JAKE BLOUNT & COUNTLESS FRIENDS DISPLAY GENERATIONAL RECIPROCITY

JAKE BLOUNT & COUNTLESS FRIENDS

GENERATIONAL RECIPROCITY

Norman Warwick mingles meet in

THE SHADED AREA BETWEEN CIRCLES

I know I´m always talking about Venn Diagrams and here I go again. My forty three year old son has a younger, wider and deeper music collection than I have, His influences include country, folk, indie-pop and world music, and, because he lives in South Korea, lots of Asian sounds with myriad sub-genres. My own circle of music on our Venn Diagram, would be labelled Americana And Singer Songwriters but it is perhaps the shaded part of the Venn Diagram, where the circles overlap, that most interests both of us.

On line descriptions of Venn Diagrams, of course, explain them far better than my poor effort in the above paragraph.

A Venn diagram is a visual representation of sets, using overlapping circles (or other shapes) to show the relationships between different groups of items. The overlapping sections highlight the similarities between the sets, while the non-overlapping sections show the differences.

Venn diagrams are used to organize data, compare and contrast different groups, and illustrate logical relationships. 

They consist of overlapping circles, each representing a set of item

 The overlapping sections of the circles represent the elements that are common to the sets represented by those circles. 

The areas within each circle that do not overlap with other circles represent the elements unique to that particular set. 

Venn diagrams can be used to show the relationships between different types of animals (eg, mammals, birds, reptiles) or to compare the features of different products,… such as music.. 

A Venn diagram is a widely used technique and style that shows the logical relation between groups. Such charts were popularized by, and therefore were named after John Venn  (1834–1923) in the 1880s. The diagrams are used to teach elementary ´theory about movements from one set to another, and to illustrate simple set relationships in terms of probability, logic, statistics, linguistics and even computer science,…and music A Venn diagram uses simple closed curves on a plane to represent sets. The curves are often circles or ellipses.

The shaded part, on our father and son chart where Andrew´s circle of music overlaps with my circle of music includes musicians such as Bela Fleck, Townes Van Zandt, Rhiannan Giddons and the late in life recordings of Johny Cash.

JAKE BLOUNT & …..

Its always pretty exciting for one of us when we receive a musical recommendation from the other and we insert into our music set, and thus create another name in the shaded part of our Venn Diagram. The two most recent shady caharcters on our charts have been Wes Mcghee, a recommendation (or reminder, really) from father to son, and Jake Blount a name sent out of the blue from son to dad.

´Discovered´ by Andrew when browsing on line, Jake Blount (pronounced: blunt, shown right) is an award-winning interpreter of Black folk music based in Providence, Rhode Island. Initially recognized for his skill as a string band musician, Blount has charted an unprecedented, Afro-futurist course on his pilgrimage through sound archives and song collections. In his hands, the banjo, fiddle, electric guitar and synthesizer become ceremonial objects used to channel the insurgent creativity of his forebears. From transfixing solo sets to full-band festival appearances complete with crowd-surfing and ecstatic chants, Blount’s performances – like his Smithsonian Folkways release, The New Faith, seamlessly merge centuries-old traditional songs with the trappings and techniques of modern Black genres. This so called genrequeer approach to the traditions has earned his music a place in the very same archives from which he extracts his repertoire. In defiance of genre categories, revisionist histories and linear time, Blount fashions an Afrofuturist folklore that disintegrates the boundaries between acoustic and electric, artist and medium, and ancestor and progeny. A similar approach probably defines all the other artists in the shaded area shared by my son and I.

Most, if not all, of Jake Blount´s recordings now sit easily in my circle of music, and has taken its place, too, in that place of privilege, the shaded area ! At the moment I am particularly listening to Spider Tales, a truly intriguing album by Blount.

For as long as it’s existed, the American roots music industry has co-opted Black music into a package to be marketed and resold, defanging or erasing perspectives deemed too threatening along the way. Banjo player and fiddler Jake Blount resurrects these deep musical strains on Spider Tales, his debut record out now on Free Dirt Records. 

Named for Anansi—the great trickster of Akan mythology—Spider Tales features fourteen carefully chosen tracks drawn from Blount’s extensive research of Black and Indigenous mountain music. The result is an unprecedented testament to the voices paradoxically obscured yet profoundly ingrained into the Appalachian tradition. Blount is joined by his musical peers Tatiana Hargreaves, Nic Gareiss, Rachel Eddy, and Haselden Ciaccio on the album, which was produced by Jeff Claus and Judy Hyman (The Horse Flies). Altogether, Spider Tales is a beautiful, masterfully performed, and thematically intense first statement into the transforming canon of American roots music.

