Jake Blount

Jake Blount is an American musician and writer based in Providence, Rhode Island. He specializes in the traditional music of African Americans, and his work has been described as "Afrofuturist folklore." Blount, while initially recognized for his skill as an old-time banjo player and fiddler, is a versatile multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who has described his music as "genrequeer." He often performs most of the parts on his recordings, and fluently employs modern instruments and production techniques in his performances of centuries-old repertoire. His work critiques popular notions of genre and linear time, and usually centers themes of social and environmental justice.

Blount's first full-length solo album, ''Spider Tales'', debuted at #2 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart. It received a nomination for Album of the Year at the 2021 International Folk Music Awards, was named Best of the Americas in the Songlines Music Awards in the same year. Shortly after the album's release, Blount was awarded the Steve Martin Banjo Prize. His single "The Man Was Burning" appeared on Spotify's list of the Best Blues Songs of 2022. Blount's most recent album, ''The New Faith'', was released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings as part of their African-American Legacy Series. It was ranked among the best folk and roots releases of 2022 by news outlets including ''The Guardian'', NPR and ''Rolling Stone''.

Early life

Blount was born and raised in Washington, DC. His family is interracial; his mother's family originates in Sweden and Jersey, and his father is Black. Blount and his older sister, Julia, attended Georgetown Day School. His parents, Jeanne Meserve and Jeffrey Blount, were television news professionals. He began learning to play electric guitar at age 12, and played in rock bands with his peers. Influenced by a chance encounter with Megan Jean and the KFB, Blount delved into acoustic music in the latter half of high school.

Blount enrolled at Hamilton College in 2013, where he focused his studies on early African-American folk music. He received his first banjo lessons from Lydia Hamessley, who would become his advisor, and delved into old-time music.

Career

Blount first received widespread recognition within the old-time community in 2016, when his band The Moose Whisperers won the traditional band contest at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival in Clifftop, West Virginia. In mid-2017, Blount graduated from Hamilton College with a B.A. in ethnomusicology, released his debut EP, ''Reparations,'' with fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves, and began to tour in earnest. The Moose Whisperers put out their self-titled album in early 2018 and embarked on a release tour in Scandinavia. Upon returning, Blount and Hargreaves opened several shows for Rhiannon Giddens.

Blount and fiddler Libby Weitnauer formed the duo Tui on a tour of Australia in late 2018. They released their album, ''Pretty Little Mister'', in 2019. In the following year, Blount appeared on ''Radiolab'' and was selected as a member of the International Bluegrass Music Association's Leadership Bluegrass Class of 2020. He also claimed first place in the banjo contest at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival, competing with tunes from Black banjoists Nathan Frazier and Dink Roberts.

Blount released his debut solo album, ''Spider Tales'', on Free Dirt Records on May 29, 2020. It debuted at #2 on the '' Billboard'' Bluegrass Chart. ''The Guardian'' declared the record "an instant classic," and awarded it five out of five stars. Bandcamp selected it as their Album of the Day, and it received positive coverage from NPR, ''Rolling Stone'', '' Billboard'' and more. In an interview with ''Country Queer'', Blount stated that the album "came out of a desire to tease out the sort of anger and demands for justice and resentment that I see simmering in the black traditional music canon throughout history," and was intended to contradict preconceived notions about Black folk music. The album was named among the best releases of 2022 by publications including NPR, ''Bandcamp Daily'', and ''The New Yorker''.

Blount received the Steve Martin Banjo Prize shortly after the release of Spider Tales. He was prominently featured on NPR's ''Weekend Edition'' in a segment regarding traditional musicians and their efforts to address racism within the canon, and was interviewed by Hunter Kelly for Apple Music's ''Proud Radio'' show. The success of ''Spider Tales'' catapulted Blount onto the mainstream Americana touring circuit, leading to performances at venues including the Kennedy Center and the Newport Folk Festival.

In early 2022, Blount released the single "The Man Was Burning" on Free Dirt Records. The song received positive coverage from NPR, and appeared on Spotify's list of the Best Blues Songs of 2022.

Later that year, Blount made his Smithsonian Folkways debut with the Afrofuturist concept album ''The New Faith''. The record, which incorporates rap, looping, digital processing and a wider array of instrumentation than his prior recorded works, represents a significant sonic and conceptual progression for Blount. While Blount has said that he views all his work as intrinsically Afrofuturist, The New Faith engages with Afrofuturism more explicitly. The album is set in the future, and depicts a religious ceremony held by descendants of Black climate refugees. It is composed entirely of rearranged traditional folk songs, some of which date back to the seventeenth century. NPR, ''The Guardian'', ''Rolling Stone'' and others named it among the best roots and folk releases of 2022.

Blount began 2023 with a performance at NPR's Tiny Desk and a nomination for Artist of the Year at the International Folk Music Awards.

Discography

Solo Studio Albums

As Tui

* ''Pretty Little Mister'' (2019)

As The Moose Whisperers

* ''The Moose Whisperers'' (2018)

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blount, Jake
1995 births
Living people
Musicians from Washington, D.C.
Georgetown Day School alumni
Hamilton College (New York) alumni
21st-century American male musicians
American gay musicians
American bluegrass musicians
Gay singers
Afrofuturists
Afrofuturism
African-American LGBT people
American LGBT singers
21st-century American LGBT people
African-American male singers
African-American banjoists
African-American violinists
African-American fiddlers