(bright music) - [Announcer] This is a production of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

(bright music) (upbeat music) ♪ Hey ♪ (upbeat music) - Welcome to "Levitt in your Living Room".

I'm your host Apolonia Davalos.

A sincere thank you to our 2021 season presenting sponsor Sanford health, and our episode sponsors Dan and Arlene Kirby, and the South Dakota Arts Council.

And thank you to the Mortimer and Mimi Levitt foundation.

Levitt shell at Sioux falls is part of a national network of outdoor Levitt music venues and concert sites dedicated to strengthening the social fabric of communities, presenting a broad array of music genres, and cultural programming.

Levitt venues bring together families, friends, and neighbors of all ages and backgrounds.

Learn more at levitt.org.

(crowd cheering) - [Band Members] Thank you.

- Levitt shell at Sioux falls, their mission is to build community through music and music is timeless.

Music is the universal language that stands the test of time and empowers us to remember, educate and celebrate the heart of humanity.

Together we are going to embark upon a pilgrimage of the Gullah culture from the south Eastern sea islands.

It is our honor and privilege to host the Grammy award winning, Charleston, South Carolina based, and they have held the first position on billboard, Amazon, iTunes jazz charts, and continue to uplift and bring together their community through their contemporary assessments of traditional Gullah music.

Join me in welcoming trumpet player and vocalist Charlton Singleton of the band Ranky Tanky.

Welcome Charlton.

- Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

This is awesome (giggles), yeah.

- (laughs) Well, no, you are awesome.

- Oh thank you.

- Thank you for being with us tonight.

Can you invite us in, and share a little bit of the Genesis behind the meaning of Ranky Tanky, what it means and how your band came to fruition?

- Okay, so first of all, we've known each other for 20 plus years, our relationship as friends, and musicians that played around town, go back to the mid 90s actually, and to make a long story short, Kevin and Quentin and Clay and myself, we had a band that we would play jazz standards and a few originals in the late nineties, around 1999 or so.

Around 2000 or 2001, Clay actually moved to New York city and everybody sort of was doing their own thing, fast forward to about five years ago, and Clay basically got back in touch with us.

I mean we'd stayed in touch and I've done a few things here and there, but he called us up basically and said, I've been traveling the world, playing in all of these world music festivals.

And I've noticed that all of these groups are doing the music from their country or from their region, or whatever have you, and no one is doing a contemporary assessment or version of the music from where we're from, of Gullah.

Why not us?

Why not give it a shot?

And so we decided that we were going to do that.

We called up Quiana and she said, I'm in.

And we started off just with the thought of doing maybe 10 shows a year, because at that time everybody was still doing their own thing, had their own bands or touring with somebody or whatever.

But we got very lucky and that just sort of snowballed, and it turned into a, instead of 10 shows that year, what we were aiming for, it turned out to be about 50 shows.

And as for the name Ranky Tanky, there's actually a kid's game called Ranky Tanky.

It's based off of, you know, Patty cake, which is actually a Gullah thing.

The idea of playing Patty cake or that hand game and clapping on beats two and four, that's uniquely from the Gullah community.

And so this particular kid's game, old lady comes from booster, had two hens and a rooster.

The rooster died, the old lady cried.

Now, she don't eat eggs like she used to.

Now imagine kids doing it.

♪ Old lady come from booster ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ had two hens ♪ And Rankie Tanky means to work it or to get funky with it.

So when we get to the chorus, pain in my head, work, it, work it out, Ranky Tanky.

Pain in my hands, Ranky Tanky, pain in my arms, pain in my feet, whatever, work it and get funky with it.

And we liked that game so much and thought it was just a clever title that we decided to go with Ranky Tanky.

So that's how the name came about.

That's the story of the name.

And I guess for us, the rest has been history.

Sometimes though (laughs), sometimes we get people that say Rank Tank or Rick Rack or Rickety tickety and stuff like that, (Charlton laughs) but no Ranky Tanky.