Spider Tales hit the Billboard Bluegrass Charts at number 2 and enjoyed a positive critical reception. The Guardian  awarded it five stars and nominated it as Album Of The Month. Bandcamp selected listed it as as album of the day and there was more positive coverage from publications like  Rolling Stone Country, Billboard Pride,  and AV Club. The album has featured on numerous podcasts including Soundcheck. The album appeared on several lists of The Best Of 2020 drawn up by such as NPR, Bandcamp, The New Yorker and The Guardian.

And now, here it is on a Bit Behind The Times piece by Sidetracks & Detours. I know I am obviously a Johny Come Lately to Jake Blount´s music but I am loving tracks like Blackbird Says To The Crow, a strange evocation of a Wes Mghee song, Bullfrog And The Crow. I also love Roustabout, a not so soft-shoe shuffle, as well as Rocky Road To Dublin and The Angels Done Bowed Down. All these and indeed the rest of the track list, is music as old as time, sounding as modern as tomorrow. 

FREINDS AND COLLEAGUES

Jake Blount´s web site tips his hat to ensembles such as Gribble, Lusk and York and  Taylor´s Kentucky Boys and his contemporaries include The Ebony Hillbillies, Benjamin Hunter and Kaia Kater.

Blount’s thoughtful musicianship has made him a sought-after collaborator. He has contributed to recordings by Adia Victoria, Dave Hause, Adeem The Artist and others, opened for GRAMMY-winners Rhiannon Giddens and Molly Tuttle, and traveled the world as a member of old-time groups Tui and The Moose Whisperers. He regularly shares the stage with skilled contemporaries such as Mali Obomsawin, George Jackson and Nic Gareiss, and collaborated with the Kronos Quartet on their sold-out 50th Anniversary performance at Carnegie Hall. Blount also served as a music consultant on Ryan Coogler’s 2025 film Sinners, scored by Ludwig Göransson.

In addition to his public-facing achievements, Blount has an impressive industry track record. He has performed as an official showcase artist at Folk Alliance International, SXSW, AmericanaFest and the International Bluegrass Music Association’s World of Bluegrass. He was a 2020 Strathmore Artist In Residence, and participated in the IBMA’s Leadership Bluegrass program in the same year. An emeritus board member of Bluegrass Pride, Blount is known as a strong advocate for progressive causes within the music industry, and appears regularly on conference panels pertaining to social and environmental justice. His writings on music and issues facing the industry have appeared in publications including Rolling Stone, NPR, Paste Magazine and No Depression.

Blount is also a skilled educator. In addition to his on-stage offerings, his engagements frequently include lectures and presentations pertaining to both his original research and the History Of Black String Band Music. He has shared this work at Yale University, Berklee College of Music, the Smithsonian Institution and elsewhere. He also makes regular appearances at music camps, most notably Earful Of Fiddle Music & Dance Camp, offering hands-on instruction in fiddle and banjo. Blount holds an A.M. in Musicology and Ethnomusicology from Brown University, where he is working toward a Ph.D. in the same—as well as an A.M. in Anthropology.

Blount performs on a five-string fiddle made by Nathaniel Rowan  and banjos from Seederts Instruments and  Pete Ross Banjos

Blount is also likened, in both musicality and in his sourcing of ethno-musicology,to the Carolina Chocolate Drops, another name residing in the shaded area that bridgesLanzarote to the UK, to America(na), to South Korea.

In case you really want to explore this rich field of music I would point that Carolina Chocolate Drops are close neighbours of the Be Good Tanyas,  Po´Girl and the likes of Rhiannen Giddens. and of course, Jake Blount.

If you are not yet aware of Carolina Chocolate Drops, their music will almost certainly reward yuour search.

The  essential No Depression magazine describes them as a GRAMMY Award Winning black string band created by Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, and Justin Robinson. In 2005, the original trio founded the group after attending the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, NC and in 2025 they are celebrating their 20th anniversary. In 2016, The Carolina Chocolate Drops were inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame and their legacy continues through their successful solo careers while extending to the next generation and their peers.

