[MUSIC PLAYING] When somebody has a microphone i How can we make sure that this t the greatest impact?

"Pass the Mic" is one of the way This series aims to provide a pl from marginalized communities to experiences, and struggles in th of sparking meaningful dialogue In today's episode of "Pass the we'll explore the rich history o with four artists who are carryi Watch as musicians Sunny Warr, C and Buffalo Nichols take the Ten to both perform and share some i be a catalyst for social change.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Thank you all so much for joinin for "Pass the Mic" at Tennessee We have a really exciting conver playing about blues music and pr and how that all fits together.

So I want to start by asking you that you remember or you wrote m was in response to something tha going on in the country?

The first song I ever wrote was I started learning guitar when I and I knew the-- I know A minor, E major, E minor And I wrote this song called "Ca and it was about a black man who through the deep south being cha and just trying to find some rel to live out his days.

And the chorus is, I'm fighting and when I find it, I'm never go And it wasn't any one thing that I think it was just a culminatio up in my body in the deep south.

You just can't get no relief.

Yeah, you talk a lot about that Can you tell us a little bit abo "South's Gotta Change?"

My song, "South's Gotta Change," was a song that I wrote in 2020 the lynching of George Floyd and John Lewis.

And I was dealing with a lot of that summer, just exhaustion and for my country, for my people.

And I wanted to talk to the sout You would speak to someone that' going through some stuff, and th in denial about who they are, wh what they've been.

And I think that that denialism allows the country, the south, t to perpetuate this violence.

Whenever something happens, we s It's like, well, then who the he Who's doing this?

Can we talk to them?

So it's just about asking the pl real, like BFFR right now.

And that was the one song I wrot that year.

And I really didn't have anythin left to say to my country in 202 We can't keep doing this.

[APPLAUSE] For me, the blues is community.

The blues made me realize that I And I wanted to talk to the sout that I grew up on.

And my frustration with it-- I keep repeating the same stuff.

These demons keep chasing us in And I was just like, this has go And so I released a song.

It was called "South Gotta Chang And I put it out.

And there was a lot of angry whi that came after me on Twitter.

And they said, if you don't love And I told these dudes-- I was like, my family's been in Where are your people from?

When I love something, I don't r So [BLEEP] you.

I'm staying.

And I'm going to fight for it.

[APPLAUSE] This song is called "South Gotta [APPLAUSE] Two, three, four.

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] That the truth would set you fre And if you try to walk it, let t I won't leave you, let you slip The South gotta change, the Sout [Instrumental] Change, Change The South gotta c It ain't no clean way to make a Least of all the power, let's sa But your walls are falling down, I stood up to the mountain, to t And if you try to walk it, let t Cause I love you, I won't leave Come what may, and we're gonna f I stood up to the mountain, to t And if you try to walk it, let t Cause I love you, I won't leave Come what may, we're gonna find I've got change South gotta change South gotta South gotta change South gotta change, change Sou South gotta change South gotta change, change Sou There's this very convenient amn because the great cultural expor it comes from black people and y of the music is in response to t And when white people want to sa say oh we did this, jazz, that's they have some sort of way to id that they contributed to it was I wish I could remember who said shout out to Tito in New York, b minstrelsy and you know if you t kind of black faced music for so see of black people in the media And for the first time black peo blues and which makes it even mo musicians seeing about their own Now listen people, everybody sai come from weird that, weird that things is going away, it's not t now when you come down to the bl send you and watch me.

