The Mixtape Music series featuring Music in Common:
“The Black Legacy Project is a musical celebration of Black history to advance racial harmony, bridge-building, and partnership. A movement of music and human connection, Black LP aims to bridge divides and prevent hate.
Developed in the summer of 2020 in response to the growing polarization and violence surrounding the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, Black LP has traveled the country curating experiences for people across race to find common ground through music and conversation. The sharing of stories, histories, lived experiences, and songs inspires Black LP participants to walk in the shoes of “the other”. To date, 24 songs have been recorded in the project, released on two albums, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.
“My project combines creative storytelling with songs and a visual presentation highlighting the story. The focus of this project is to highlight an unlikely character (an over the road truck driver) who over a 30 year span makes many mistakes in his life and finally finds forgiveness once he begins to help people along the road.
The songs I plan to perform are inspired by many personal journeys on the road as a traveling musician and especially some notable moments while driving on Highway 75 from New Smyrna Beach to Fayetteville, a near death experience during a particularly harrowing Colorado hail storm, and finally, stumbling upon a blog and book series by Brandon Stanton called Humans of New York. This MixTape musical experience will also serve as an album release for Highway 75.
There are several components to this presentation including storytelling and performing the songs from my upcoming fourth studio album, Highway 75. I also plan to have a rolling visual presentation featuring photos from a fictional short story that I’ve written to accompany the album. There may also be a guest speaker who reads excerpts from the short story.“
This event is part of the Creative Exchange Fund hosted at the Medium.