“Carolina Chocolate Drops, I believe, are not only paying homage to their ancestors who sang and played their way through some incredibly harsh conditions, but are also attempting to resurrect an entire genre of music not just lost amongst African-Americans but all Americans… Carolina Chocolate Drops are Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson, and Dom Flemons, and are and will be for a long time, a powerful force in the world of roots music. This is roots music at its rootsiest and it must be heard.”

Rhiannon Giddens herself is a two-time GRAMMY Award-Winning singer and multi-instrumentalist, MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient, Pulitzer Prize winner, and composer of opera, ballet, and film.

Giddens has centered her work around the mission of lifting up people whose contributions to American musical history have previously been overlooked or erased, and advocating for a more accurate understanding of the country’s musical origins through art.

NPR named her one of its 25 Most Influential Women Musicians of the 21st Century and American Songwriter called her “one of the most important musical minds currently walking the planet.”

In one those moments of serendipity that I love so much I took a break here and went browsing on line for items of interest, and there was this photograph of Rhiannon with her comment posted below it. Shaded sections of Venn Diagrams increase existentially !

Her group colleague, Dom Flemons, The American Songster,  is a GRAMMY Award Winner with four GRAMMY nominations, Two-Time EMMY Nominee, International Acoustic Music Award Grand Prize Winner, and a 2020 United States Artists Fellow. Flemons received an Honorary Doctorate from Northern Arizona University and was inducted into the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame.

Flemons is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music scholar, historian, actor, narrator, host, slam poet, record collector, podcaster, and the creator, host, and producer of the American Songster Radio Show on WSM in Nashville, TN. Mojo Magazine declared “Dom Flemons is one of the most accomplished American Folk Artists… few have pumped as much lifeblood into tradition as he has.”

The other member of Carolina Chocolate Drops  is Justin Robinson, a GRAMMY Award-Winning musician and vocalist, cultural preservationist, and historic foodways expert. Robinson has used his wide range of interests and talents to preserve North Carolina’s African American history and culture, connecting people to the past and to the world around them.

Robinson is also committed to helping African Americans rekindle their ties to the land. He is a founding member of the Earthseed Land Cooperative a collective in northern Durham “made up of farmers, entrepreneurs, professionals, and teachers who are currently engaged in creating alternative models for sustainability, equity, and cooperation within communities of color.”

Similar sounds emanate from The Be Good Tanyas (left), playing an old-timey blend of folk, country, and blues bolstered by sweet harmonies and traditional fingerpicking. The Vancouver trio has garnered comparisons to like-minded predecessors such as  Gillian Welch and Iris Dement The group came together when Samantha Parton, who had spent her post-high-school years traveling with her guitar (drawing strong musical influence from visits to the Southern U.S.), returned to Vancouver. She and  Jolie Holland initially formed the group, then added  the now much acclaimed  Trish Klein whom, Parton  had met while planting trees in Nelson, British Columbia. (Ford and Winnipeg native  had met at Selkirk Music School in Nelson.) The musicians played together for the first time in 1999, busking outside the Lilith Fair venue in Vancouver. They soon moved on to local thrift store and coffee shop gigs. Holland left the group, and the remaining trio was soon touring Canada and released its debut album, Blue Horse, in 2001. Two years later, the ladies returned with the light-hearted sophomore effort,  Chinatown, while Hello Love, which included covers of  Neil Young, Mississipp John Hurt and even Prince, came out in 2006. The band officially went on hiatus in 2008, where it would remain until a performance at the 2011 Winnipeg Folk Festival. The following year saw the release of Collection,  a career overview that included two new tracks.

Also treading some of the sidetracks and detours taken by Jake Blount, have been Po´Girl, right, an old-time folk band fronted by three women, and also influenced by jazz, soul, and punk. The group was formed in 2003 in the midst of a vibrant Canadian folk revival, Trish Klein and Allison Russell were soon joined by Diona Davies, turning a part-time duo into a committed, innovative trio. Close collaboration between the three performers on songs and arrangements resulted in a carefully textured sound that referred to traditional folk music without ever attempting to copy it. In 2003 critics warmly greeted Klein and Russell’s self-titled debut; in 2004, critics marvelled once again at the breadth of the band’s material on Vagabond Lullabies. Like the Be Good Tanyas, of whom Klein was a founding member, and HEM, Po’ Girl soon established a loyal following and garnered positive reviews. “It’s the lazy sway of Po’ Girl’s music, a hypnotic and humid sway that’s hard to resist,” wrote David Jeffries in All Music Guide.

