Adia Victoria to Present 'Delta Blue Christmas' in Nashville

On December 6 Adia Victoria will present "A Delta Blue Christmas." The event will take place at Jack White's Third Man Records in Nashville, TN. It kicks off in the afternoon with a panel discussion on the extended history of black art & the blues as protest and its place in activism. The evening will consist of a performance-based poetry reading with Adia, Caroline Randall Williams and Ciona Rouse, followed by two performances by Adia Victoria - a set of solo acoustic blues numbers, followed by a full-band set of new material. Tickets for both the afternoon and evening events can be purchased HERE. A portion of the proceeds from the show will benefit Jessi Zazu, Inc.

Panelists:

Jamey Hatley (Moderator) - Hatley is a 2016 Prose Fellow for the National Endowment for the Arts and a 2016 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award Winner. She is a Co-Founder of The Center for Southern Literary Arts.

Joshua Asante - Joshua is an interdisciplinary artist and a guitarist and vocalist for two bands, releasing three albums to date. His photographic works have found homes in print, museums and private collections.

Ann Powers - Ann is NPR Music's critic and correspondent. One of the nation's most notable music critics, Powers has been writing for NPR's "The Record" since April 2011.

Langston Wilkins - Wilkins is a folklorist, ethnomusicologist, and writer living in Nashville.

Caroline Randall Williams - Caroline is an award wining multi-genre writer, educator, and amateur restaurateur in Nashville.

Adia Victoria - Adia is a Nashville based musician and poet whose second album Silences will be released in February, 2019.

Poets:

• Ciona Rouse
• Caroline Randall Williams
• Adia Victoria

Of "A Delta Blue Christmas" Adia notes, "the holidays in Nashville are that one time of year when time slows down to a halt. Musicians head home from the road and slowly fall back into the pace of home life. For me, the blues and writing were the remedy to offset the fresh-home-from-tour blues. My art rooted me back into myself. So this holiday season I wanted to expand on my tradition of homemaking and the scholarship of the blues and turn it into a community event. There will be a discussion between a few of my favorite minds as we unpack and unravel fact from fabulous myth in the blues, consider its formidable impact and also its implications on the future. How does the blues move?

Certainly, one of its mainlines runs right through poetry. The newly formed Blair House collective will present a poetic representation of a Jim Crow era delta woman who conspires to sing and survive, with her humanity intact, in the deep south. Following, I will perform a few of my favorite delta blues cuts and finally we will welcome new full band as we perform songs from my upcoming album 'Silences', which is indebted to the blues and at the same time seeks to move this vital art form into the 21st century in all it's radical blackness. Join us in the Blue Room at Third Man Records as we pay our respects to the road laid for us, while we look forward to a new year rooted in the spirit of the Delta blues."

Adia Victoria recently announced the forthcoming release of her second LP Silences. The album will be released on February 22 via Canvasback Music. To date she has shared the first single, "Dope Queen Blues."

Adia Victoria will be touring the world in support of Silences and the first round of dates kick off February 19 in Washington, DC at DC9. The "Dope Queen Tour" takes her to Brooklyn's Rough Trade on February 22 and The Moroccan Lounge on March 7 in Los Angeles. It concludes March 15 in Denver, CO at Larimer Lounge before Adia heads to Europe and the UK. All dates are listed below.

Silences was recorded with Aaron Dessner (The National) at his studio in upstate New York. Throughout the album's 12 tracks, Victoria brings the topics of mental illness, drug addiction, sexism, and all the elements that consume the day-to-day lives of women attempting to make a world of their own.

Two years after the release of her critically acclaimed debut Beyond the Bloodhounds,

and after a season of dealing with life on tour and a new and more public life around an album campaign, Victoria went inward. She notes, "I found when I went back home that the thing that disturbed me the most was the lack of activity. Having to deal with myself once again on an intimate level." Reading and literature helped her find her way back in. The title of the album is inspired by Silences, which deals with the myriad ways that the stories of oppressed people have been silenced over the years, even though they continued to create despite being ignored.

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