man man man man man man if you see me in your town looki you may wonder what went wrong w since I could remember I've been some since I left my mother's ho since I could remember been wond some since I left my mother's ho it makes it easy I got no friend cause it's hard hard to trust so well loyalty is just a word that loyalty is just a word that slip I had to ask the question how yo she tried to answer and she pull and when I asked the question ho you're gonna suffer anyway but i you're gonna suffer anyway and i sometimes I see an old friend we will talk about the places th but then we go our separate ways lost in home some to the end of lost in home some to the end of thank you what do you guys think the respo like I love protest music and I sometimes I feel like I want to I want to like maybe I want to j we don't want just one kind of m so I think like we need to also don't you work yourself yourself ever make you hold don't you fight no smile if it a crazy I'm sure he said but you'r don't you worry child don't hold steal your smile this world's a don't you waste it baby don't wa ever make you hold today could be the last you know could ever buy your soul ever ma you know I've been threatened af I feel like civil discourse is l I feel like that's what we can d And if I say hey what exactly do And a lot of times folks will en It's like you want to hear it bu I've kind of come to a place per But when it's time to tuck back What folks were going through wh Part of what America is and yet I can see theater approached me having inspiration and something You feel like you're on an islan your heart may be telling you to from being a place that is safe being.

I'm going to start off wi I'm going to start off with a so I picked up a guitar and wrote a [Music] How do you love for the moment w How can I, how can I, and I cann Maybe the night, maybe the night I jump so high, I'm in too deep.

Static static static static tram And how do you push when you don Because you know you know once i And how can I get me some of tho But I've got too much to do, I'v On this static trampoline, stati And time sings to me, so bitters On this static static trampoline On this static static trampoline How do you live for the moment w On this static static static tra On this static static trampoline As we're having this conversatio What is something that you guys And I really like folks to know And that we do it because it's i But at the same time, it's exhau I feel like, yeah, it really if But especially in the last few y So at the end of the day, it's a If you're going to be an artist I think when I first started my And now I feel my job as an arti Us, we don't have answers to fix We didn't do this.

How can you ask the people that So I would like to see for every Like, I'm serious.

Like, we can't be expected to ke Like, you know, this is like it' It costs a lot emotionally, psyc And so and like you guys are say And it's not being acknowledged You know, I just what do you wha What's the point?

Why are we here?

What do you want?

This country is going to rise.

This country is going to fall.

It's not on us to run in and be This is not our mess.

And so I remember reading a quot She said, my life is a civil rig You know, so for me at 37, my bi I'm not trying to solve white pe I'm not trying to explain white We often bear the brunt of havin Well, white is race.

White is a race that is keeping So I just speak.

My life is a pr I want to say thank you to Holly I remember when I first started We didn't have community like th And to be able to be with my pee And I think a lot of times when There's so much more to our blue And the blues for me has been a It liberated me from my Southern It allowed me to feel welcome in And this next song is a song of [Music] This song is called "Heaven."

I thank Miss Bessie Smith for he [Music] I never bothered to ask.

I never bothered with please.

I never bothered with excuse me I like to do things my way or I 'Cause first they ask you to com And y'all, I guess it makes me a Oh darling, I am a heathen, oh e He says I'm covered in shame.

He But he didn't on my ways last ni But darling, I never talk.

You k I'll be your tight lip, confiden I guess that makes me a heathen, Oh darling, I am a heathen, oh a Jesus came to me one day, He was But then I caught sight of those 'Cause darling, I am a heathen, But if I am the heathen, why won Leave me alone.

Go and leave me Yeah baby, you better leave me a Leave me alone.

Leave me alone.

Sunny and Chris, I know you guys Can you tell us a little bit abo A long time ago a mutual friend We thought we'd make good music And we wrote and recorded one th And that kind of blossomed into A whole EP and it kind of made a And Warren Pierce obviously, we Our names but Warren Pierce.

Yea Lost children filled with hate.

Along the path did they lose the I don't believe they were born w But they're falling hard through You go too far, no turning back.

And it don't matter if you're wh Gotta get it together and gotta Ain't no peace if there ain't no I will stay woke, ain't no time Hate will keep you running but l Can I get an amen?

I'm gonna get praying for us and Can I get an amen?

I'm asking, can I get an amen?

Can I get an amen?

Can I get an amen?

Father, brother, uncle, too.

Mother, sister, what you all gon Be our family, there ain't no do Sit down at the table and let's We got warlords and casualties h If you're not me, you're a simpl Just to live in your life and do I will stay woke, ain't no time Hate will keep you running but l Can I get an amen?

I'm gonna get praying for us and Can I get an amen?

I'm asking, can I get an amen?

Can I get an amen?