That's a Gullah term.

It's a real Gullah term.

- And so for this first video that we're going to all share in the Ranky Tanky music.

How does that differ from the second video?

Tell us a little bit about what we're gonna be watching.

- So the first one is basically me performing it in the traditional Gullah style, just singing, clapping, and stomping, that's what it is.

What we do as a band is that we add all of these other contemporary instruments and do the same song just in as an up-to-date interpretation of it.

So that's the main difference.

- Awesome.

Let's dive in and celebrate Gullah tradition with this Ranky Tanky original.

(hands clapping) ♪ Old lady comes from booster ♪ ♪ Had two hens and a rosster ♪ ♪ The rooster died ♪ ♪ The old lady cried ♪ ♪ She don't eat eggs ♪ ♪ Like she used to ♪ ♪ Old lady comes from booster ♪ ♪ Had two hens and a rooster ♪ ♪ The rooster died ♪ ♪ The old lady cried ♪ ♪ She don't eat eggs ♪ ♪ Like she used to ♪ ♪ Oh ma you look so ♪ ♪ Oh pa you look so ♪ ♪ Who've been here since I've been gone ♪ ♪ Two little boys with their blue caps on ♪ ♪ Leaning on a hickory stick ♪ ♪ Papa gonna slap them good ♪ ♪ Slap ♪ ♪ Pain in my head ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my heart ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my feet ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain all over me ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my head ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my heart ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my feet ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain all over me ♪ - That song is so much fun, families at home I hope you're learning and celebrating and getting into the music.

I hope the kids, this becomes a new thing that just circles around (laughs).

- Absolutely on the playground.

That's what it's for.

(Apolonia and Charlton laughing) - And so for this next video, tell us about when you guys recorded it.

You shared a little bit of the difference earlier, but give us a little bit more of your history in coming out with this song for your version.

- Well, we were looking for material, obviously we were gonna do Ranky Tanky.

Our first album is actually all Gullah sort of standards we call them.

But in doing this, if you break down what I was singing and clapping and stomping as a band, you add the Gullah beat.

There is a specific Gullah beat that Quentin plays, you add Kevin's, his artistry in coming up with a baseline.

We add actually, some tonality to give the spoken word of it, a natural tone instead of it being old lady come from booster, now it's, ♪ Old lady comes from booster ♪ ♪ Had two hens and a rooster.

♪ And so Clay sings that, provides the rhythmic portion with his guitar.

We add in a trumpet solo, we add in some harmonies, and that's how you get to the contemporary assessment or the contemporary version of the song.

And that's been our formula since day one.

And like I said before, we've just been very fortunate that our artistry, and just practicing and studying our instrument, and our craft has led us to this point with presenting the music in this way.

- Awesome.

Let's celebrate.

Learn more into this collective heartbeat of Gullah music.

Let's watch.

♪ Who is the greatest ♪ ♪ We are the greatest ♪ ♪ Are you sure ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Positive ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Definitive ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Alright, alright ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ Old lady come from booster ♪ ♪ Had two hens and a rooster ♪ ♪ The rooster died ♪ ♪ The old lady cried ♪ ♪ Now she don't eat eggs like she used to ♪ ♪ Old lady come from booster ♪ ♪ Had two hens and a rooster ♪ ♪ the rooster died ♪ ♪ The old lady cried ♪ ♪ Now she don't eat eggs like she used to ♪ ♪ Oh ma, you look so ♪ ♪ Oh pa, you look so ♪ ♪ I said who've been here since I've been gone ♪ ♪ Two little boys with the blue caps on ♪ ♪ Leaning on a hickory stick ♪ ♪ Papa gonna slap them good ♪ ♪ Slap ♪ ♪ Pain in my head ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my heart ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my feet ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain all over me ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my head ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my heart ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my feet ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain all over me ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ (jazz instrumental music) ♪ Oh ma, you look so ♪ ♪ Oh pa, you look so ♪ ♪ I said who've been here since I've been gone ♪ ♪ Two little boys with the blue caps on ♪ ♪ Leaning on the hickory stick ♪ ♪ Papa gonna slap them good ♪ ♪ Slap ♪ ♪ Pain in my head ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my heart ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my feet ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain all lover me ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my head ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my heart ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain in my feet ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ ♪ Pain all over me ♪ ♪ Ranky Tanky ♪ (jazz instrumental music) ♪ Old lady come from booster ♪ ♪ Had two hens and a rooster ♪ ♪ Rooster died ♪ ♪ The old lady cried ♪ ♪ Now she don't eat eggs like she used to ♪ ♪ Old lady come from booster ♪ ♪ Had two hens and a rooster ♪ ♪ Rooster died ♪ ♪ The old lady cried ♪ ♪ Now she don't eat eggs like she used to ♪ ♪ Who is the greatest ♪ ♪ We are the greatest ♪ ♪ Are you sure ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Positive ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Definitive ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Alright, alright ♪ - Oh my gosh.

