Jake Blount’s path through metal and funk to get to the Appalachian music of the Black community
A gay and black performer working in Appalachian music, Blount features “historically informed, beautifully played old-time music.”
Author: DJB
Weekly Reader: Lives well lived
Appreciations for Hank Aaron, John Chaney, Barbara Erickson, Cloris Leachman, and Cicely Tyson. RIP.
Reclaiming our sense of humanity
Ensuring that our stories include a sense of humanity can help us in these turbulent times.
Yasmin Williams: Not your father’s Takoma Park fingerstyle guitarist
Williams is a bold acoustic innovator with an unorthodox, modern style of playing.
Weekly Reader: Help! I’m feeling optimistic
The return of optimism, journalism’s failures, Patsy Cline’s house, the costs of racism, and Hannah Arendt.
Turning back to what matters
Look not at what stands between us but at what stands before us. Look to what matters.
Taking a viscerally emotional journey with guitarist and singer John Smith
Steeped in the lineage of British folk, Smith is an innovative fingerstyle guitarist and a warm and welcoming singer.
The Hill We Climb
Amanda Gormon’s poem “The Hill We Climb” was among the best moments in an inaugural ceremony of hope and historic firsts.
Weekly Reader: Facing the rising sun
Leaving the gloomy past, presidential meltdowns, multiracial whiteness, and a new museum of African American music.
A more trusting time
Pete Buttigieg explains why trust is foundational to American democracy and why we must fight the attacks on truth.
MORE TO COME... 