Rivers of Rhythm

This month Steven Lewis chats with Dave Ragland...   Dave Ragland is the founder and Artistic Director of Inversion Vocal Ensemble. Dave is a vocalist, arranger, composer, and pianist. He was a Finalist for the 2013 Valley City State University Composers Competition. Dave has served as Minister of Music for Dixon United Methodist Church and the Wesley Center at Tennessee State University, and is a frequent music director for the Murfreesboro Center for the Arts. Past engagements include Nashville Opera, The Kennedy Center Honors, Nashville Symphony, and Chattanooga Symphony & Opera. Dave is a proud member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Dave is a native of Chattanooga, TN and currently resides in Nashville, TN. 

Today, Steven Lewis chats with Dr. Paul Kwami. In 1994, he was named Musical Director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, becoming the first African to hold this position.  He served as the Chairman of the Fisk Music Department from 1996 to 2003.  Under his directorship, the Singers have received numerous awards including the induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2000, a Grammy Nomination and a Dove Award received for Poor Man Lazarus on the 2002 CD, In Bright Mansions.  Other awards include induction into the Music City Walk of Fame, the Governor’s Folklife Heritage Award and the Recording Academy Honors.  Kwami is the Executive Producer of the recording entitled, Rise, Shine! FiskJubilee Singers, Live In Concert.  He is the Co-Executive Producer of In Bright Mansions. The recording of the latter led to William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC becoming the booking agents for the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Carlos DeFord Bailey is a third generation music maker. His father made a name for himself with R&B in the clubs up and down Jefferson Street in Nashville. His grandfather was the legendary DeFord Bailey, the first person to ever play on the The Grand Ole Opry.  This month, Steven chats with Carlos about his heritage, his personal inspirations and how Nashville has changed over the years.

Dr. Portia Maultsby, Ph.D. is a leading ethnomusicologist who is well respected internationally for her expertise in popular music, African American music and the music industry. She will develop the translation of the museum’s script into an aesthetic interpretation designed to feature the many genres created, impacted and influenced by African Americans. She recently served as a professor at Indiana University in where she taught Folklore and Ethnomusicology and served as director of the Archives of African American Music and Culture. Maultsby has received many honors, fellowships and appointments both nationally and internationally and has published multiple books. Maultsby received her degree from in music theory and composition from Mount St. Scholastica College (renamed Benedictine College), and her doctorate in ethnomusicology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons are songster revivalists who perform acoustic blues, field hollers, fiddle & banjo breakdowns, and early jazz that delights audiences in concerts and workshops nationwide. For seven years, their tours have extended their work as teachers and community organizers in their home of Seattle, Washington. With their unique integration of performance, education and modern-day folklore, this duo redefines the role of a songster in the 21st century. In 2016, they earned 1st place in the International Blues Challenge’s solo/duo category. In July, they released a new album with harmonica master Phil Wiggins entitled “Black & Tan Ball.” Today, Ben & Joe chat with Steven about their music, influences and the importance of tough conversations in the time we live in.

Kaia started her career early, crafting her first EP Old Soul (2013) when she was just out of high school. Since then, she’s gone on to release two more albums, Sorrow Bound (2015) and Nine Pin (2016). Her most recent album weaves between hard-hitting songs that touch on social issues like the Black Lives Matter movement (“Rising Down,” “Paradise Fell”) and more personal narratives speaking to life and love in the digital age (“Saint Elizabeth”). Nine Pin won a Canadian Folk Music Award, a Stingray Rising Star Award and sent Kaia on an 18-month touring journey from Ireland to Iowa, including stops at The Kennedy Center, Hillside Festival and London's O2 Shepherd's Bush. For her third album, Grenades (October 2018, Folkways/acronym Records), she took a decidedly different direction, choosing to lean into a wider array of sounds and styles, in order to convey a wider array of emotions and topics, most notably her paternal ancestry.

Today, Steven chats with Keb' Mo.' Album after album, 14 in total, garnered him 4 GRAMMY awards and a producer/engineer/artist GRAMMY Certificate for his track on the 2001 Country Album of the Year, Hank Williams Tribute – Timeless. He has received 11 GRAMMY nominations, in total, including Country Song of the Year for “I Hope,” co-written with The Dixie Chicks, and 3 alone for his 2014 self-produced release, BLUESAmericana including Americana Album of the Year. Keb’ has also been awarded 11 Blues Foundation Awards and 6 BMI Awards for his work in TV & Film Steven joined Keb' backstage at the Grand Ole' Opry just minutes before Keb' took the historic stage.  

Gwendolyn Brown is the Assistant Professor of Voice at Fisk University.  Professor Brown grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. She attended Fisk University and became part of the legendary Fisk Jubilee Singers. She completed her masters at The University of Memphis and American Conservatory of Music.  Professor Brown is also an accomplished opera singer, performing at opera houses around the world, including; Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Washington National Opera, The New Orleans Opera, and many others.  

Grammy Award winning Dom Flemons is a co-founder of The Carolina Chocolate Drops and renowned musician. Recently, Dom released "Black Cowboys" for the Smithsonian Legacy Recordings.  “Dom Flemons Presents Black Cowboys” sheds a light on the music, culture, and the complex history of the golden era of the Wild West. In this single volume of music, the first of its kind, Dom Flemons explores and reanalyzes this important part of our American identity. The songs and poems featured on the album are meant to take the listener on an illuminating journey from the trails to the rails of the old west. This is a century old story that follows the footsteps of the thousands of African American pioneers that helped build the United States of Americ Steven joined Dom backstage at the Grand Ole Opry on May 11th 2018. There, the spoke of Dom's early influences, the Smithsonian project, and founding The Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Steven Lewis chats with Dr. John Fleming who serves as the Director-In-Residence for the National Museum of African-American Music.  Dr. Fleming discusses his involvement with the civil rights movement, his desire to pursue the clergy, and his decades of work in education and museum development. 

Billy Altman is a Grammy-nominated music critic whose work has appeared in the "New York Times," the" New Yorker," "Rolling Stone," "Esquire," and "People," A longtime editor of "Creem" and former curator for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he teaches a course in music and culture at New York’ s School of Visual Arts. Billy is also working in the development of NMAAM.  Steven chats with Billy about some of his past music museum works, his experiences as a music journalist and some of the music history he has uncovered in his research.