Jake Blount
Hickory – Music fans will enjoy a change of venue for a special Sails Original Music Series concert, featuring multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Jake Blount, at the Samuel Davis Multipurpose Field in Hickory this Friday, September 16, at 7 p.m.
Jake Blount is an award-winning musician and scholar based in Providence, Rhode Island. He is half of the internationally touring duo Tui, a 2020 recipient of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize, and a two-time winner of the Appalachian String Band Music Festival (better known as Clifftop).
“Drawing upon old-time, bluegrass, and blues influences, Jake Blount specializes in the traditional music of African Americans and indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands,” said Bob Sinclair, coordinator for the Sails Original Music Series.
Blount, an expert in the early folk music of Black Americans, is a skilled performer of spirituals, blues, and string band repertoire. Blount has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Newport Folk Festival, and numerous other venues across and beyond the United States. He has presented his scholarly work at museums and universities including the Smithsonian Institution, Berklee College of Music, and Yale University. His writing has appeared in Paste Magazine, No Depression, and NPR, and he has been a guest on Radiolab and Soundcheck.
His first solo album, Spider Tales, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart, received positive coverage from NPR, Rolling Stone, and Billboard among others, and earned five out of five stars as The Guardian’s Folk Album of the Month. Spider Tales later appeared on “Best of 2020” lists from NPR, Bandcamp, The New Yorker, the Guardian, and elsewhere. His latest album, The New Faith, is slated for release as part of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings’ African American Legacy Series on September 23.
Samuel Davis Multipurpose Field (730 Third Street SW) sits on the corner of Seventh Avenue SW and Third Street SW in Hickory, across from Brown Penn Recreation Center. Audience members are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets to enjoy the show.
The music series continues this month with free concerts at 7 p.m. every Friday in September. Randall Bramblett Band will perform on Union Square on September 23. Lonesome Ace Stringband will finish out the series on September 30.
For more information about the Sails Original Music Series and upcoming bands, please visit www.HickoryNC.gov/SailsMusic and follow the Sails Original Music Series Facebook page, www.facebook.com/SailsMusic.