How fun is Ranky Tanky?

Yes, it originates as a kid's game, but it's a song and music both for kids and adults to enjoy.

So you really have this universal sound that brings everyone together.

That is so exciting.

- Ah yes.

(Apolonia laughs) Definitely universal, you know, and that's something that we talk about quite a bit on how the songs that we present are songs that we believe that just about everyone, if not everyone can connect with in some way, it's just like you said, it's universal like that.

And we're proud of that.

That whole aspect of the Gullah community.

We're proud of the fact that we get to share that aspect with concert goers.

And that's definitely the message.

- And so you grew up, you were previously mentioning that this is a part of your culture.

And so could you give us a little backstory and what it is like for you learning and growing, developing with this music in your community?

- Well, to be a descendant of, a Gullah descendant, I didn't really think of it as learning Gullah.

I was just growing up, that's just how it was.

My parents, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, it all just was passed on.

That's just how people talk, how people worshiped with each other, how people interacted and entertained with each other.

But I think the biggest thing that links it all is really, it comes down to faith.

And in the Gullah community, faith is everything.

If you keep the faith, everything is gonna work out and everything's gonna be alright.

You have still in some parts of the Gullah communities, these praise houses, where people would meet and they would worship together.

They would sing together, they would pray together, all kinds of things.

And so growing up, there was always going to church, there was always us playing some of these games together.

I didn't really know of it being a Gullah thing, that's just how I grew up.

I think someone asked me one time, when did you know you were Gullah?

(Apolonia chuckles) I don't know, that's just how I grew up.

It's very unique to this area, but at the same time, that's just how it is.

It's hard to explain in some aspects like that, that's just how we are.

- And your music Ranky Tanky with this contemporary spin on Gullah music.

You are truly one of a kind, you know yourself.

So this is a beautiful experience that we're currently in with you and your music.

So "Been in the storm" is our next song that we're going to be introduced to.

Can you tell us a bit about what we're about to listen to.

- "Been in a storm" is just a plea, it's basically a plea or a prayer, basically saying I've been in a storm, I've had all of this turmoil.

I've had all this upheaval in my life, whatever the case may be, I'm singing oh Lord, give me more time to pray.

You know I've been in the storm for so very long, they're calling on their higher power, whoever that is or whatever that is for that particular individual, calling on that higher power to just give him one more chance.

And that goes back to what I just said about faith and how faith is such a cornerstone in the Gullah community.

And when we perform that song and Quiana, it's basically just Quiana singing and Quentin playing drums.

And I admit every time I hear her do that, I get chills, because it makes me think of things that I've had to go through.

It can be very personal and when Quiana sings it, it's just, it's very powerful.

Now, right after that, we usually do this song called "That's alright".

Which is basically the same thing saying, as long as I've got my faith, everything's going to be alright.

And that song still to this day, you can go to just about any church in the Gullah community, any African-American church in the Gullah community, you can find somebody singing a version of that song.

