Musician, activist, and scholar Jake Blount’s new concept record, The New Faith, came out on September 23rd and is his debut release on Smithsonian Folkways. In the meantime, his magically percussive singles “Once There Was No Sun” and “Didn’t It Rain” augur a critical collection of folk bops.
“Once There Was No Sun” is a reimagining of the folk standard recorded by Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers in 1961 in Alan Lomax’s New York City apartment, and later released in 2020 on the full-length record Get in Union. Bessie Jones’ version inspired Blount to record it himself, but within the context of an Afrofuturist dystopia: a world where Black refugees perform a religious ceremony against the backdrop of a world denuded by climate change. The accompanying music video was shot on a craggy, cavey coastal Maine, which serves as the setting for The New Faith’s narrative. He’s joined by South Sudanese dancer Veeva Banga.
Both mark a departure from Blount’s prior records, where old-time banjo and fiddle are the dominant sounds. The first few seconds of “Once There Was No Sun” is marked by clapping, followed by deep strings and drums, while a high fiddle punctuates the percussion. As a scholar of Black American music, Blount pulls from history to create important work that signals the contemporary urgency of climate change and civil rights, of struggle, and spirituality.
