VOICES OF MISSISSIPPI Brings Folklorist William Ferris, Bobby Rush, And More To JALC

Based on the 2019 GRAMMY Award-winning Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris, Jazz at Lincoln Center launches its first Appel Room performances since 2020 with Voices of Mississippi, a multimedia concert event celebrating the blues and gospel music, art, and storytelling traditions of the American South.

The immersive concert experience on February 25-26, hosted by eminent folklorist, historian, and former NEH Chairman Dr. William Ferris, will feature live performances by Mississippi-based blues, folk, and gospel musicians, paired with archival film and audio recordings, rare photographs, and spoken-word storytelling.

With four concerts across the two nights, Voices of Mississippi will bring together some of the twenty-first century's foremost blues and gospel artists, all of whom are direct descendants of the artists documented by Ferris for the original Voices of Mississippi project. Guitarist and vocalist Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars will direct the band as well as perform. He will be joined by multi-Grammy-winning blues legend Bobby Rush making his JALC debut, performing on guitar and vocals alongside Ruthie Foster and Cedric Burnside, with Shardé Thomas on fife and North Mississippi Allstars member Cody Dickinson on vocals and drums.

Founding director of the University of Mississippi Center for the Study of Southern Culture and former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, historian and folklorist Dr. William Ferris captured hundreds of hours of field recordings, films, and photographs to create an invaluable archive of cultural and musical life in Mississippi from the 1960s through the 1990s. Voices of Mississippi will bring these archival materials to life on the Appel Room stage to paint a powerful picture of a singular time and place that remains an essential piece of the American cultural fabric.

The Appel Room in Frederick P. Rose Hall is located on Broadway at 60th Street in New York, New York.

Tickets for Voices of Mississippi are available for purchase via 2021.jazz.org/voices-of-mississippi.