Events

Doug MacLeod is known for his superb songwriting, guitar wizardry, warm soulful vocals, wit, and unforgettable live performances. At the heart of a Doug MacLeod performance is his knack for storytelling, bringing characters-from the faceless to the legendary-to strikingly real life.

Doug is a multiple Blues Music Award winner, including the 2020 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist Of The Year and the 2018 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Album Of The Year ‘Break The Chain’. He was recently nominated for the 2021 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist Of The Year.

Rahsaan Barber has set on a singular path of musical excellence in performance, composition, education and entrepreneurship. Rahsaan enjoys a career that encompasses an ever-expanding range of musical styles including jazz, blues, funk, classical, fusion, soul, Latin and world music. Rahsaan’s passionate, sincere and studious approach to music-making has garnered professional appearances on stage alongside such heavyweights as Christian McBride, Brian Blade, The Temptations, Delfeayo Marsalis, The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, the late Duffy Jackson, Winard Harper, Kirk Franklin, Meghan Trainor and The Wooten Brothers. He has performed on many of the world’s most prestigious stages for music including The Ryman, The Village Vanguard, Birdland, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture.

Talibah Safiya’s lyricism is truly inspiring, creating vivid, captivating stories that connect you directly to each experience. Her vocals, combined with instrumentals, blanket the audience with the warmth of soulful, earthy tones. Her career has been on an upward projection since 2011. In 2019, she travelled the U.S. on her first tour “A Deep Water Sound”. She was celebrated in 2020’s Oxford American Music issue in an article titled “The Oracle of Castalia”. Some of her many accomplishments also include performing for – Sundance, The Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America, Mempho, and Americana Fest.

Guitarist / composer Joel Harrison reunites his groundbreaking group Free Country to tour the mid-Atlantic and Southern regions of the U.S. in April 2022. In visionary arrangements of country and Appalachian tunes, Harrison gave new width and depth to the word Americana. Harrison will be joined by David Binney (saxophone), Stephan Crump (bass), and Jordan Perlson (drums). The group will perform music from all three of their Free Country records. The timeless, haunting melodies of this music anchor the flights of improvisation that the band creates anew every night. The tour is funded in part by South Arts through the auspices of the Doris Duke Fund and the Jazz Road initiative.