Downward Road News Today

Catamount Arts ArtPort Jake Blount performs at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10 at Catamount Arts ArtPort, Green Mountain Mall, 2000 Memorial Drive in St. Johnsbury. Tickets are $20; call 802-748-2600

"I have long felt a powerful draw to the old spirituals passed down in my community,” says Jake Blount in the liner notes of his 2022 album, “The New Faith”

If you ever listened to Jake Blount’s music, it defies description, making it unforgettable. He describes his style as "playing fiddle and banjo from Black and Native American musicians, mostly in the Southeastern United States."

If you ever listened to Jake Blount’s music, it defies description, making it unforgettable. He describes his style as "playing fiddle and banjo from Black and Native-American musicians, mostly in the Southeastern United States."

If you ever listened to Jake Blount’s music, it defies description, making it unforgettable. He describes his style as "playing fiddle and banjo from Black and Native American musicians, mostly in the Southeastern United States."

If you ever listened to Jake Blount’s music, it defies description, making it unforgettable. He describes his style as "playing fiddle and banjo from Black and Native American musicians, mostly in the Southeastern United States."

The nightly PBS NewsHour has provided weeks of intensive coverage of the Pakistani flooding blaming “climate change.” Now the news show is sneaking it into arts coverage as well – in folk song. Retro-folk musician James Blount’s visions of environmental apocalypse were found worthy of a full segment on the Tuesday evening show, courtesy of Special Correspondent Tom Casciato: “Jake Blount’s new twist on Black American folk music.”

The musician, who is performing Sunday in Portland, tells a dystopian story through Black folk songs and spoken word on 'The New Faith.'

At turns both spoken and sung, the song revives a Weird Old America standby.

The folk singer-songwriters latest album continues a dark, deep, and intelligent sonic progression growing in popularity and critical acclaim.