02/12/2016
Rev. Robert Jones in the Quad Cities for Blues in the Schools, February 8-12
Cool Beanz, Wednesday, February 10, 6:00 p.m.
RME, Thursday, February 11, 6:00 p.m.
Reverend Robert B. Jones, Sr. is a singer and self-taught multi-instrumentalist. He uses folk, blues, spirituals and other American Roots music to champion the beauty and power of our shared culture. A lifelong Detroiter, Rev. Jones has been performing professionally for nearly 30 years for festivals, schools, civil rights organizations and churches. He is also a storyteller, a preacher, an artist, a radio host/producer, a historian, and a teacher. The Mississippi Valley Blues Society presents Rev. Robert B. Jones Sr.as its February Blues in the Schools artist-in-residence for the week of February 8-12 for workshops at 10 area schools.
Robert Jones will also present two special open-to-the-public performances:
· Wednesday, February 10: Cool Beanz—1325 30th St., Rock Island IL; 6:00 p.m.
This show, “Before the Blues”, focuses on the music that shaped the blues. Traditional African American music had its start in the crucible of slavery. It is made up of chants, work songs, spirituals, and folk songs, both sacred and secular, that help us to understand beauty, power and resilience of African America culture.
· Thursday, February11: River Music Experience (RME Hall)—129 N Main St., Davenport; 6:00 p.m. This show features Robert Jones as Lead Belly. Huddie Ledbetter was one of the first performers to combine storytelling, work songs, blues, ballads, children’s songs, spirituals, traditional, and original songs in a way that was entertaining and engaging. Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Josh White and Brownie McGhee all counted Lead Belly as a musical influence. Lead Belly’s songs like “Rock Island Line,” “On The Western Plains,” “Pick A Bale O’ Cotton,” “ Midnight Special”, “Goodnight Irene” and countless others have helped to shape American culture.
Robert Jones says, “Stories, spirituals, blues, work songs, field hollers, country music, folk songs, gospel and original songs are all a part of fabric of America’s culture. This is the music that gave the world blues, jazz, R&B, bluegrass, rock and even Hip Hop. They give insight into the way that we have lived and the ways that we continue to live together. I feel it is the responsibility of the artist to pass along and to build upon that which has been learned from earlier generations.” This is what he imparts to the schoolchildren.
Robert Jones plays guitar, fiddle, harmonica, quills, banjo, and mandolin. He’s played with John Hammond, the Holmes Brothers, Hubert Sumlin, Cephas & Wiggins, Keb Mo’, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Howard Armstrong, Nappy Brown, Roy BookBinder, David Bromberg, Chris Smither, Guy Davis, Pinetop Perkins, Saffire, and Willie Dixon. This faculty member at Wayne State University, Port Townsend Blues Week. and Fur Peace Ranch is the recipient of the international Blues Foundation’s 2007 Keeping the Blues Alive award for Education and was the 2010 Teller-in-Residence—National Storytelling Center, Jonesboro TN.
Robert Jones was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1956. His father was from West Pointe, Mississippi and his mother hailed from Conecuh County, Alabama. Consequently, Robert grew up in Detroit in a very Southern household. Early on he fell under the influence of his maternal grandmother’s record collection. He grew up listening to and loving a wide variety of music, especially the blues.
By the age of 17 Robert had already amassed a record collection of early blues and begun to teach himself guitar and harmonica. By his mid-twenties Robert was hosting an award-winning radio show on WDET-FM, Detroit called “Blues From the Lowlands.” Concentrating primarily on traditional acoustic blues, Robert started performing at some of Detroit’s best music venues including the Soup Kitchen Saloon, The Ark, and Sully’s. Those early venues led to a touring career that has included the Chicago and King Biscuit Blues Festivals and tours throughout Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. Influenced by legendary bluesman Willie Dixon, Robert developed an educational program called, “Blues For Schools”. This program has taken him into classrooms all over the country.
Rev. Robert Jones’s weeklong residency for the MVBS Blues in the Schools program is made possible with generous support from the Riverboat Development Authority. Other sponsors include the River Music Experience and KALA radio.
