Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Radio

In this Deep Blues episode, we sit down with Billy Branch, Emmy Award winner, 3-time Grammy nominee, 2020 Blues Hall of Fame inductee, and living legend of the Chicago Blues tradition. Discovered by Willie Dixon and mentored by the late Carey Bell, Billy Branch has spent over five decades shaping, performing, and preserving the Blues. From recording with icons like Koko Taylor and Taj Mahal to pio...

On this episode of Jack Dappa Blues, I sit down with the legendary Chicago Beau (Lincoln T. Beauchamp Jr.)—musician, author, publisher, poet, cultural commentator, and one of the great living voices of Black music and Blues culture. For decades, Chicago Beau has created, documented, and protected Black artistic expression through music, literature, and fearless storytelling. Together, we explore a...

What happens when a classically trained violinist reclaims the roots of Black folk, Blues, and community power? In this robust conversation, I sit down with Benjamin Hunter, Artistic Director of Northwest Folklife and co-founder of Black & Tan Hall, to explore the intersections of music, memory, and modern-day folklore.🖤 Ben Hunter isn’t just playing music—he’s cultivating spaces where memory...

Tonight’s live broadcast, “You Have a Home, Part 2,” is a community update and a homecoming message for Blues People. We’re sharing what’s next as we prepare to live broadcast on WPBR, We The Blues People Radio Network, and the Reflexive Podcast on Patreon, expanding the ways our community can gather, learn, and stay connected. We’ll walk through the rhythm of our programming, our Thursday night s...

Tony Kail, Memphis Hoodoo, and the Spiritual Traditions of the Black SouthWhat is Black American Folk Belief? And what does it have to do with the Blues? In this episode, cultural anthropologist and author Tony Kail, whose work documenting Memphis Hoodoo and the Beale Street Hoodoo History and Folklife Museum helps preserve the stories of African American healers, rootworkers, and spiritual practi...

Presented by: Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation In partnership with The African American Folklorist This in-depth session brings together leaders grounded in Indigenous identity, tribal sovereignty, and reclamation work to guide participants through the process of connecting and reconnecting families to tribal ancestry . 💬 One powerful takeaway? Blood quantum doesn’t equal identit...

What does it mean to speak the truth of the Blues on the very soil where our ancestors were enslaved? In this live broadcast, Lamont Jack Pearley—traditional Bluesman, folklorist, and founder of the Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation—reflects on being invited to present his original scholarship on Blues Ecology at Hopson Plantation, once home to Blues legend Pinetop Perkins. As we c...

Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Radio presents:Mojo Workin’: Dr. Katrina Hazzard-Donald on Hoodoo, Blues, and the Black Belt TraditionIn this culturally rich and significant episode of Jack Dappa Blues Radio, we welcome renowned folklorist, sociologist, and dance scholar Dr. Katrina Hazzard-Donald for an in-depth discussion on Black Belt Hoodoo, Blues culture, and African American sacred traditions. In...

Creole Roots, Sinners, and Gravediggers Bluesman, actor, and cultural preservationist Chris Thomas King joins Jack Dappa Blues Radio to uncover the real story of the Blues — from the juke joints of Louisiana to the haunting depths of Gravedigger Gonna Cut You Down . We talk Creole identity, his film Sinners , the founding of the Blues Origin Institute , and why the Blues didn’t start in the Delta...

Each month, The African American Folklorist honors a Black scholar whose life’s work is immersed in the deep study and preservation of African American folkways, knowledge systems, and community truth-telling. For June, we recognize Dr. Elisha Oliver, a biocultural anthropologist, visual ethnographer, and Executive Director of Texas Folklife, as our African American Folklorist of the Month. Dr. Ol...

The Blues as Black Sonic Folklore: Part 2:"Hard Ground and High Water: The Blues of Survival and Struggle"We continue our Black Music Month series by diving into the Blues as a witness to environmental crisis and class struggle. Featuring music by Bessie Smith, Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Lead Belly, we explore how songs about flood, drought, and urban segregation serve as...

In this episode of Jack Dappa Blues Radio, we welcome Kandia Crazy Horse, Afro-Indigenous musician, rock critic, author, and frontwoman of the genre-defying band Cactus Rose NYC. From the newsroom to the stage, Kandia has blazed a singular trail across rock, country, and Americana—reclaiming sound as a site of cultural sovereignty, survival, and storytelling. We dive into her legacy as editor of R...

