Last month, Jake Blount announced his new album, The New Faith, his follow-up to 2020’s breakthrough debut, Spider Tales, and his first for the non-profit label Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. The album is being released on September 23rd as part of the label’s African American Legacy series—co-conceived with and supported by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (other releases in the series include Leyla McCalla‘s Vari-Colored Songs, Our Native Daughters’ Songs of Our Native Daughters and Dom Flemons Black Cowboys).
That album announcement was accompanied by his stirring first single, a version of “Didn’t It Rain“. Today he shares the second, “Once There Was No Sun”. Where his first single was made famous by Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson, it is the legendary American folk singer Bessie Jones that we have to thank for this song entering Blount’s repertoire.
Bessie Jones is best known for singing with the Georgia Sea Island Singers. She had an incredible repertoire of folk songs, singing games and stories and sang at many public events and ceremonies, including the 1976 inauguration of President Jimmy Carter. In 1982, Jones received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She died that same year. She featured alongside the Georgia Sea Island Singers on a Folkways album titled Lest We Forget, Vol. 3: Sing For Freedom which featured recordings from the 1964 “The Sing for Freedom Workshop”— described by Folkways as “a remarkable event that brought together the best of freedom singers to share the history of this tradition, better organize the freedom song movement, and enrich an already powerful repertoire of song.”
When asked why she sang these songs, Jones is quoted as saying, “Your children are gonna call your music old later on, too… You should know the bottom before you come to the top.” Blount’s album is described as a dystopian Afrofuturistic concept album, reimagining and reinterpreting traditional Black spirituals…it’s also part of a vibrant legacy that lives up to those words from Jones as he looks to the past for a message to guide our future.
He shared the following on the song and video:
“I learned ‘Once There Was No Sun’ from a Bessie Jones recording. The track opens with a reading from Genesis, describing the world in the days prior to the creation of light, the sun, and the moon. The song’s lyrics reflect on the same period of time, reminding us that many things we treat as universal constants did not always exist – and, by extension, could recede into nothingness at any time. ‘Once There Was No Sun’ is an invitation to reflect on the impermanence, fragility and beauty of a world we too often take for granted.
“We filmed on a small island off the coast of Maine, which also inspired the setting for The New Faith, and it was clear to us from the start that the video should highlight the majesty of the landscape. The video is a celebration of beauty, in some of its most elemental forms: wind, light, sea and stone, and human bodies moving through it all. It’s my hope that, through such celebrations, we can learn to better care for all these things.”
Produced by Black Lodge Productions, the video features Blount alongside Veeva Banga, a South Sudanese dancer and choreographer based in Portland, ME.
Like his lead single, with an infectious beat and rhythm, these aren’t songs you’ll forget.
The New Faith, out September 23rd on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings – pre-order/pre-save
Tour Dates
September 10-11—Bristol, TN—Bristol Rhythm & Roots Festival
September 13-15—Nashville, TN—AmericanaFest
September 16—Hickory, NC—Sails Music Series
September 17—Knoxville, TN—Boyd’s Jig & Reel
September 18—Louisville, KY—Bourbon and Bluegrass Festival
September 19—Lexington, KY—WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour
September 20—Bellefontaine, OH—Holland Theatre
September 21—Lansing, MI—The Robin Theatre
September 22—Chicago, IL—The Hideout
September 23—Madison, WI—The North Street Cabaret
September 24—Winona, MN—Boats and Bluegrass
September 25—Minneapolis, MN—First Avenue & 7th St Entry
September 28—Wethersfield, CT—Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum
October 14—Philadelphia, PA—World Cafe Live
October 15—Washington, DC—Pearl Street Warehouse
October 16—Charlottesville, VA—The Front Porch
October 18—Brooklyn, NY—Jalopy Theater
October 19—Boston, MA—Club Passim
October 20—Sheffield, MA—Dewey Hall
October 21—Providence, RI—Columbus Theatre
October 22—Saratoga Springs, NY—Caffe Lena
October 23—Portland, ME—One Longfellow Square
Website: https://jakeblount.com/