Award-winning American folk-roots artist Jake Blount and his band are heading to the UK for a two-week tour in late May/early June 2022 (see dates below), culminating with performances at Fire in the Mountain festival.
Jake is an award-winning young musician based in Rhode Island, whose debut solo album Spider Tales was released in 2020 to widespread acclaim (reviewed here). An exceptional banjoist, fiddler and soulful singer, Jake is one of the relatively few African-American (and Queer) artists on the Appalachian music and folk-Americana scene. Jake has previously collaborated with renowned musicians, including fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves and step dancer Nic Gareiss. On this UK tour, he’ll be accompanied by a stringband, comprising Nashville based New Zealander George Jackson (fiddle, banjo), Nelson Williams (double bass) and Gus Tritsch (guitar, banjo uke), all highly respected acoustic musicians in their own right.
With a degree in ethnomusicology, Jake has also studied with music luminaries, including Rhiannon Giddens and Bruce Molsky, and he’s hugely knowledgeable about the fascinating and diverse roots of American folk music. His work puts the spotlight on the contributions of Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ artists, long overlooked as American music genres have systematically been whitewashed over the last century and more. Blount’s music and research highlight how these voices are profoundly ingrained in Appalachian (and other American) folk traditions that are widely perceived to be exclusively white.
Spider Tales was released in spring 2020, and the pandemic ensured a long delay until its songs and tunes could be brought to live audiences. Jake and the band will be performing a mix of old time fiddle tunes, evocative jazz and blues songs and lively folk and bluegrass, much of which is drawn from the album, which includes a rendition of Leadbelly’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night, slightly reworked as a Queer love song, and a version of Cherokee fiddler Manco Sneed’s tune Done Gone.
Jake Blount UK Tour Dates
Thurs 19 May Hackney, London – Paper Dress Vintage
Sat 21 May Meltham, Huddersfield, The Carlile Institute
Sun 22 May Saltaire – The Live Room
Tues 24 May Kendal – Ruskins
Thurs 26 May Aberystwyth – The Bank Vault
Fri 27 May Swansea – Taliesin Arts Centre
Sat 28 May Marple, Cheshire – Roman Lakes Tea Dances
Tues 31 May Sheffield – The Greystones
Weds 1 June Norwich – Carberrys
Sat 4 June West Wales – Fire in the Mountain festival
Sun 5 June West Wales – Fire in the Mountain festival
Ticket Links via – https://jakeblount.com/live