Group draws from a jugful of genres

The early part of the 20th century gave rise to an abundance of musical genres, many evolving from the simplistic fife and drum melodies that were commonly heard during the 19th century. With the infusion of cultures, playing techniques and a variety of instruments, America gave birth to a myriad of musical styles still heard today.

One notable but nearly forgotten genre—the jug band—can be traced back to the early 1900s in Southern urban centers, notably Memphis and Louisville.

The jug sound began as an early blend of jazz, ragtime and country blues. It was clearly defined by the energetic use of home-made or non traditional instruments including the fiddle, banjo, harmonica (or kazoo) and of course, the jug. The jug, which provided a low rhythmic bass line by blowing air into it, had its sound make its way up and down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Jug music received gentle nudges from the players in New Orleans and Chicago, ultimately shaping its flavor and branching out into new forms of music.

{module Share this!|none}During the early 1900s and up till the big economic crash of the 1930s, the jug craze exploded in popularity and demand. Coinciding with the first Great Migration, descendants of musicians from the South ushered in a new era of collaboration by bringing their sound and traditions to various parts of the country. While Northern industrial cities sustained an influx of African-American families carrying with them their musical heritage, questions still remain concerning the evolution of music and customs. What did these descendants do with their music? How did it evolve and influence modern genres such as rock n’ roll an hip-hop? Some obvious connections, are clear; others are a bit more ambiguous. Yet it’s apparent that as folks moved, so did their music.

With the original intent of recording a “jug band” album, Sule Greg Wilson, Dom Flemons, Allison Russell, and Ndidi Onukwulu—the members of Sankofa—have found a common thread woven into the very fabric of the songs and lyrics expressed on their new album, “The Uptown Strut.” A musical exploration of sorts, the album was recorded in the summer of 2009 by this impressive collection of experienced singers and musicians, but its release was not fully realized until 2012. The origins of “Sankofa” come from the Ghana-based language of Akan, which simply means “go back and get it.” Multi-instrumentalist and member of the renowned Carolina Chocolate Drops, Dom Flemons sees it as a part of his every day being. “When Sule (Greg Wilson) introduced me to the idea of Sankofa, I knew that it would be a theme that would go through my work the rest of my life.”

Fans of old-time/ragtime/Dixieland/blues will certainly find this fascinating collection of originals, covers, and interpretations to be equally as vital and inspirational as the original compositions. From songs of Sly Stone, Ray Charles, and Jimmy Cliff to older pieces stemming back to the late 19th and early 20th century from Minnie Wallace, Bessie Smith, and Louie Jordan, Sankofa has done history a favor by pulling these nearly forgotten chestnuts forward into a world that may be overwhelmed by the honesty and vigor these highly talented musicians put into their efforts to preserve, revive, and enlighten with these influential pieces of music. Where multitudes of other groups attempt to copy the past in order to seek authenticity today, Sankofa becomes relevant in a way that allows the listener to explore the history and dig deeper into the history of the music and its evolution in the modern tunes we hear today.

An interview with Dom Flemmons

SML: What initially drew you to this project?

Flemons: Well, I had met filmmaker Todd Kwait in 2006 when we was working on “Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost.” I was playing in Sankofa Strings with Sule and Rhiannon Giddens and we did an interview with Todd and he also recorded the show. Afterwards, he told us that he wanted to record an album of our group at Nevessa Productions in Upstate New York. A little after that Rhiannon and I formed the Carolina Chocolate Drops and started doing with that group. It was several years before we were able to take Todd up on his off, but Sule gave me a call and told me we should make this happen. I agreed and we started making the efforts to record. We had met Ndidi Onukwulu and Allison Russell at the Winnipeg and Edmonton Folk Festivals in Canada and had always kept them in mind to do a project with them. Rhiannon was busy having her first child so we decided to call Ndidi and Allison. Todd had mentioned when planning the record that we should also get some “local” talent to work on the album. These two players happened to be Professor Louie, who did the great piano parts on the album, and the legendary John Sebastian, who was also a trooper in creating wonderful landscape on his many instruments. I couldn’t help but be drawn to the project all around, and of course any chance to make good music is a good time to me so I pounced on it. Also, Sule and I had been kicking around several ideas for tunes for a few years and it was a great way to get stuff like “Old Folks Started It,” “It’s A Good Thing,” “Don’t You Make Me High,” and “Ha-Ha Blues” out there and recorded in great sound.