Klein (left), formed Po’ Girl in 2003 when Be Good Tanya’s member Frazey Ford took maternity leave. She also hoped that a new band would provide her with more room to compose and sing her own songs. Klein told Douglas Heselgrave in the Music Box, “I [now] do more arrangement and musical accompaniment. I think that I was really repressed in [the Be Good Tanyas], in terms of whether it was okay to contribute.”

She and Russell had jammed together as far back as 2000, but both were committed to other bands at the time. As a founding member of the Be Good Tanyas, Klein was busy with the group’s first album and touring, while Russell worked with Fear of Drinking. The duo, christened as Po’ Girl, were soon in the studio recording their self-titled debut.

Although Nettwerk, the Be Good Tanyas’ label, offered to release Po’ Girl in 2003, Klein and Russell opted to issue the recording on Jack Schuller’s Jericho catalogue.

. “It’s nice to be able to call someone up when you need to work on something,” Klein told Heselgrave. “They’re local and easy to reach.”

The album was released in the United States on HighTone Records. The simple loose arrangements and harmony of Po Girl was similar in style to the Be Good Tanyas, but Klein and Russell were able to develop their own approach. Klein’s ability to switch between the banjo and guitar gave the duo versatility; Russell’s soulful vocals, often described as a cross between Tracey Chapman and Natalie Merchant, and her clarinet and pennywhistle work, also helped define Po’ Girl’s distinct sound. Klein explained the difference between Po’ Girl and the Be Good Tanyas to Paul Sexton in the London Times as “different people, different songs.”

When they embarked on a summer tour following the band’s debut, Klein and Russell decided to add a third member. While Klein was familiar with Davies’s skill as a fiddler, they had only met briefly. “I managed to get her e-mail, and I was talking to Allison about her as if I knew her really well,” Klein told Heselgrave, “and said, ‘wouldn’t it be nice if we could meet another girl to play some of the other instruments?'” Davies played fiddle and piano, and had studied at the Royal Conservatory in Victoria, British Columbia, for two years. Klein emailed Davies, inviting her to join the tour. Po’ Girl also added a bass player and a drummer for the tour.

In 2004 an expanded Po’ Girl, supplemented by many friends, entered the studio a second time. As with the first album, the group built their sound by combining harmony, spare arrangements, and unusual instrument choices. Songs like Klein’s “Mercy” created a loose, relaxed groove, while Russell’s “Movin’ On” added a resonant, soulful quality. One of the most noted additions on the new album was C.R. Avery’s contribution to “Take the Long Way” and “Driving.” The compositions opened up for Avery’s word poems consisting of a barrage of images and references. Guest appearances also graced a number of the tracks on Vagabond Lullabies. Frazey Ford and Sam Parton from the Be Good Tanyas added harmony, as did folk-punk performer Ani DiFranco. Produced by the band with John Raham, Vagabond Lullabies showed the band growing in new and exciting directions. This time, Po’ Girl chose to release the album on Nettwerk, affording the release a wider distribution.

Critics gave Vagabond Lullabies an upbeat reception. “This is a sweet little gem showcasing some of the finest acoustic musicians Canada currently has to offer,” wrote Sue Keogh of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Avery‘s contributions were likewise noted. “Hip hop poet C.R. Avery effectively adds spoken word passages to a couple of songs,” wrote Mike Regenstreif in Sing Out!.

In 2004 Po’ Girl also embarked on 13-date tour of England that included a three-day festival in Glasgow. “Anyone who liked the Tanyas,” wrote Steve Johnson in England’s Birmingham Evening Mail, “is sure to appreciate Po’ Girl, with the band creating nostalgic musical reminders of days gone by.” Keogh concurred: “Try and catch them on their UK tour this autumn—it’ll be the most quietly charming gig you’ll enjoy all year.”

At the beginning of 2006, Klein continued to juggle her roles in Po’ Girl and the Be Good Tanyas. Both bands planned to release albums in 2006. “It’s been a very hectic two or three years—I don’t seem to have stopped really,” Klein told Johnson, “but when you are doing something this enjoyable it doesn’t matter.”

Meanwhile, Po’ Girl continued to tour at the beginning of 2006, traveling to Oregon, California, New Mexico, and Texas. Speaking of the band’s inner workings and growing fan base, Klein told Johnson, “We all get on really well together and so far our audiences have really taken to our sound.” By radically re-imagining how folk music can be performed, these “urban minstrels,” as an early bio described the group, have attracted a new generation to folk music. “Obviously, Po’ Girl is being recognized as a musicians’ band,” wrote Cindy Filipenko in Herizons. “Let’s hope they get equal acclaim as a music lovers’ band.”