I'm gonna get praying for us and Can I get an amen?

An amen.

[guitar solo] (lively music) ♪ Can I get an amen ♪ ♪ Can I get an amen ♪ ♪ Can I get an amen ♪ ♪ I'm gonna keep praying for us ♪ Can I get an amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Can I get an amen ♪ ♪ I'm gonna keep praying for us ♪ Can I get an amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ (audience applauding) - Thank you all very much.

Can you guys talk a little bit a activism and blues music have a - Yeah, there are a lot of peopl pretend that the blues isn't pol or that it shouldn't be, but that's just amazing ignoranc It's not like up to interpretati Like, you know, everybody loves He's considered like one of the of the style of acoustic blues t And he wrote so many protest son about police brutality and about in Mississippi and sharecropping And of course, you know, Lead Be that have these protest songs.

But yeah, the nature of the musi like the style of American folk of telling your own story really And there's protests in that, especially considering the era t - I recently found this song by Her name's Claire Smith.

She was as big as Bessie Smith.

She's from the same town.

I'm from Spartanburg County, Sou And I heard her song.

It's called "Papa, I Don't Need And she's basically saying, "I don't like the way you make m I don't like the way you treat m I don't need you around."

Like, in spite of what I'm being my family, my friends, my church that I have to have a man, guess I don't, you know, I am enough.

I don't need you no more, Papa.

And that's politic.

I think that the Blues was the o Like, these women were singing t if they spoke it, they'd be kill And it was punk because they wer they were so decentered.

They were so on the margins that you have a completely diffe field of vision, a completely wi than if you're trying to be in t and stand for the system.

These women were so forgotten an They're like, "Okay, well, it wi We'll abide by our own rules."

And that to me is, that's punk.

And when I heard Claire Smith si "Papa, I don't need you anymore, from Spartanburg, South Carolina I was like, "Yep, whatever it is I can face it 'cause she did tha And that to me is protest.

- Well, even just by telling wha I'm just talking about like orig like, it's like everything you n about what it was like living in And then even like what it felt And that's protest music.

And even, I'm thinking of some s that I can't really even listen I have to like prepare myself to but it's like, if I had like a g I would want my kid to hear thes and like, and that's protest mus just because it's like, it's setting people up to really where they came from and just be - Very happy to be here amongst Sunny War, Buffalo Nichols, and This is called "American Silence I always think back to the James was one of my favorite writers, Who said, "I love America, "perhaps more than any country o "which is why I choose to critic "This is 'American Silence.'"

(upbeat music) ♪ Will you rise up ♪ ♪ When your comfort is in jeopar ♪ Will you resist justifying the ♪ Is simplicity convenient in yo ♪ When you look in the mirror ♪ ♪ Can you see your own disguise ♪ Can we sing a song for you ♪ ♪ Will music move your heart and ♪ Will our song arrest you ♪ ♪ American silence is a crime ♪ ♪ We see the music move you as y ♪ And we feel the music grip you ♪ As your heart is soaked in sou ♪ And when the song is over ♪ ♪ If you decide to clap aloud ♪ ♪ Will your applause mean anythi ♪ With stitches on your mouth ♪ ♪ Can we sing a song for you ♪ ♪ Will music move your heart and ♪ Will our song arrest you ♪ ♪ American silence is a crime ♪ ♪ We sing for the freedom ♪ ♪ And we fight for all it's wort ♪ And we sing for humanity ♪ ♪ So we can all walk the earth ♪ ♪ And we sing with honor ♪ ♪ We live to sing another song ♪ ♪ Yeah we'll sing through the pa ♪ And we'll keep on marching on ♪ Can we sing a song for you ♪ ♪ Oh will music move your heart ♪ Will our song arrest you ♪ ♪ American silence ♪ ♪ Oh American silence ♪ ♪ Oh American silence is a crime ♪ Hope it is a crime ♪ ♪ Hope it is a crime ♪ ♪ Hope it is a crime ♪ ♪ Hope it is a crime ♪ (instrumental music) (audience applauding) (audience cheering) (instrumental music) [MUSIC]