Dom Flemons | |
|---|---|
 Dom Flemons in September 2021, after a performance atThe Barns at Wolf Trap | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Dominique Flemons |
| Born | (1982-08-30)August 30, 1982 (age 42) Phoenix, Arizona, United States |
| Genres | Old-time music,Piedmont blues,Neotraditionalist country |
| Occupation(s) | Multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Banjo,bones,jug,quills,[1] guitar, harmonica, drums, vocals |
| Years active | 2000s–present |
| Labels | Various |
Dominique Flemons (born August 30, 1982) is an Americanold-time music,Piedmont blues, andneotraditional country multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. He is a proficient player of thebanjo,fife,guitar,harmonica, percussion, quills, andrhythm bones.[2] He is known as "The American Songster" as his repertoire of music spans nearly a century of Americanfolklore, ballads, and tunes.[3] He has performed withMike Seeger,Joe Thompson,Martin Simpson,Boo Hanks,Taj Mahal,Old Crow Medicine Show,Guy Davis, andThe Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band.[2]
A member of theCarolina Chocolate Drops from their inception in 2005 until 2013, Flemons has released five albums in his own name, although two of those were collaborations with other musicians. Flemons appreciates the tradition inherent in his solo work and once stated, "I want to experiment rather than to merely replicate. It can never be as good as the original, so I make the music fit my own style. I look at the old time music, the originals of black banjo music for the Carolinas, the fiddle and the sounds of folks likeSid Hemphill,Henry Thomas andPeg Leg Howell."[4]
His album,Black Cowboys (2018), was nominated for aGrammy Award for Best Folk Album at the61st Annual Grammy Awards,[5] and for aBlues Music Award at the 40th Blues Music Award ceremony in the 'Acoustic Album' category.[6]
Flemons was born inPhoenix, Arizona, United States.[7] He is of African American and Mexican heritage. He played percussion in his high school band, and whilst a teenager played guitar and harmonica in local coffee houses.[4] He grew up listening to his parents' record collection, and expanded his knowledge by studying recordings byBob Dylan,the Beatles, andChuck Berry. This led him to the pioneers ofAmerican folk music, includingWoody Guthrie,Tom Paxton, andRamblin' Jack Elliott.[8] Flemons became a frequent busker and performer on the Arizona music scene. He obtained a major in English atNorthern Arizona University, inFlagstaff, Arizona, and partook in two nationalpoetry slams in 2002 and 2003.[4] In Flagstaff, Flemons met Sule Greg Wilson, a local percussionist, banjo player, and folklorist. Wilson became a mentor to Flemons, assisting with his playing techniques and understanding of the history of theblues andAmerican folk music.[8]
TheCarolina Chocolate Drops is anold-timestring band fromDurham, North Carolina. Their 2010 album,Genuine Negro Jig, won theGrammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the53rd Annual Grammy Awards.[9]
Formed in November 2005, following the members' attendance at the first Black Banjo Gathering, held inBoone, North Carolina, in April 2005, the group grew out of the success of Sankofa Strings, an ensemble that featured Dom Flemons onbones,jug, guitar, and four-string banjo,Rhiannon Giddens on banjo and fiddle and Súle Greg Wilson onbodhrán, brushes,washboard, bones, tambourine, banjo, banjolin, and ukulele, with Justin Robinson as an occasional guest artist.
