(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - [Narrator] Coming up on "Ocean State Sessions", Jake Blount.

(upbeat music) ♪ Hey, ho, below, below ♪ - [Narrator] And Sharks Come Cruisin'.

♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ♪ I said hey, ho, below, below ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ("Haul Away Joe") ("Haul Away Joe" continues) ("Haul Away Joe" continues) ♪ Louis was the king of France ♪ ♪ Before the revolution ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe ♪ ♪ He got his head chopped off ♪ ♪ And it spoiled his constitution ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul for better weather ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe ♪ ("Haul Away Joe" continues) ("Haul Away Joe" continues) ♪ You call yourself a second mate ♪ ♪ Yet cannot tie a bowline ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe ♪ ♪ You cannot keep your feet ♪ ♪ When the packet she's a rollin' ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul for better weather ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe ♪ ("Haul Away Joe" continues) ("Haul Away Joe" continues) ♪ Tell me, can't you see ♪ ♪ Those dark clouds on the horizon ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe ♪ ♪ Tell me, can't you see ♪ ♪ The storms cloud are gathering ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul for better weather ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe ♪ ("Haul Away Joe" continues) ("Haul Away Joe" continues) ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away together ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul for better weather ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away together ♪ ♪ Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe ♪ ♪ Away, haul away ♪ ♪ We'll haul for better weather ♪ ♪ Away, haul away ♪ ♪ We'll haul away Joe ♪ ("Haul Away Joe" continues) (audience applauding) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues") ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ♪ Hard times here and everywhere you go ♪ ♪ Times is harder than ever been ♪ ♪ Times is harder than ever been ♪ ♪ Times is harder than ever been ♪ ♪ Times is harder than ever been before ♪ ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ♪ The people are drifting ♪ ♪ From door to door ♪ ♪ Can't find no heaven, I don't care ♪ ♪ Can't find no heaven, I don't care ♪ ♪ Can't find no heaven, I don't care ♪ ♪ Can't find no heaven, I don't care where they go ♪ ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ♪ You say you got money, well ♪ ♪ You'd better be sure ♪ ♪ These hard times gonna kill you, just drive ♪ ♪ Hard times gonna kill you, just drive ♪ ♪ Hard times gonna kill you, just drive ♪ ♪ Hard times gonna kill you, just drive on slow ♪ ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ♪ They wanna know how I know ♪ ♪ Lord, your ground ♪ ♪ You stay right here and they're gonna drag ♪ ♪ Stay right here and they're gonna drag ♪ ♪ Stay right here and they're gonna drag ♪ ♪ Stay right here and they're gonna drag you down ♪ ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ♪ If I ever get off this old hard greasy floor ♪ ♪ I'll never get down this low ♪ ♪ Never get down this low ♪ ♪ Never get down this low ♪ ♪ Never get down this low no more ♪ ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) ♪ You hear me singing this old lonesome song ♪ ♪ These hard times can't last us ♪ ♪ Hard times can't last us but so ♪ ♪ Hard times can't last us but so ♪ ♪ Hard times can't last us but so long ♪ ("Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" continues) (audience applauding) - Hey, Jake.

- Hey, how's it going?

- Pretty good, how are you?

- I'm all right.

- How do you feel?

- Played some good music, yeah.

- Yeah.

(Jake laughs) How do you feel about the set?

- Oh, it was fun.

It was super fun.

I have not gotten to play with that configuration of people before, like, got asked to do this, and I was like, "Who are my favorite Rhode Islanders, and how can I get all of us in a room together?"

And, you know, I didn't get all of us, as you know, but got many, and it was great.

- Could you briefly introduce yourself for us?

- Yes.

My name is Jake Blount.

I'm originally from Washington, D.C.

I have lived in Providence for five years, and I play Black folk music, broadly defined.

I started with electric guitar when I was 12, but I wasn't good at it and wound up picking up banjo and fiddle as a young adult, kind of delving into my own ancestors and family's traditions.