Among musicians who worked alongside Jake Blount I am particularly interested in listening more to Tatiana Hargreaves (right), who is beautifully categorised on her web site as old-time, bluegrass and beyond !

Over the past decade, Tatiana Hargreaves has been on the forefront of an up and coming generation of old time, bluegrass and new acoustic musicians. From placing first at the Clifftop Appalachian Fiddle Contest, to her bluegrass fiddling on Laurie Lewis’ GRAMMY-nominated album The Hazel And Alice Sessions,

photo tim Obrien I am sure that my buddy and Sidetracks and Detours Americana correspondent, Peter Pearson  will know all about this lady, but if by any chance he doesn´t I am sure he will move straight into search mode when I tell him that one of his heroes, fiddle player Tim O´Brien, has said in print that Tatania has feet planted in tradition. and has, in recent years, flowered into an artist of increasing originality. She is one to watch !  She’s one to watch

Hargreaves shows a musical fluency that flows between old time and bluegrass worlds with ease. She has toured with musicians such as Dave Rawlings, Gillian Welch, Laurie Lewis, Darol Anger, Bruce Molsky and Jake Blount. She currently tours with banjo extraordinaire Allison de Groot and teaches bluegrass fiddle at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Tatiana’s duo with Allison de Groot has been described as a “can’t-miss pair in 2019,” by Paste Magazine, and their rendition of Alice Gerrard’s song “Beaufort County Jail” was included in Rolling Stone Country’s “10 Best Country and Americana Songs to Hear.” Their album on Free Dirt Records is a powerful opening statement and “dives deep into the old-time style and comes up with something wonderfully fresh” (Vinyl District). De Groot & Hargreaves create a sound that is adventurous, masterful, and original, as they expand on the eccentricities of old songs, while never losing sight of what makes those songs endure. The duo not only showcases impressive musicianship, but reflects on which voices we seek to hear as we explore the expansive, diverse canon of American roots music. Their self-titled album released in 2019 was nominated for IBMA Liner Notes of the Year

Tatiana’s band “Hard Drive” features Sonya Badigian, Aaron Tacke and Nokosee Fields and incorporates a combination of old-time, bluegrass and Texas fiddle repertoire. From brother duets to raging fiddle tunes, Hard Drive brings a sense of deep intuition and silliness to the world that encompasses old-time, country, and bluegrass. The Bluegrass Situation described the band as “a delightful subversion of our expectations of what traditional bluegrass is supposed to be.”

As an educator, Tatiana draws upon her performing experience as well as her academic background to combine history with musical technique and stylistic commentary, engaging her students with more than just the tunes. She currently teaches bluegrass fiddle at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and has taught at music camps such as Augusta Heritage Center’s old-time week, The Swanannoa Gathering and the Rockygrass Academy. She has also presented about the history of old-time and bluegrass music at academic institutions such as Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina and  El Institute Superior del Arte (ISA) in Havana, Cuba.

In 2012 and 2013, Tatiana participated in the prestigious Acoustic Music Seminar at the Savannah Music Festival, collaborating with other young musicians to explore contemporary approaches to traditional music. Here she met bassist Ethan Jodziewicz (Sierra Hull), with whom she recorded an EP in 2015.

In the winter of 2015 Hargreaves also participated in the Dosti Music Project, a State Department funded program that brought together musicians from Pakistan, India and the US for a month of musical diplomacy and collaboration. With Dosti, Hargreaves held a residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts and performed at venues such as Snug Harbor in New Orleans, LA and SXSW in Austin, TX.  (check out our free archives to find articles on SXSW !)

In 2016, Hargreaves spent three months in Havana, Cuba studying the history of Cuban violin music under the tutelage of Cary Diez at the Fundación Alejo Carpentier as a part of the Hampshire in Havana program.

ALSO IN THE SHADED PART OF A VENN DIAGRAM

Tatiana graduated from Hampshire College in 2017 with a BA degree in music and a Five College Ethnomusicology certificate. Her Division III thesis “That One Time at Fiddle Camp…: The Emergence of the Fiddle Camp Phenomenon and its Influence on Contemporary American Fiddle Music,” explores the history of fiddle camps and the social and musical components that make up fiddle camp culture.

