesizers singing cold songs about digital topics), it's such a welcoming scene, from the Rainbow Jam tent to the knitting circles and other craftspersons at work. Jake is always lovely, and is a kind, fun person on top of being musically brilliant—he's a big mover and inspiration in the scene where a lot of other LGBT+ pickers, fiddlers, songwriters, flatfooters, and other Appalachian music aficionados come together.
posted by sonascope at 3:07 PM on July 15, 2023 [6 favorites]

This is so amazing! Thank you! As someone suffering from a lot of fully justified concern about the climate emergency and frustration with Christianity, this is exactly what I needed.
posted by hydropsyche at 3:20 PM on July 15, 2023 [2 favorites]