The Front Porch teams with Appalachian State University professor and folklorist Cece Conway to explore West African influences and instruments through the folk akonting and the griot ngoni, which can be traced to the modern banjo. The Black and Global Roots Music Project will also feature Piedmont blues performed by Jeffrey Scott, whose mastery is carried forward from his legendary uncle, John Jackson, who handed over the torch before his death. “He said I’ve got to take the blues,” Scott told the Washington Times. “He said that it was just like being in a relay race. You have to take the blues and pass it on to someone else before you go.” Duos Seth Swingle and Fiona Balestrieri as well as Jake Blount and Tatiana Hargreaves will also perform.