Hargreaves moved to Durham, North Carolina in 2017 and has been spending time digitizing photos for Alice Gerrard, and contributed to the documentary You Gave Me A Song: a film about Alice Gerrard.

Rachell Eddy, (left,) another musical associate of Jake Blount, is a native of West Virginia who grew up in a musical family steeped in the traditions of Appalachian music and dance. Now based in Washington, D.C., she is known throughout the world as both a dynamic, emotionally powerful performer and an engaging, thoughtful teacher. Rachel’s soulful singing and multi-instrumental finesse—including fiddle, banjo, guitar, and mandolin—may be heard on numerous solo and collaborative recordings as well as at dances and jam sessions, where Rachel is dedicated to fostering community and sharing a love of music with others.

Rachel’s performances, workshops, and festival appearances have featured both a creative range as a soloist and an energetic engagement with fellow musicians part of various ensembles, including the Ken and Brad Kolodner Quartet, the Early Mays, and a European tour with Uncle Earl. Rachel has shared a passion for music teaching at the Alabama Folk School, Augusta Heritage Center, Common Ground, Kauffman Kamp, Nashville Fiddle and Banjo Camp, Sore Fingers, and many others. While living in Sweden from 2008-14, Rachel invigorated the Swedish old-time scene and inspired dozens of people to take up Appalachian music and dance. Always up for new artistic challenges, Rachel collaborated on the soundscape for, and performed in, the Indiana Repertory Theatre’s 2019 performance of Amber Waves.

A passionate teacher, Rachel regularly teaches private lessons as well as workshops. They are committed to ensuring an inclusive classroom, in which all students can succeed and experience the joy of developing their own musical talents—whether as beginners or long-time players. Indeed, Rachel’s students frequently remark on their teacher’s ability to lead them through a well-thought-out musical journey that leaves them more deeply connected with their instruments and inner creativity.

Rachel has four full-length albums: The Morgantown Rounders (2006); Hand on the Plough (solo, 2008); Chilly Winds (with Kristian Herner, 2010); and Nothin’ But Corn(solo, 2014). Among other recent projects, Rachel produced and performed on Roger Netherton’s eponymous debut album (2018), and was featured on Ken and Brad Kolodner’s The Swift House (2017). As part of the trio The Early Mays, Rachel has also recorded Chase the Sun (2017). Rachel has a variety of other projects underway for release in 2019 and beyond.

Haselden (Hasee / “HAY-zee”) Ciaccio (“see-AH-ko”) [she/they] is a performer, maker, studio musician and educator residing in Cove Creek, NC. Born and raised on the Low Country coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, she made her way to the Mountain South in 2010 to study traditional Appalachian music and culture at East Tennessee State University. Hasee drives the upright bass with honed skill and conviction well beyond their years, moving listeners at festivals, intimate venues, and concert halls alike. In recent years, they have toured and recorded with artists among the likes of the timeless and legendary Laurie Lewis, the all star bluegrass band Sister Sadie, the trailblazing Alice Gerrard and the visionary Jake Blount. During Hasee’s time with Sister Sadie, the band regularly appeared on Nashville’s own “The Grand Ole Opry”, and brought home various International Bluegrass Music Association Awards, including “Entertainer of the Year” in 2020, the industry’s highest honour, which had never previously been awarded to an all cis-female group. Throughout Hasee’s years as a performer, they have shared the stage with artists among the likes of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Del McCoury, Molly Tuttle, Dale Ann Bradley, and David Grisman, playing at such notable venues as New York City’s Lincoln Center, PBS’s Song of the Mountains, and San Francisco’s “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.” While off tour, you might find her foraging for wild mushrooms or medicinal native plants along the Laurel Fork River, tracking a session at a regional recording studio, or sitting on the porch at their home in Western North Carolina.

In 2018, Hasee was a nominee for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Instrumentalist of the Year in the Momentum Award category.

Haselden toured to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Africa in 2014 with the North Carolina stringband The Barefoot Movement as an Ambassador of Bluegrass with the United States Embassy. While in Burkina Faso, The Barefoot Movement performed for the Embassy’s nationally broadcasted Independence Day Celebration, and were fortunate to spend time exchanging song and dance with local orphanages, women’s homes, and primary schools.

In 2014, the International Bluegrass Music Association recognized The Barefoot Movement as the “Band of the Year” in the Momentum Award category. A pioneering member of the innovative roots stringband, Haselden toured with The Barefoot Movement for 5 years.