- When we last talked to you on The Public's Radio, we talked to you about an album that you had recently released at the time called "The New Faith", and it's a sort of Afrofuturist concept album that looks to the future.

How do you feel about the sort of ideas you explored and the way you were imagining the world a couple years later?

- Gosh, so there's two threads to that, the other of which is I put out a new album in the fall with my friend, Mali Obomsawin, called "symbiont", that in many ways is interconnected to "The New Faith".

And I feel like having now put those two albums out, I'm like, "Okay, I said what I had to say about that."

I think we've gotten to a point now where folk music is so comfortable for people, that there's this, like, nostalgia that it indulges, and people don't really hear what it's saying.

And I think what's important to me about the maybe broad, but in some ways, focused body of music that I play, is whether it's a sea shanty or a work song, whether it's a fiddle tune meant for dance music, whether it's a blues song meant to be played for dancers in a juke joint.

All of these songs are meant to unify working bodies toward a common purpose.

- So you're currently pursuing your masters at Brown.

Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

- I'm actually, I'm pursuing a whole PhD at Brown, but the masters is part of the journey.

I started at Brown in fall of 2023.

It's been a wild ride.

You know, I moved to Providence years before I started there, and didn't really have it in my mind at the time, and wound up choosing Brown because I didn't wanna leave Rhode Island.

I was like, "Where can I go that I won't have to pay and I won't have to move?"

And was lucky to have this fantastic place right here.

- And what are you studying?

- I am studying musicology and ethnomusicology, and also just got accepted to this cool thing called the Open Graduate Education Program, so I'll be getting a master's degree in anthropology while I'm there.

I felt the need to return to grad school, really get a beat on, like, what I'm trying to do artistically, because I've become a much more focused and competent musician in my time in the graduate program, as opposed to just being on the road playing the same 12 songs every night and not really getting the chance to do anything else, you know?

It's been a great opportunity and a welcome return to, like, a path that feels true to me.

- What do you love about the Rhode Island music community?

- Oh, gosh, so much.

I think that it has a really rare balance of richness and variety and groundedness.

Like, I haven't met anybody here who's like a jerk in the music scene, and usually you do.

I think the thing that drew me to Providence in the first place when I moved was that I had traveled through here and played shows, and people just seemed down for anything, right?

And that memory is what persuaded me to come here.

I knew there was an openness and a vibrancy and an urge to experience and try new things that you just, like, don't find that often these days.

People are so into just, like, "I'm gonna listen to Spotify on my phone and not go to a show unless I'm paying 1,500 bucks for a Taylor Swift ticket," which if that's your thing, it's your thing, but how many tickets to great smaller shows could you have bought with that one, right?

- What's next for you, Jake?

- Oh, gosh, I don't know.

(laughs) Hopefully getting my master's degree, hopefully passing my qualifying exams.

It's a question for me all the time.

I don't know what to tell you is next in my career.

I'm supposed to have a bullet point or a takeaway.

I don't know, I'm gonna put out some music.

Like, you know, look in the usual places, I'll put out music.

But I'm trying to figure out how to respond right now.

We need that coordination.

We need to create community in the way that sound can, and I will be doing that live, I will be doing that in the studio, and doing my best to live up to the legacy of the forebearers I've mentioned, who put themselves at great personal risk to do what needed doing.

- Jake Blount, thanks so much for talking with me.

- Thank you.

("Sugar in the Hole") ♪ I wish I was ♪ ♪ On Ganset Bay ♪ ♪ Raising pints ♪ ♪ In a neighborly way ♪ ♪ But I'm stowing sugar ♪ ♪ In the hold below ♪ ♪ Below, below, below ♪ ♪ Hey, ho, below, below ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ♪ I said, hey, ho, below, below ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ("Sugar in the Hole" continues) ♪ J.M.

