Award-winning banjoist, fiddler, and singer Jake Blount, a 2020 recipient of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize, specializes in the music of Black and indigenous communities in the southeastern United States, the regional style of Ithaca, New York, and highlights the experiences of queer people, and people of color in his work.
Through song, and in conversation with folklorist, and clawhammer banjo player Brad Kolodner, Blountshares his unique style, and gives an unprecedented testament to the voices - paradoxically obscured yet profoundly ingrained - in the Appalachian music tradition.
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Jake Blount is an award-winning banjoist, fiddler, singer and ethnomusicologist based in Providence, RI. He is a member of the band The Moose Whisperers, half of the international touring duo Tui, a 2020 Strathmore Artist in Residence, a board member of Bluegrass Pride, and a 2020 recipient of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize, among other awards. Blount has shared his music and research at the Smithsonian Institution, Yale University, and Berklee School of Music, among other venues and institutions.
Specializing in the music of Black communities in the southeastern United States, and in the regional style of the Finger Lakes, Blount interpolates blues, bluegrass and spirituals into the old-time string band tradition he belongs to, placing the experiences of queer people and people of color into the foreground of his work. He has appeared on NPR on broadcasts of Radiolab, Soundcheck and WeekendEdition. He regularly teaches fiddle and banjo at festivals and camps like the Augusta Heritage Center, the Ashokan Center, and Midwest Banjo Camp.
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Brad Kolodner is an award-winning clawhammer banjo player who as performs as Ken & Brad (along with his father, world renowned hammered dulcimer player Ken Kolodner), and with the chart-topping Irish, Old-Time, Bluegrass fusion quartet Charm City Junction. He's performed across the country on some of the biggest stages for folk and roots music including the Kennedy Center, Strathmore, American Folk Festival, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Charm City Bluegrass Festival, and Old Songs Folk Festival. He hosts two weekly radio programs on Bluegrass Country Radio and Radio Bristol featuring the latest releases in Progressive Bluegrass, Americana and Old-Time music. In early 2021, Brad signed on as a daily host for the acclaimed online radio station Folk Alley. He was nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Broadcaster of the Year Award in 2019 and 2020. A resident of Baltimore, Maryland, he co-founded the bi-weekly Baltimore Old Time Jam, the monthly Baltimore Square Dance and the annual Baltimore Old-Time Music Festival.
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