Haselden attended East Tennessee State University from 2010-2014, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bluegrass, Oldtime, and Country Music, with a minor in Appalachian Studies. While attending, Haselden was a member of the university’s esteemed Oldtime Pride Band.

Haselden enjoys teaching at roots music camps, and works with folks in all age groups. She has previously taught at The Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camp: Southern Week, GrandTarghee Music Camp, Bluegrass Camps for Kids, Folk College, and serves as a faculty instructor at Mountain Music School in Big Stone Gap, VA.

In 2018, Hasee released her debut Old Time String Band album, “Hay.” It features top performers of the Old Time realm.

In 2021 Hasee was  apart of the collaborative supergroup recording “Tune Hash: Covered & Smothered.” The album features the George Jackson, Frank Evans, Amy Alvey and Mark Kilianski.

Jake Blount has also collaborated with Adia Victoria, who describes her own music as ´gothic blues although Media Outlets such as Rocnation generally refer to her as a Southern Blues rocker, Adia Victoria is a daughter of the South, born on July 22, 1986 and bred in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Adia Victoria now makes her home outside of Nashville, Tennessee. It is no surprise, then, that stories of the South find their way into her music, into the lyrics she pens and the chords she plays. It has been the case through her first two albums—2016’s Beyond the Bloodhounds and 2019’s Silences—and it remained so for her third full-length effort, A Southern Gothic — released in fall of 2021. Working with her creative partner, Mason Hickman to write and produce the 14 tracks on her latest album, the project saw further collaborations with Executive Producer T-Bone Burnett, along with Jason Isbell, Margo Price, and more. On the album, Adia continues her journey through the conflicts of the American South and the troubling resonance of its past. In 2021, SONOS launched “Call & Response”, a weekly podcast hosted by Adia, where she’s interviewed notable talents such as Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard, and Tressie McMillan Cottom, amongst many others.

A Southern Gothic landed on numerous year-end lists including Rolling Stone and also Good Morning America who noted, “A Southern Gothic sounds like something from another century, making it one of the most unusually stirring records of the year.” Paste, the best on line muisc site for our kind of music said, “Adia Victoria doesn’t just have a way with words, she’s a storyteller. Anchored in the present, yet steeped in the history and literature of an inclusive South, Victoria has a sharp eye for detail that informs the songs on A Southern Gothic,” and NPR declared “Victoria crafts stunning, heat-infused blues vignettes that brilliantly capture the painful depth of Southern racism and the frustrations and complications of being a Black woman in the south.”

Boasting a Top-10 debut on the Billboard Blues Chart, the project received a nomination for Album of the Year and garnered Adia a nomination for Emerging Act of the Year from the Americana Music Association Awards..

Corey Apo on the All Music site describes how with a sound rooted in American punk and rugged heartland rock, singer/songwriter Dave Hause has spent two decades building up a sturdy catalogue both as a solo artist and as frontman for mid-2000s punk outfit  The Loved Ones. Already a scene veteran and survivor of numerous Philadelphia punk bands, Hause led The Loved Ones through a pair of rousing full-lengths on Fat Wreck Chords before going solo with 2011’s more songwriter-oriented Resolutions. When his former band finally fizzled out a year or two later, he carried on with his burgeoning solo career, combining Americana tones and socially driven lyrics with punk spirit on albums like 2017’s Bury Me In Philly and2019’s Kick, both of which featured help from his musician brother Tim Hause.

 In 2020, Hause offered up a unique double-EP paying tribute to two different artists. Titled Patty / Paddy he covered songs by Americana singer Patty Griffith and Dillinger Four front man Paddy Costello 

Jake Blount has also crossed the path of Adeem The Artist.

Harvested in the roaming hills of the lower piedmont mountains, Adeem the Artist´s web site informs us that he  reimagines the soundscape of the greater American South. In short bursts of literary folk songs that draw inspiration from a full library of greater Roots sounds, Adeem traverses the complexities of political, racial violence and disparate realities with humour and elasticity. 

Frenetic & electrifying; their live performances nest in the intersection of stand-up comedy, social commentary, and well-seasoned country songs that follow the likes of Tyler Childers in expanding the genre. Their thematic albums and confounding one-person-show invite audiences to lead with curiosity, disarm their expectations, and warm up to the dialogue.

LIKE-MINDED FOLK?

Molly Tuttle, left, is an artist recommended to me by both Andrew Warwick in South Korea and Peter Pearson of All Points Forward. It is appropriate that we mention her at this time as she has a new album out on 15^th August 2025.