In this kickoff episode for Black Music Month, Jack Dappa Blues Radio explores the Blues as Black folklore, not just as music, but as cultural testimony, survival strategy, and sonic memory. Through the voices of Tommy Johnson, Mance Lipscomb, Rube Lacy, Charley Patton, and Blind Lemon Jefferson, we treat Blues lyrics as living archives, capturing addiction, emotional depth, environmental trauma,...

🎙️ REPLAY: The Blues Narrative — The Next Chapter of the Slave Narratives Originally aired: Late March Broadcast | 9 PM CST Presented by: Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation In partnership with The African American Folklorist and We The Blues People We are proud to share the full replay of our special broadcast that launched a new chapter in our cultural memory work — The Blues Narra...

In this episode, we dive back into the film Sinners, not just as a movie, but as a cultural reckoning. We’re breaking down how the film tells a deeper story about Black American folklife, Blues culture, and the enduring legacy of Blues People. This time, we’re not just exploring themes; we’re getting into the characters, the plot, and the ways they reveal the real-life struggle between tradition a...

In this episode of The African American Folklorist, we honor Dr. Ebony Bailey as Folklorist of the month of May. Dr. Bailey is a dynamic scholar, writer, and cultural worker whose groundbreaking research intersects Black Literature and Folklore. Dr. Bailey explores how African Americans have historically been both represented as “the folk” and how they have powerfully redefined that term through l...

Jack Dappa Blues Radio Live – Sunday Night EditionEpisode: Spirit Work, Hoodoo & Black Southern Cosmologies: Conjure, Pentecost, and the BluesIn this deeply spiritual and culturally rich episode, Jack Dappa Blues Radio Live explores the sacred intersections of Blues music, Hoodoo, Black Southern Pentecostalism, and Afro-Indigenous folk beliefs. Host and folklorist Lamont Jack Pearley guides li...

In this month’s episode of The African American Folklorist, we shine a spotlight on Dr. Constance Bailey—Assistant Professor of African American Literature and Folklore at Georgia State University, and an innovative scholar whose research explores Black women’s comedy, speculative fiction, and African American oral traditions. A native of Natchez, Mississippi, Dr. Bailey’s work is grounded in the...

In this special episode, we sit down with Kelle Jolly, the self-described "Affrilachian-Georgia-lina-Peach", whose music and storytelling embody the rich cultural tapestry of the Appalachian South. A celebrated folk artist, community builder, and ukulele virtuoso, Kelle shares the inspiration behind her latest book, Lady Fay Ukulele, and the deep significance of its story. We’ll explore how her ro...

The blues is more than just music—it’s history, it’s storytelling, and it’s the soul of Black American life. In this compelling live broadcast, we explore Writing the Blues—the ways Black authors, poets, and filmmakers have infused their works with the rhythm, pain, resilience, and triumph of the blues. From Langston Hughes’ poetic blues verses to Alice Walker’s deeply emotional narratives, from A...

Join us for a real, Blues People conversation about the blues on Jack Dappa Blues Radio! In this live broadcast, I—Lamont Jack Pearley, a traditional blues artist and folklorist—will take you deep into the blues as an oral tradition in the American South. The blues ain’t just music; it’s a living, breathing record of our history. It carries the voices, struggles, and triumphs of Black American lif...

In this electrifying episode of Jack Dappa Blues, we sit down with the powerhouse that is Honeychild Coleman—a pioneering force in the world of punk, blues, and avant-garde music. A Louisville native and Brooklyn-based artist, Honeychild’s journey has taken her from busking in the New York subway to collaborating with legends like The Slits, Mad Professor, and Greg Tate’s Burnt Sugar Arkestra. As...

Dr. Raymond Summerville joins me, as he is the African American Folklorist of February, to discuss the importance of having more Black Folklore scholars in the field to lead the discourse of our narrative, traditions, literature, and the dissemination of found research that represents the Black American experience. He also dives into his beginnings and what inspired him to write his book, In Prove...

On this episode, speak with Dr. Anika Wilson, The African American Folklorist of the Month for March! Wilson discusses her book, methodology, scholarship, and positionality as a Black Academic in the field. Anika Wilson  (she/her) is Associate Professor and former chair of the Department African and African Diaspora Studies at UW-Milwaukee . She earned her doctorate in Folklore and Folklife Studie...

🎙️ From Slave Seculars to The Blues: Preserving & Conserving Black American Folklore Pt. 2 – The Legacy of Black Spirituals and Hymnals 🎶Join us for Part 2 of our deep dive into the evolution of Black American music, as we explore how Black Spirituals, hymnals, and Slave Seculars informed the Blues. In this episode, we uncover the sacred and secular traditions that shaped the foundation of th...