So those two songs are very much cornerstones of the Gullah community, "Been in a storm" and "That's alright".

They just really work hand in hand together.

And we decided to put those into our set.

And it's just, it's a powerful moment.

- Wow, well I am ready for this powerful experience.

Ladies and gentlemen, "Been in the storm" followed by "That's alright".

(jazz instrumental music) ♪ Ah, ah, ah ♪ ♪ I've been in the storm so long ♪ ♪ You know that I ♪ ♪ I've been in the storm so long ♪ ♪ I'm singing oh Lord ♪ ♪ Give me more time to pray ♪ ♪ You know I've been in the storm ♪ ♪ So very long ♪ ♪ Lord ♪ ♪ I'm a motherless child ♪ ♪ I'm singing Lord ♪ ♪ I'm a motherless child ♪ ♪ I'm singing oh ♪ ♪ Lord ♪ ♪ Give me more time to pray ♪ ♪ You know I've been in the storm so very long ♪ ♪ Lord ♪ ♪ Lord I need you now ♪ ♪ I'm praying Lord ♪ ♪ I need you now ♪ ♪ I'm singing oh ♪ ♪ Lord ♪ ♪ Give me more time to pray ♪ ♪ You know I've been in the storm so very long ♪ ♪ Mm-Hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm ♪ ♪ Mm-Hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm ♪ ♪ Mm-Hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm ♪ ♪ I'm sing oh ♪ ♪ Give me more time to pray ♪ ♪ You know I've been in the storm ♪ ♪ You know I've been in the storm ♪ ♪ You know I've been in the storm ♪ ♪ You know I've been in the storm ♪ (drums beating) ♪ So ♪ ♪ very long ♪ ♪ Mm-Hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm ♪ ♪ Mm-Hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, mm-hmm, mm-hmm ♪ (drums beating) (trumpet blowing) (instrumental music) ♪ Ma, ma, mama how you walk in line ♪ ♪ Your feet may slip ♪ ♪ And your soul may love ♪ ♪ Since my soul's gonna sit up in the kingdom ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ It will be alright ♪ ♪ Since my soul's gonna sit up in the kingdom ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ (instrumental music) (Quiana clapping) ♪ Jacob's ladder is so long and tall ♪ ♪ You ain't got God ♪ ♪ You're sure to fall ♪ ♪ Since my soul's gonna sit up in the kingdom ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ It will be alright ♪ ♪ Since my soul's gonna sit up in the kingdom ♪ ♪ That's alrigt ♪ - Hey (instrumental music) ♪ One of these mornings ♪ ♪ It won't be long ♪ ♪ Go and look for me ♪ ♪ And Lord I'll be gone ♪ - Where you going?

♪ Gone up to heaven ♪ ♪ To sing and shout ♪ ♪ Won't be nobody there to put me out ♪ ♪ Hey, I chat with the father ♪ ♪ Chat with the son ♪ ♪ Tell them all about the world that I cam from ♪ ♪ Since my soul's gonna sit up in the kingdom ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ (percussion rattling) (hands clapping) ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ It will be alright ♪ ♪ Since my soul's gonna sit up in the kingdom ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ It will be alright ♪ ♪ Since my soul's gonna sit up in the kingdom ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ Since my soul's gonna sit up in the kingdom ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ Since my soul's gonna sit up in the kingdom ♪ ♪ That's alright ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ (hands clapping) - That's alright - Amen.

- That's alright.

- He alright.

- Yeah he is.

- You really do personalize, your individual experience, once you hear her sing, hear you all play together.

It's almost a miracle.

I think we've talked about how people don't know what goes into music, you know that music theory, that work, that planning- - Mm-hmm - they just wanna make sure it sounds good, and feels good.

- You're right, mm-hmm.

- Could you share a little bit about that process before we go into our next song that kind of carries into a following of this story about how your music comes together?

- Well, we first decided on a few songs from the community, from the Gullah community that we thought were just sort of standards or ones that we had heard before growing up, and we decided to just really rearrange them to fit the band.