Many musical historians have alluded that jug band music could be considered the missing link between the blues and the music of West Africa. Where do you see jug music’s place in this lineage?

I would agree with that in some degrees. I will start by saying that there is no singular link between blues and West African music. Ideas of West African music made their journey into the Caribbean and then into the American South. Many ideas and stylistic things are passed over, but I would not give jug band music a definitive stamp. What I will say is the way that jug band music is a core piece in the scope of American music. Jug band music is an amazing cross-section of folk music, old-time, blues, early jazz, country, pop music and vaudeville. All of these groups that recorded did a variety of all of these types of numbers. It was also a loose collective of musicians with singular people organizing and putting the bands together. Songsters like Will Shade, Earl McDonald and Gus Cannon were almost like folk versions of bandleaders like W.C. Handy and James Reese Europe who made many bands under the same name just like many jazz groups today. Even these songsters, who formed the core of their group’s sound, serve as a strong link between old-time music, country and blues with their variety of styles made to accommodate the demands of their audience.

Mainly out of necessity, the original jug bands used homemade instruments to create their sound. Any particularly interesting instruments used on this album?

The thing is that these bands had a sound in their heads and they wanted to get that out there. The fact that they used homemade instruments wasn’t of necessity because they were poor as some have implied, but because there were supplies that were abundant and served the musical purposes that the practitioners wanted it to serve. On our album, the strangest instruments we use are the jug and the bones. On “Old Folks Started It,” Sule and I use a bigger and smaller jug to create different sounds as well as create a different rhythm pattern. Play the bones on a few tracks. The best showcase would probably be the version of “Jump Jim Crow” that we do with just bones and banjo. There also are a few others things like the use of hambone, which is slapping the leg, thigh and body to create rhythms, that is featured on “Brown Skin Girl.”

In similar fashion as the Carolina Chocolate Drops, you’ve taken something from the past and added some modern textures to create something new and refreshing. Does this sit well with purists?

Usually it has sat well with them. The thing people always need to remember about “purists” is that they just want the music to be good by their own aesthetics. Now this is different for every person, so the scales of what is “good” or “bad” change all the time. I’ve always tried to keep them in mind when we’re working on each project. Not so much that they will dictate how we handle the material, but it does give you a bar to reach for. As a fan and listener of music in general, I also try to make music that is good enough for me to listen to. That’s the hardest thing—to look at your work as critically (and lovingly later) as a work that you have no emotional attachment to at all. Also, in doing a re-interpretation, one needs to understand the essence of the music that you are re interpreting. Trying to understand the nuances and the vocabulary around the music is always the key. Sometimes the thing to know is that the music doesn’t need massive re-interpretation and it just needs to be cleaned up because the original recording is either too rough in its original version for modern audiences to like or it just needs a slight update with the way the original artists recorded it.

The inclusion of several non-jug songs makes this album even more interesting. What was the intent of including songs by artists like Jimmy Cliff, Sly Stone, Ray Charles?

Though the idea of a “jug band” record was our original intention going in, Sule and I started delving into a bigger idea about the Great Migration and its effect on American music, and also the evolution of the older styles of music that led to the more contemporary styles that we know nowadays. We just wanted to connect the dots in a few places that folks may not typically connect the dots. Also some of it just happened to be serendipity. For example, on “Can’t Strain My Brain,” Ndidi thought the tune would be a good one to try out. Sule had remembered hearing the song when it had first come out in 1970s, and in their stripped down version you hear two people who enjoyed the same song on two different levels. Also on “Sitting In Limbo,” Sule had suggested it and John was bowled over because he had loved the song and recorded already on one of his first solo albums. It was those sorts of experiences that made the album—some historic, some personal, and of course all musical.

The word “Sankofa” translates in English to “go back and get it.” How important is it for you to bring this music forward to folks who may not be familiar with it?

It’s extremely important! When Sule first introduced me to the idea of Sankofa, I knew that it would be a theme that would go through my work for the rest of my life. It’s a subversive and political move on my part. I used to do protest songs and topical music at one point. I found that presenting old songs and the like is a way to get people thinking. That’s also why I like to talk between songs when I’m performing. It’s the stuff I look for when listening and watching. You can hear the records but finding out some crazy anecdote about the song or the artist that gives a deeper impression look into the song. I try to give that to audiences. That how I get “Sankofa” out there in my own way.