BLACK COWBOYS, WASHBOARDS, JUGS & RHYTHM BONES | Songster | Dom Flemons

Dom Flemons, aka The American Songster, is a Grammy-award winning, founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, as well as a solo Piedmont blues, folk, and old-time musician and historian/scholar of American music residing in Chicago, Illinois. After a reading from the memoir of a 19th-century black cowboy, we begin by hearing how folk music, with a focus on the African American contribution, transformed as it migrated with the people from the rural south to the northern cities. From there we dissect three folk instruments: the rhythm bones, stone mason jugs, and washboards with musical examples of each. Dom's early interest in history and literature led the way to his pioneering Black Cowboys Smithsonian Folkways album. He describes his research into this forgotten chapter of American history and his collecting of folk stories & cowboy poems. We come to an end on this musical episode with a haunting story about playing a song at the graves of an influential African American family band. 

Reading from The Life and Adventures of Nat Love by Nat Love.

Check out Dom Flemon's website, follow him on Instagram @domflemons and check his upcoming tour dates. 

Music by Dom Flemons

"Old Chisholm Trail"
Written & Performed by Dom Flemons

"Rabbit Foot Rag"
Written & Performed by Dom Flemons

"John Henry y los vaqueros"
Written & Performed by Dom Flemons

"Ol' Proc"
Performed by Dom Flemons

"Snowden's Jig (Genuine Negro Jig)"
Written & Performed by Carolina Chocolate Drops

"It's Cold Inside"
Written & Performed by Dom Flemons

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