And everything's always tweaking, so the way that you may hear it on the recording is not the same way you're gonna hear it in concert, because it's just evolved over, over time.

But being able to put our own individual flavor on it, if you will, and our own individual artistry and put it together, that's really how the band works.

Now on the new recording, on the "Good Time" album, we have some songs that we wrote together as a band and they are original compositions, but they definitely have the Gullah spirit involved with it.

And a lot of times it's just, we'll bring in a song and we'll start to play around with it.

And eventually we'll tweak it, everybody will put in their sort of thing.

As a matter of fact, Clay, the guitarist, Clay brought in the song "Good Time" and he was singing it one way and Quentin and I were looking at each other and we were like, that's not how we sing it at church.

(Charlton laughing) And Clay said, what do you mean?

And we went, this is how you do it.

This is how we would sing it at our church.

And then Quentin said, well this is how we would sing it at our church.

And Clay was like, oh, we're doing it that way then, And so a lot of times, or all of the time, it's definitely that group effort like that in shaping the song to where it's presented to whatever audience that we have and being able to do that particular song, definitely brought back a lot of memories, being able to make that our first music video and all of the people in the video were from the community, and people that had been with us as individual artists and supporting us all over, it was just a great time.

It was a good time, no pun intended, but it was a good time.

- So families and friends of the Levitt, let's celebrate and get into "Good Time".

♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ When we all ♪ ♪ All get together ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ I got a letter ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ From Tennessee ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ From my sweetheart ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Writing to me ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Old mister rabbit ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Shake it in the tree ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Shake it in the mattress ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Shake it in the money bag ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ Dog on the porch ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Kicking off fleas ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Shake it in the yard ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Scratching up peas ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Way down the Yonder ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ I come from ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Girls love boys ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Like a hog loves corn ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ Old mister rabbit ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ It died with the habit ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ In my garden ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Eating up cabbage ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ One of these days ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ It won't be long ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ You'll look for me here ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ And I'll be gone ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Sangaree ♪ ♪ Oh baby ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ Good time ♪ ♪ A good time ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ ♪ When we all get together ♪ ♪ We gonna have a time ♪ (drums beating) (instrumental music) ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ My Lord ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Come on now ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Let your body have a good time ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Give me amen ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Whoooo ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ ♪ Shake it ♪ - Man that is just church (laughs).

Charlton- - Mm-hmm.

- Rankie Tanky, your music, I feel there's gonna be a huge awakening (laughs) of all kinds of feeling of the spirit when you here in Sioux falls.

- Mm-hmm.

- So we're excited.

So we have a few photos that kind of trails the history of Ranky Tanky.

So we want to kind of dive in and get a little backstory.

- [Charlton] So this is a shot.

We were doing a photo shoot for a magazine, and we were trying to figure out just a good location to capture us in the south, it's more kind of a southern magazine.

And we were on top of this building in Charleston called the People's Building, which I believe is still the tallest building in Charleston, South Carolina, and behind us, you can literally see the whole city.

And so that was the idea behind that particular shot.

Getting up there was quite an amusing trip as well.

(Charlton laughs) I remember specifically Quentin and Quiana were like, we're gonna climb what?

(both laughing) We're going to the top of the building.

We're going on the elevator?

No, we're going on the outside on the (laughs).

What?

(Apolina and Charlton laughing) So this picture, our state representative, or one of our state representatives, a gentlemen standing next to me, to my left, is Wendell Gilliard, and he led the charge for the house, the state house to give us a proclamation, basically proclaiming just all of the things that we do for the State of South Carolina, the attention that we have brought to the State of South Carolina, recognizing our Grammy win.

And we had a little ceremony recently, as a matter of fact, and representative Gilliard has always been a big supporter, just like everybody else in the state.

We've just really had tremendous support, it's been a blessing.

This is the official Grammy photo.

