February 23, in person concert with Jake Blount. in the Members Room, LJ-162 of the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street SE, Washington, DC. Steps from Capitol South Metro and a short walk from Union Station! Doors at 5:00 pm, Concert at 6:00 pm.
Entry: The concert is FREE, but visitors will require a free timed-entry pass to the Library, which can be reserved at this link starting 30 days before the concert. Live at the Library festivities begin at 5:00 pm and the concert is at 6:00. When reserving your pass, please select the entry time closest to when you think you’ll arrive at the Library.
Read about the event on the Library of Congress website here
ABOUT THE ARTIST AND CONCERT
A powerfully gifted musician and a scholar of Black American music, Jake Blount speaks ardently about the African roots of the banjo and the subtle, yet profound ways African Americans have shaped and defined the amorphous categories of roots music and Americana. His 2020 album Spider Tales was named one of the year’s best albums by NPR and The New Yorker, and earned a perfect 5-star review from The Guardian. His 2022 album The New Faith is a powerful statement of dystopian Afrofuturism. The New Faith is spiritual music, filled with hope for salvation and righteous anger in equal measure. The album manifests our worst fears on the shores of an island in Maine, where Blount enacts an imagined religious ceremony performed by Black refugees after the collapse of global civilization due to catastrophic climate change.
Jake Blount was born and raised in Washington, DC. About half of the songs on The New Faith were sourced from field recordings in the collections of the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress. FSGW is therefore very happy to bring both Jake and the songs home during African American History Month, working with AFC and other Library offices to present Blount as part of Live! At the Library, a series of Thursday night events in the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building. As part of this special evening, some of the Library’s exhibits will remain open, and refreshments will be available.
More About Jake Blount: https://jakeblount.com
More about the event: https://www.loc.gov/events/
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This is an FSGW Tier 2 event. COVID protocols will be those of the Library of Congress.
- masks are encouraged but not required
General information on Concerts
