Dom Flemons w/ Kevin Burt 11/24/18 East Rock Concert Series

I recently joined a gym in my neighborhood on Nicoll St. called mActivity that caters to the growing hip young population in this area. New, clean, and easily accessible were reasons to join. A pleasant ( and seemingly targeted at me!) bonus is the East Rock Concert Series, a cache of folk-oriented shows promoted by local scenester Fernando Pinto. The music takes place in the sizable loungey front room of mActivity. Opener Kevin Burt was a big fella blues man who had a penchant for blues-afying pop tunes. He sat playing a gorgeous resonator guitar for tunes like Eleanor Rigby and Smack Dab in the Middle. Closed with an excellent cover of The Doobie Brothers' Long Train Runnin. Burt explained that the International Blues challenge, where hundreds of performers compete in Memphis , had never had a triple crown winner, until he won the honors last year.
Dom Flemons is a self-proclaimed "American Songster", an archivist and historian of the African American music legacy. He was also one third of the now defunct Carolina Chocolate Drops ( note the 11/13/18 blog post). Flemons is a true multi -instrumentalist, on this evening he showcased: rhythm bones, quills, harmonicas, acoustic guitars, and a variety of banjos including one made out of a gourd. Listening to Flemons is like getting a musical history lesson on country and bluegrass. He payed homage to Bill Monroe at The Grand Ole Opry. He scatted through some gospel tunes. He made reference to a collaborative folk project with the legendary British guitarist Martin Simpson. He took the audience on a tour of the south with tunes by Elizabeth Cotton and Ella Jenkins. Flemons gave props to his Carolina mentor by opening with the standard Cindy Gal. It seems fitting that Smithsonian Folkways ( and the legacy of Alan Lomax), sponsored Dom's recent Black Cowboy record. Songs were covers or inspired by Flemons' research into the genre. One striking story was of the Lone Ranger who was an African American US Marshall who spent time on a reservation before embarking on his perfect record of rounding up bad guys.  On the back of his custom gourd banjo, there was a drawing of Dom with his wife and young child with some birds flying forward but their beaks facing back. He explained the bird depiction was from an Ashanti proverb " fetch it back"' where there is power in learning the past past while carrying it forward. Very enjoyable listen at yet another new venue in the area.