One of the things that we got to see being at the Grammy awards is just everything that happens behind the scenes.

And once you are fortunate enough to win that Grammy, and you go off stage, it's just a whirlwind of activity.

It's a whirlwind of photos.

It's a whirlwind of interviews and everything is sort of bang, bang.

But this particular photo was literally the first thing that we did when they took us back to this area.

And they literally said, this is your official Grammy photo.

And that's really when it's starting to hit home a little bit more.

It was one thing to have your name called, and it's one thing to stand there and give a speech and then go off stage, and then the hoopla happens, and what people don't see of me, having a very messy cry all over Quiana's clothes.

(Apolina and Charlton laughing) But that's the official one.

And it was an amazing moment.

- Wow, and you do need to be recognized for the efforts, the history, the new life that you have brought and breathed into the Gullah music.

And so the next photo we have, is one of a Gullah church.

Could you tell us a little bit about that?

- Oh, yes.

This is Moving Star Hall.

Moving Star Hall is, it's pretty much a shrine, if you will, in the Gullah community.

It is located on Johns island, South Carolina.

That church, and back in the day they were called meeting houses or praise houses.

- [Apolina] Mm-hmm.

- [Charlton] It's probably about the size of someone's dining room to be honest with you.

When you walk in, it's extremely small, you really can't fit more than 20 people in there, I don't think.

However, the history of that church, and I encourage everyone to look up Moving Star Hall.

The history that goes with that church over the many years, one thing about South Carolina and being on the coast, on the Southeast coast, there's lots of hurricanes, there've been tremendous ones that have damaged so many areas.

Moving Star Hall has stayed right there, and it's tiny, but it's historic.

And we thought that it would be a nice place to go and celebrate.

And we took a picture for a magazine on the steps.

And that's what you see right there.

That's that picture.

But yeah, Moving Star is definitely up there, in terms of meaning in the Gullah community.

- One of the reasons why I loved "Levitt" is their mission to build community through music.

So ladies and gentlemen set your calendars, Friday, June 11th, our first performance of the season, Ranky Tanky.

(Apolina giggles) - Yes!

- Yes!

So to learn more, tell us about this next piece.

We're gonna get back into the music, and to continue to celebrate, praise and party.

Tell us about "Beat 'em Down".

- Well, Clay wrote "Beat 'em Down" and basically the song is about just always sort of letting your light shine, letting the love in your heart to shine forth, "Beat 'em Down".

I'll use my heart's love to beat 'em down.

- All right, let's dive into that love.

Here is "Beat 'em Down".

(instrumental music) ♪ In these hard times ♪ ♪ Filled with shadows ♪ ♪ When that dark cloud calls my name ♪ ♪ When these devils ♪ ♪ Swarm all around me ♪ ♪ That's when my love beats down like rain ♪ ♪ Beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ Beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ I'll use my heart's love ♪ ♪ To beat 'em down ♪ ♪ Beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ Beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ I'll use my heart's love ♪ ♪ To beat 'em down ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ when a dark night ♪ ♪ Creeps up on me ♪ ♪ Like a coward in the night ♪ ♪ It tried to shake me ♪ ♪ It tried to break me ♪ ♪ But then my heart's love shows me the light ♪ ♪ Oh beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ Beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ I'll use my heart's love ♪ ♪ To beat 'em down ♪ ♪ Oh beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ Beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ I'll use my heart's love ♪ ♪ To beat 'em down ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ When they accuse me ♪ ♪ Beat and abuse me ♪ ♪ Lay me barren in my pain ♪ ♪ They won't defeat me ♪ ♪ Break or deplete me ♪ ♪ My love is stronger than their claim ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ ♪ Beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ Beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ I'll use my heart's love ♪ ♪ To beat 'em down ♪ ♪ Oh beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ Beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ I'll use my heart's love ♪ ♪ To beat 'em down ♪ ♪ Oh beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ Beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ I'll use my heart's love ♪ ♪ to beat 'em down ♪ ♪ Hey beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ Beat 'em down love ♪ ♪ I'll use my heart's love ♪ ♪ To beat 'em down ♪ ♪ I'll use my heart's love ♪ ♪ To beat 'em down ♪ ♪ I'll use my heart's love ♪ ♪ To beat 'em down ♪ (instrumental music) - I'm truly just feeling the love through that song.

