Coming up next to the SLOfolks stage is a winner of the 2021 Steve Martin Banjo Prize and two-time winner of West Virginia's Appalachian String Band Music Festival, Jake Blount. A specialist in the early folk music of Black Americans, Jake is a skilled performer of spirituals, blues, and string band repertoire. His show will promise not only a display of his incredible musical prowess but also will immerse you into a spinning history of American root music and the significant influence of Black Americans on it - reaching deep into Negro slave spirituals, old-time, country, and even a little jazz.
Jake has presented his scholarly work at museums and universities including the Smithsonian Institution, Berklee College of Music, and Yale University, and has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Newport Folk Festival, and numerous other venues across and beyond the United States.