Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Radio

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 close out Black Music History Month, t...

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 this episode, we explore:The African...

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 — it started in Louisiana.

This is the Bl...

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. Oliver’s scholarship is rooted in live...

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 time capsules, preserving Black eco...

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 Rip It Up: The Black Experience in Ro...

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, and coded cultural critique.We exam...

🎙️ 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 Narrative.

This powerful episode exp...

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 and transformation.Rather than just ...

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 literature, activism, and cultural i...

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 listeners through a journey of ancest...

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 richness of Southern Black culture, ...

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 roots, influences, and passion for tra...

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 August Wilson’s stage masterpieces to...

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 life, passed down through song, rhythm,...

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 the frontwoman of blues-punk outfit ...

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 Proverb Masters: Shaping the Civil Right...

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 Studies at the University of Pennsylvan...

🎙️ 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 the blues, from the sorrowful expres...