"Beat 'em Down", what a beautiful masterpiece.

Again, ladies and gentlemen- - Thank you.

- please learn more about Ranky Tanky, support them, let's all come together as a community, check them out, visit their website, www.rankytanky.com and give them a follow, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

This is a competition here and I want Sioux falls to win on the abounding love we are giving this band (giggles).

So give them a follow- - Yes!

- you're watching, let's all just show our support and on top of support, I just wanna thank again, thank our sponsors.

We wanna thank Sanford health, we wanna thank Dan and Arlene Kirby, the South Dakota Arts Council, and the Mortimer and Mimi Levitt foundation, we're so thankful to be here.

So as we're getting into our next piece "All For You", I want to learn also a little bit more about you Charlton.

Throughout this time, this last year with COVID, you know art is essential, art matters, it is significant and pivotal in bringing everyone together, but it's a challenge on us as artists because we're not directly connected with our community.

So what has this process been?

Have you been able to do things yourself to grow personally and bringing more to the table?

What has this past year looked like for you?

- Well, at first it was a little uncertain, but true to most artists, you use any time that you have to be creative and a lot of artists have found that this time, where we may not have been able to tour or doing any sort of presenting was the time to reflect on things.

Maybe see how we could present things in a different manner.

There's a lot of the creative process that goes on with regards to maybe writing new material.

Personally, if it wasn't for this pandemic in a weird kinda way, I probably would not have released another solo album, like I was able to do.

Like I was able to put more time into the release of a solo jazz album.

And so in that regard, it was very beneficial for me to have that time to actually work on some other projects, and release that solo project last July.

I can't believe it's gonna be a year coming up in a few months.

But, myself and other members of the band utilized that time in order to take moments to be creative and figure out how we can do things, a little differently.

There are a lot of people that jumped into live streaming and doing performances that way.

So the creative process really sort of jumped up a notch, I think, with a lot of the artists and how they were able to present or enhance whatever the art discipline that they were in.

- Mm-hmm.

Wonderful.

I think that through challenges, trials, and tribulations, there is an opportunity to rise above our circumstances- - Oh definitely.

- and to still be of service.

And so I am so grateful for you and for sharing that, how you've been able to grow during this time.

So tell us a little bit about this next song that we're about to get into.

- Oh, "All For You".

Clay and Quiana came up with "All For You", and Clay uses a style of guitar playing called Palm wine, like the Palm of your hand, and wine like a beverage, but that's a style of guitar that is from West Africa.

Which is the connection to the Gullah community, here in the United States.

And so, the beginning of the song and that sort of guitar picking that you hear Clay use is actually the Palm wine star style of guitar playing.

And this song is, kind of, I call it kind of a soft work song because it's about basically, like the chorus of it says, you know basically all my love is all for you.

How you go and you work for this person, to show your love for one another.

That's the basic Genesis of "All For You".

- Wow.

Well, I'm ready to continue to learn and listen and fall in love.

Ladies and gentlemen, "All For You".