Molly Tuttle’s forthcoming solo album, So Long Little Miss Sunshine follows the dissolution of her band Golden Highway. The album, produced by Jay Joyce, features 11 original tracks and a cover of Icona Pop and Charli XCX’s “I Love It.” The first single, That’s Gonna Leave a Mark, is now available. Tuttle will also be touring with a new, all-female band this summer. 

Another artist who has worked with Jake Blount is Libby Weitnauer, a fiddle player, violinist, songwriter, and educator currently based in Nashville, Tennessee but raised on the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. She has earned degrees in classical violin performance from both DePaul University and New York University and has studied traditional music with teachers including Matt Brown, Rayna Gellert, and GRAMMY Award winner Dom Flemons. While at NYU, Weitnauer served on adjunct faculty teaching undergraduate students and immersed herself in the musical community of New York City. It was during this time that she met banjo-fiddler Jake Blount with whom she formed the acclaimed duo, Tui.

Their debut album, Pretty Little Mister was named Best North American album of 2019 by World Music Central.

Libby has more recently with a Broadway revival of Oklahoma and has also toured with Kelsey Waldon and, of course, with her own indie-folk project Dallas Ugly.

Jake Blount recovers artists like The Kronos Quartet, musicians who, under that name have, for nearly fifty years now, re-imagined what the string quartet experience can be

David Harrington, (violin) Gabriela Diaz (violin, Hank Dut (viola) and Ayane Kozasa (cello)  have become one of the most celebrated influential groups of the era. They have delivered thousands of concerts all over the world and have released more than seventy recordings. They have, typically of musicians in this maelstrom of cross genres, collaborated with this world´s most accomplished composers and have built island in the streams of water pouring from hundreds of springs. Amongst more than forty major awards they have claimed three Grammys and the Polar Music, Avery Fisher and Edison Klassick Oeuvre Prizes.

Even as a not-for-profit organisation The Kronas Performing Arts has commissioned more than 1,000 works and arrangements for quartet. KPPA also manages The Kronas Quartet tour itineraries, local performances, recordings and educational programmes as well as The Kronas Annual Festival in San Francisco in San Francisco.

KPPA´s most ambitious commissioning project is the 50 For The Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. This initiative has distribute, on line, for free, 50 new works for string quartet, designed for aspiring students and professional musicians. The works have been written by composers from around the world.

Finally, we found an on-line site for Mali Obomsawin (right), a bassist, vocalist, songwriter and composer. She is a citizen of Odanak First Nation.

The site tells us, in a text alongside a great photo-shot oif her taken by Bren Wyona, that Obomsawin’s bold artistry punctures the complacency of colonial time with irresistible sound. An international touring artist and celebrated accompanist, her current projects include her eponymous experimental ensemble, the rock band Deerlady, and the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band. Obomsawin’s expansive artistic practice models the complexity of 21st century Indigenous art.

Mali has been blessed to study and perform with notable musicians including Esperanza Spalding, Taylor Ho Bynum, Dave Holland, Angelica Sanchez, Kris Davis, Billy Hart, Jeff Parker, Peter Apfelbaum, Craig Harris, Bill Cole, Althea Sully-Cole, Tomas Fujiwara, Mike Formanek, and more…

I guess it is stating the obvious that a good number of the artists mentioned in these pages were already familiar to me because of their work in the Americana genre, but I have to say most of the people spoken of here, including Jake Blount (left), are names I had never heard before. Of course it is great to get to know so many obviously talented singers, songwriters and musicians (my first listen to them confirmed that) , but what I am so excited about is their eclectic approach to their work. I love the fact that clearly love music and are turning over the soil in areas we might have thought had become barren, but they also planting new seeds, nurturing and bring top maturity new music, and even new genres of music.

GENERATIONAL RECIPROCITY

Our title of this article being Generational Reciprocity is a reflection of the fact that old ancestors who first sowed the seeds would be delighted to hear the depth and breadth of  how mighty the oak trees have grown form tiny acorns.

I do love the fact that so many young students of this music have now become teachers, advocating collaboration and sharing.

This expansive list of those creating these new catalogue of new music, or if not, striving just as hard to discover and revive lost old music is still not complete. However I am confident that there is here plenty of new music and musicians for you to enjoy. If you discover more as you explore our recommendations please feel free to let us know at

normanwarwick55@gmail.com

and we will put their names in the shaded place on the Venn Diagram.

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