Playing Since: 2013
Experience Level: Expert/Professional

Interests:
[Teaching] [Jamming] [Socializing] [Helping]

Occupation: Musician/Scholar

Gender: Male
My Instruments:
Banjo, Fiddle, Guitar, Banjo Uke

Favorite Bands/Musicians:
Rhiannon Giddens, Laurel Premo, Allison De Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, Cameron DeWhitt The Onlies, The Horse Flies, Nine Inch Nails, Hatari, Zeal & Ardor

Classified Rating: not rated
Rate this Member

Profile Info:
Visible to: Public
Created 11/16/2019
Last Visit 11/18/2019

Jake Blount is an award-winning banjoist, fiddler, singer and scholar based in Washington, DC. He is half of the internationally touring duo Tui and a 2020 Strathmore Artist in Residence. He has studied with modern masters of old-time music, including Bruce Molsky, Judy Hyman (of the Horse Flies), and Rhiannon Giddens and Hubby Jenkins (of the GRAMMY-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops). Although he is proficient in multiple old-time styles, he specializes in the music of Black and Native American communities in the southeastern United States, and in the regional style of Ithaca, New York. In 2016, Blount became the first Black person to make the finals at the prestigious Appalachian String Band Music Festival (better known as Clifftop), and the first to win in the traditional band category. In the following year, he received his B.A. in Ethnomusicology from Hamilton College and released his debut EP, “Reparations,” with award-winning fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves. He toured Scandinavia and released a CD with the Moose Whisperers in 2018. He opened several shows for MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Rhiannon Giddens the same year, and joined Libby Weitnauer to form the duo Tui while on a tour of Australia and New Zealand. In 2019, Tui released their debut album, Pretty Little Mister, and Blount claimed first place in the banjo contest at Clifftop with three tunes from Black banjoists. He is now working toward his first full-length solo album. Blount has shared his music and research at the Smithsonian Institution, the Old Songs Folk Festival, and Berklee School of Music, as well as numerous other venues and institutions. He teaches fiddle and banjo privately, as well as at camps like the Augusta Heritage Center’s Old-Time Week, the Ashokan Center’s Old-Time Rollick, and Earful of Fiddle Music and Dance Camp. Jake Blount plays a five-string Nathaniel Rowan fiddle and banjos made by Seeders Instruments, Renan Banjos, and Deanocraft Custom Banjos.