Threads and Tangents 6/25/24 - African-American String Bands

This week's thread is African-American String Bands - music spanning nearly 100 years. The idea for tonight’s show came from Mary, the Threads and Tangents in-house bluegrass maven, after hearing Black performers of traditional acoustic music at last year’s IBMA's World of Bluegrass in North Carolina.    

We'll hear music from: The Mississippi Sheiks, New Dangerfield, Nathan Frazier & Frank Patterson, Jerron Paxton, Gribble Lusk & York, Jake Blount, Henry ‘Son’ Sims, Rhiannon Giddens, Taylor's Kentucky Boys, Dom Flemons, Martin Bogan & Armstrong, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Johnny Young, Butch Cage & Willie Thomas, and Our Native Daughters.

It’s important to note that I approached this musical thread, like I do every episode of Threads and Tangents, as a fan. I spend a lot of time trying to get everything right, but I’m not a scholar. To learn more about string bands, check out these web pages from two of the scholar-musicians heard in this episode:
Rhiannon Giddens – https://rhiannongiddens.com/all-resources
Jake Blount – https://jakeblount.com/black-stringband-resources
For a broad and creative exploration of string band music, check out scholar, musician, and author Stephen Wade. If you’re the kind of person who likes to dive right in (as opposed to just dipping a toe) find his book, The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience ( https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p080913). Stephen’s widely-acclaimed book presents performances captured on Library of Congress field recordings between 1934 and 1942, and demonstrates that the stories behind them can be as absorbing as the songs themselves.

Anything on your mind? Email me at threadsandtangents@kmre.org