White is a damn fine boat ♪ ♪ Stern to stern, she's mighty fine ♪ ♪ She'll beat any boat in the New Orleans line ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ♪ Hey, ho, below, below ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ♪ I said, hey, ho, below, below ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ("Sugar in the Hole" continues) ♪ Well, the engineer shouts through his trumpet ♪ ♪ Tell the mate we got bad news ♪ ♪ Ain't getting no steam for the fire or the flute ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ♪ Hey, ho, below, below ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ♪ I said, hey, ho, below, below ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ("Sugar in the Hole" continues) ♪ Well, the captain's on the quarter deck ♪ ♪ Scratchin' away at his old neck ♪ ♪ Shouts out, heave the larboard lead ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ♪ Hey, ho, below, below ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ♪ I said, hey, ho, below, below ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ♪ I said, hey, ho, below, below ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ♪ I said, hey, ho, below, below ♪ ♪ Stowing sugar in the hold below ♪ ♪ Oh, the smartest clipper you will find ♪ ♪ Ah-ho, way-ho, are you most done ♪ ♪ The old Wild Cat on the Swallowtail Line ♪ ♪ Clear away the track and let the bullgine run ♪ ♪ To me, hey, rig-a-jig in a jaunting car ♪ ♪ Ah-ho, way-ho, are you most done ♪ ♪ Eliza Lee all on my knee ♪ ♪ Clear away the track and let the bullgine run ♪ ♪ Oh, the old Wild Cat on the Swallowtail Line ♪ ♪ Ah-ho, way-ho, are you most done ♪ ♪ Never a day behind the time ♪ ♪ Clear away the track and let the bullgine run ♪ ♪ To me, hey, rig-a-jig in a jaunting car ♪ ♪ Ah-ho, way-ho, are you most done ♪ ♪ Eliza Lee all on my knee ♪ ♪ Clear away the track and let the bullgine run ♪ ♪ Oh, when I get back to New York Town ♪ ♪ Ah-ho, way-ho, are you most done ♪ ♪ We'll dance you Bowery girls around ♪ ♪ Clear away the track and let the bullgine run ♪ ♪ To me, hey, rig-a-jig in a jaunting car ♪ ♪ Ah-ho, way-ho, are you most done ♪ ♪ Eliza Lee all on my knee ♪ ♪ Clear away the track and let the bullgine run ♪ ♪ Oh, when I get back to Liverpool Town ♪ ♪ Ah-ho, way-ho, are you most done ♪ ♪ Stand ya whiskeys all around ♪ ♪ Clear away the track and let the bullgine run ♪ ♪ To me, hey, rig-a-jig in a jaunting car ♪ ♪ Ah-ho, way-ho, are you most done ♪ ♪ Eliza Lee all on my knee ♪ ♪ Clear away the track and let the bullgine run ♪ ♪ Oh, when I get home from across the sea ♪ ♪ Ah-ho, way-ho, are you most done ♪ ♪ Eliza, will you marry me ♪ ♪ Clear away the track and let the bullgine run ♪ ♪ To me, hey, rig-a-jig in a jaunting car ♪ ♪ Ah-ho, way-ho, are you most done ♪ ♪ Eliza Lee all on my knee ♪ ♪ Clear away the track and let the bullgine run ♪ (audience applauding) ("South Australia") ♪ In South Australia I was born ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ In South Australia, around Cape Horn ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ♪ And haul away your rolling king ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ Haul away, and hey, I sing ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ("South Australia" continues) ♪ South Australian on the quay ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ And the tears do start when she waves to me ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ♪ And just one thing that grieves my mind ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ To see my wife and child behind ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ♪ And haul away, you rolling king ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ Haul away, and hey, I sing ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ♪ When I am on a foreign shore ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ I think of the girl that I adore ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ♪ When I am in a foreign land ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ With a drink of whiskey in my hand ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ♪ And haul away, you rolling king ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ Haul away, and hey, I sing ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ("South Australia" continues) ("South Australia" continues) ♪ When I am on a foreign shore ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ I think of the girl that I adore ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ♪ When I am in a foreign land ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ With a drink of whiskey in my hand ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ♪ And haul away, you rolling king ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ Haul away, and hey, I sing ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ("South Australia" continues) ♪ Fare he well, fare he well ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ Fare he well, I wish you well ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ♪ And haul away, you rolling king ♪ ♪ Heave away, haul away ♪ ♪ Haul away, and hey, I sing ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ ♪ Bound for South Australia ♪ (audience applauding) - Erica and Mark, welcome to "Ocean State Sessions".

