Old time player Jake Blount and his sister were the first of his family (on his dad's side) to be born off the Virginia plantation where his ancestors were kept as slaves for as long as anyone can remember. That history was all around him as a kid and really hit him hard after the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2013. He had been under the impression that racism of that kind, a person could kill a 17 year old black child and get away with it, still existed. He dove into researching music of slaves: spirituals, gospels and didn't find what he was looking for until he came across the banjo and learned it's history. It's become more and more widespread information that the banjo's roots reside in Africa. It was taken across the Atlantic by stolen black slaves. Blount learned the history was directly tied to the slave communities around the Chesapeake Bay, who were his ancestors. Since then, he's received a BA in ethnomusicology at Hamilton College in New York and become a fervent researcher and sharer of black folk music.
His new album Spider Tales' title is a nod to the great trickster of Akan mythology, Anansi. “The Anansi stories were tales that celebrated unseating the oppressor.” These are mostly black traditional songs. The subversion in these traditional songs to help singers survive: these songs are full of coded messages and allowed them room to criticize the powerful without fear of retribution. Jake is also a young queer man in America, which makes its way into his music in interesting ways: he changed the pronouns of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" to all male pronouns. His explanation of why he did that is heart-wrenching. Jake is smarter than everyone. He is my favorite person and he had the most fun lightning round ever. This person is amazing! I'm pleased to present this interview!
American Songwriter Podcast Network
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