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

Rory Block offers blues takes on female pop hits. The best songs on 'Ain't Nobody Worried' showcase her soulful guitar playing as much as her expressive voice.

The pandemic years unleashed waves of musical discovery for many artists, and a look back at past work; and in some cases, material that an artist long

Son House is regarded as one of the greats of early blues, along with early recording stars like Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. He made 78rpm records in the 1930s but a spell in penitentiary halted his career and by the 1940s he had abandoned recording. It wasn't until 1964 that Nick Perls, Dick Waterman and Phil Spiro "rediscovered" him working at a gas station. He was completely unaware of the interest in folk blues at the time (Skip James and Bukka White were already playing crossover folk clubs).

Americana music is full of conversion stories - artists who didn’t grow up amid the traditions they inhabit but who, like Paul on the road to Damascus, experienced a revelation. Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch discovered country and bluegrass music as young adults and made it their own, in two famous examples. Cristina Vane had a similar epiphany, but she had to travel farther to manifest it.