How are you?

- Doing all right.

- Great.

- Did you have a good time downstairs?

- It was a lot of fun.

- With your song shanty music, could you describe that type of music for the viewers?

- Sea shanties are work songs, traditional work songs, that were used on sailing vessels.

And I look at Erica, 'cause Erica actually worked on sailing ships, so she's had, like, real life experience with the songs.

I've only had pretend experience with them, with learning the songs through recordings that I've had.

But these were work songs that were used to do heavy lifting on the ships, jobs that took multiple hands.

In order to keep everybody in time, they would sing, the crew would sing shanties to do things like raise the sail and raise the anchor, and there's entire genre of these work songs that originate on boats.

- And then on top of all of that, you also have songs that were just written because people were at sea for years, and they didn't have anything to do except write songs about mermaids and, you know, girls that they might or might not ever meet, or whales or whatever was around them.

So you have, the shanty genre covers all of these different kinds of songs, that some of them are really different rhythms and different sort of messages that they're giving.

And so the songs that we've written or that Mark has written, you know, some of them have that rhythmic call and response, and then some of them are more stories.

- Erica, can you explain a little bit about your sailing history?

- So I grew up in New York City, and I did not have any experience on boats, but I did a program in college called Sea Education Association, Sea Semester, on a sailing ship in the Caribbean, which I loved.

And when I came back from that, I started working on traditional rig sail ships.

So, tall ships, sometimes people call them, big, old schooners and square riggers, and I did that for about seven or eight years before I realized that I couldn't really support myself in that career path.

But I loved it, and all the boats I worked on did education programs, so my job was half sailing boats and half working with kids and other groups, and it was a wonderful, wonderful life.

- That's amazing.

So you're going from working on the boats to now singing the songs on the boat.

I think that's awesome.

- You should tell him what you thought of the band the first time you saw us.

- (laughs) Sure.

I had a very long weekend, which I came back from, and some sailing friends of mine said, "We saw that there's this band playing sea shanties sort of punk rock style, do you wanna go hear them?"

And I said, "No, thank you."

And so they convinced me to go, and we went to hear this band, and it was Mark and a bass player and a drummer who aren't, neither of them are with the band anymore.

And my friend and I said, "We know all of these songs, this is amazing.

They're not that good, the band, but they're a lot of fun."

And so afterwards, we went and introduced ourselves, and we said, you know, "We also are familiar with all of these songs, because we work in the sailing world and we've sung a lot of these actually as work songs."

- Which is a very, I mean, that was...

It was amazing to be introduced into that world, but also to have somebody think that the songs were performed so horribly is just very... No, I'm just kidding.

But to meet people from that sailing world that knew the songs, I had only ever heard the songs recorded.

I went to the library and took out all these LPs.

So I was learning the songs off of records that were recorded in the '60s, '50s and '60s, and to have folks who had actually used the songs in work, I had a thousand questions for Erica and her friends about how the songs were actually used.

- Thank you so much, guys, for coming out.

Really appreciate it.

- For sure.

Thanks, Dave.

Thanks, "Ocean State Sessions".

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] For more "Ocean State Sessions", visit ripbs.org or tune in to The Publics Radio at 89.3 FM.

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