Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Radio Folgen

Presented as part of The African American Folklorist Black Advocacy Issue, the Black Advocacy Symposium brings together public testimony, cultural memory, and practical community guidance for families and communities navigating institutional harm.This episode centers Black Americans first—because our communities have too often been forced to learn how to respond to tragedy, protect our loved ones’ stories, confront systems of power, and demand justice while carrying grief. At the same time, the conversation welcomes all listeners who are committed to showing up with care, responsibility, and accountability.Featuring Allisa Charles-Findley, sister of Botham Jean, who was killed in Dallas on September 6, 2018, this symposium offers more than remembrance. It provides a people-centered roadmap for what advocacy can look like after tragedy: how families and communities can respond, who they may need to contact, what steps can help protect the narrative, and how advocacy can be sustained beyond the first wave of public attention.Hosted by the Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation, this episode also asks an important question for folklorists, ethnomusicologists, cultural workers, and community scholars: How can our tools serve the people? Through ethical documentation, oral history, community archiving, and narrative stewardship, we explore how cultural workers can support advocates, help families preserve legacy, and strengthen Black community control over our own stories.The Black Advocacy Symposium is both a conversation and a call to responsibility—an invitation to listen, learn, document, protect, and act.

In this long-overdue episode of Jack Dappa Blues, we welcome The Undaunted Professor Harp for a deep and unflinching conversation about Blues, Black history, survival, and truth. Drawing from his memoir, Ain’t No Uncle Tom in My Blues: Life and Times of the Undaunted Professor Harp, Professor Harp reflects on a lifetime in the music—from discovering the harmonica through George “Harmonica” Smith, to sitting in with Muddy Waters, to carrying the weight of being a Black Bluesman in Boston and the New England region for decades.This conversation goes far beyond biography. Professor Harp speaks candidly about racism, appropriation, injustice, under-recognition, perseverance, and the struggle to preserve the Blues as a Black cultural form rooted in lived experience. He reminds us that the Blues is not just entertainment. It is testimony. It is protest. It is memory. It is Black history carried in sound.We also discuss the roots of his stripped-down Texas-style approach, the mentors who helped shape his path, the meaning behind the title “Undaunted,” and his belief that the Blues remains the original protest music in America. Honest, sharp, and deeply grounded, Professor Harp offers a necessary word on what has been lost, what still remains, and why this music still matters.This is not just an interview with a harmonica master. It is a witness statement from a man who has lived the Blues, studied the Blues, fought through the Blues, and never stopped telling the truth about the world that made it.

Join us as we celebrate Michael L. Jones, August’s African American Folklorist for the Month of August 2025, on this special episode of Jack Dappa Blues Radio. Michael is a Louisville‑based journalist, author, and music historian whose award‑winning book Louisville Jug Music: From Earl McDonald to the National Jubilee traces the roots of jug band music and earned the 2015 Samuel Thomas Book Award. A musicologist, ethnomusicologist, historian, and folklorist, Jones straddles many disciplines to document and preserve African American cultural traditions.In this in‑depth conversation, we explore how jug band music emerged along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, drawing on West African rituals, New Orleans “spasm bands” and the melting‑pot soundscapes of Louisville. Jones explains why Louisville’s location on the Ohio River made it an “information superhighway” for Black musicians in the 19th century. By the 1890s there were about thirty active jug bands in the city; Sarah Martin and Whistler’s Jug Band produced the first two jug‑band recordings in 1925, helping to popularize the genre and inspiring groups like the Memphis Jug Band. We discuss the jug as the “poor man’s tuba,” its deep ties to the banjo, and how distilleries soon branded their vessels, embedding jug music into Kentucky culture.Michael also shares his personal journey, from living with indie musicians and writing for LEO Weekly to tracking down descendants of early jug‑band players and becoming a steward of Louisville’s musical memory. He explains why preserving oral histories matters and introduces his latest project, Soulful Sounds of Derbytown, a collaborative book documenting Black music across genres in Louisville. Along the way, he recounts stories of forgotten heroes like blues singer Sarah Martin and explores how Louisville’s vibrant arts community nurtures innovation.Whether you’re a music historian, a blues lover or a curious listener, this episode offers a masterclass in how journalism, folklore and ethnomusicology come together to keep tradition alive. Subscribe and tune in to learn how Louisville’s jug band legacy still resonates today.