The Carolina Chocolate Drops released five albums including 2012'sLeaving Eden, and one EP, whilst Flemons was a member, and opened forTaj Mahal and, in 2011,Bob Dylan.[10] They performed onMountain Stage,[11]MerleFest, and at theMount Airy Fiddlers Convention. Additionally they have performed onA Prairie Home Companion,Fresh Air, andBBC Radio in early 2010, and at the 2010Bonnaroo Music Festival inManchester, Tennessee,[12] and at the 2011 Romp,[13] inOwensboro, Kentucky. On January 17, 2012, they appeared live on BBC Radio 3.[14] They performed on theGrand Ole Opry several times. They also appeared on the UK'sBBC Television program,Later... with Jools Holland.[15]
On November 12, 2013, the Carolina Chocolate Drops announced that Flemons would be leaving to continue his own solo career.[16]
Flemons' solo career began while he was still a member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. He self-released his debut solo album in 2007,Dance Tunes Ballads & Blues.[8] His next album was issued the following year.American Songster was Flemons' first release onMusic Maker.[7] He was then featured onNPR performing at theNewport Folk Festival.[4] Over the past decade Flemons has performed as a soloist at venues such as,Carnegie Hall as part of aLead Belly tribute;Cecil Sharp House; theGrand Ole Opry; at the opening ceremonies for theNational Museum of African American History and Culture; at theNational Cowboy Poetry Gathering; and representing the United States at the 2017Rainforest World Music Festival inKuching, Malaysia.[17]
In 2014,Prospect Hill saw Flemons enlist other musicians on his recording. These included Ron Brendle (bass),Guy Davis (banjo, harmonica, percussion and backing vocals), Keith Ganz (banjo and guitar), Brian Horton (clarinet, saxophone), Ben Hunter (drums, fiddle, backing vocals),Pura Fé (backing vocals), Joe Seamons (backing vocals) andKobie Watkins (drums).[18] The album saw releases on both theFat Possum and Music Maker labels.[19] The album received national press coverage.[7]Prospect Hill contained seven of Flemons' own penned tracks out of a total of fourteen on the collection.[20] Flemons was then a member of Music Maker Relief Foundation's Next Generation Artists program, and served on Music Maker's board of directors. He continues to discover young talent for the Foundation to assist and has promoted, recorded, and performed with more mature Music Maker artists includingJohn Dee Holeman, Boo Hanks, Captain Luke, and Macavine Hayes.[7]
Black Cowboys, Flemons' next album, entailed depicting the story of African Americans who helped to shape theAmerican West, and the tunes they were familiar with.[21] They included "Home on the Range", which the field recorder and musicologistJohn Lomax recorded from a Black cook inSan Antonio, and "Goodbye Old Paint," which was first recorded by Lomax, but Flemons discovered that "another musician talked about how he learned the song from an ex-slave who worked for his father on the ranch." That has been credited as theBlack cowboy and former slave, Charley Willis. Thus the songs and poems that were used in the ensuing album depicted a century-old story, following the footsteps of thousands of African American pioneers.[22] These included American cowboyNat Love andBass Reeves, the first BlackDeputy US Marshal west of the Mississippi, who some believe was the model for theLone Ranger. Flemons duly wrote a song about the leading black movie cowboy of his time,Bill Pickett, and used other stories including cowboys who becamePullman porters and, in turn, became important figures in thecivil rights movement.Black Cowboys (2018) was issued as part of the African American Legacy Recordings series issued in conjunction with theSmithsonian Institution'sNational Museum of African American History and Culture. Flemons played old musical instruments such as thesix-string banjo andthe quills, as was originally used byHenry Thomas.[21]
In 2017, Flemons was featured onDavid Holt's State of Music onPBS. He also performed as the bluesmanJoe Hill Louis onCMT's television programSun Records. Flemons launched apodcast, American Songster Radio, onWUNCNational Public Radio and issued a couple of instructional DVD's viaStefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop.[23]
In 2012, Flemons collaborated to record an album with thePiedmont blues guitarist and singerBoo Hanks, entitledBuffalo Junction.[8] Four years later, Flemons played along with the British guitaristMartin Simpson, to jointly record the album,A Selection of Ever Popular Favourites.[8] It was released onFledg'ling Records.[24]
Flemons' foremost instrument is the banjo, withMike Seeger having had an influence on Flemons playing style. Flemons plays aDeering 4-string banjo, a Gibson GB-16-string and a rare, oversized 1920s era Clef Club banjo.[4]
As of 2019, Flemons lived in the Washington, D.C. area.[3]
The Boston Globe wrote that "most folk artists go by 'singer-songwriter' or simply 'musician.' But 'American songster' speaks to a greater truth about the work Flemons, a multi-instrumentalist, has accomplished as a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and (...) as a solo artist."[25]
Flemons won a Grammy Award as part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops for their album,Genuine Negro Jig. His latest solo album,Black Cowboys (2018), was nominated for aGrammy Award for Best Folk Album and for a 2019Blues Music Award in the 'Acoustic Album' category.
| Year | Title | Collaboration | Record label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Dance Tunes Ballads & Blues | CD Baby | |
| 2008 | American Songster | Music Maker | |
| 2012 | Buffalo Junction | withBoo Hanks | Music Maker |
| 2014 | Prospect Hill | Fat Possum Records /Music Maker | |
| 2016 | A Selection of Ever Popular Favourites | withMartin Simpson | Fledg'ling Records |
| 2018 | Black Cowboys | Smithsonian Folkways | |
| 2023 | Traveling Wildfire | Smithsonian Folkways |
| Year | A-side | B-side | Record label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | "Long Journey Home" & "There's A Brown Skinned Girl Down The Road" | "Po' Black Sheep" | Need to Know |
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| National | |
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| Other | |