(guitar music) ♪ Foot up on the ladder ♪ ♪ It's a quarter past eight ♪ ♪ Get this money up ♪ ♪ So I can dirty my plate ♪ ♪ Aint gon' catch a fish ♪ ♪ Unless you use the right bait ♪ ♪ Up in the house ♪ ♪ In the shoo lie loo ♪ ♪ I'm over yonder waiting till you get through ♪ ♪ Sorry but I got me something better to do ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ Yeah all for you ♪ ♪ All my love ♪ ♪ And it's all for you ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ Swept off you feet ♪ ♪ Gotta spin on that broom ♪ ♪ Hop on your sit ♪ ♪ Give your legs some more room ♪ ♪ On my right shoulder ♪ ♪ Where they keep the full moon ♪ ♪ Struggling in the vineyard ♪ ♪ I ain't gather no grapes ♪ ♪ Toss 'em in the basket ♪ ♪ Before they make an escape ♪ ♪ Better straighten up ♪ ♪ Before it's getting too late ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ Yeah all for you ♪ ♪ All my love ♪ ♪ And it's all for you ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ Yeah all for you ♪ ♪ All my love and it's all for you ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ The monkey and the lion ♪ ♪ Got to talk in one day ♪ ♪ Monkey say the lion he's the king in everyway ♪ ♪ But not everybody he'll see that way ♪ ♪ They talked about your mama ♪ ♪ And your grandma too ♪ ♪ Too polite to say what they said about you ♪ ♪ Too polite to say even what they say is true ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ Yeah all for you ♪ ♪ All my love ♪ ♪ And it's all for you ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ All for you ♪ ♪ Yeah all for you ♪ ♪ All my love ♪ ♪ And it's all for you ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ All my love ♪ ♪ And it's all for you ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ All my love ♪ ♪ And it's all for you ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ All my love ♪ ♪ And it's all for you ♪ ♪ All my love ♪ ♪ And it's all for you ♪ ♪ It's all ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ For you ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ It's all (instrumental music) ♪ ♪ For you ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ Mm-Hmm yeah ♪ ♪ All my love ♪ ♪ And it's all for you ♪ ♪ All my love ♪ ♪ And it's ♪ ♪ It's all for you ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ Mm-Hmm ♪ (instrumental music) - Wow, "All For You".

Charlton to you and your band, I have personally been so moved by your music.

What else before we close out, what words of wisdom can you share with us, or philosophy, a practice, a way of life, like what gets you out of bed in the morning to continue to create, thrive and build community?

Your thoughts?

- For me, entertaining- - [Apolonia] Mm-hmm.

- educating, and enlightening.

I try to go with those three E's, as much as possible.

As a former classroom teacher, I enjoy making sure that my audience, back then my students were educated in some sort of way, so when I'm in concert, whether it's Ranky Ranky, or whether it's Charlton Singleton quartet, or whatever have you, I'm usually trying to bring some sort of knowledge that can help the audience to appreciate the song a little more, or appreciate the performance a little more.

You know like an "All For You" and that Palm wine style.

That Palm wine style, kind of originated in the Sierra Leone.

And the Sierra Leone is where the majority of the West Africans that ended up in the United States as slaves came from, so that's that connection to that sound.

And just being able to get up in the morning and do what you love to do, do what I feel that I was born to do, to entertain, to educate, to enlighten, that's what motivates me, that's what gets me out of bed.

Looking forward to the next performance, looking forward to the next opportunity to talk with people and to share with them any sort of information that I have, to intake any sort of information that they want to share with me.

So that's my mantra.

And as far as the band is concerned, it's the same thing.

Just definitely with the Gullah community.

You know, like I said, there's so many things in the Gullah community that I know people that they've probably heard of or experienced, but they probably just didn't know that the root of it was the Gullah community.

And that's one of the things that I like to share when we're out on stage.

No pun intended, we are definitely gonna have a good time, but there is always that point of it, where there's gonna be a point in the show where somebody is gonna be in the audience and they're gonna go, oh yeah.

And it's gonna hit them about something that we've done or something that they've heard and realize I have experienced that, whether it's kumbaya, or sweet grass baskets or the Patty cake game, or this one lady in her late 70s or 80s one time told me that she had sung that song, that when she was growing up and being at 4-H camp, but she had no idea, it was from the Gullah community.

That sort of education, that sort of entertainment, that sort of enlightenment is what we enjoy, and that's what keeps me going.

The fact that I'm able to do that on a regular basis is a blessing.

So I'm always gonna be happy to do that.

- Thank you so much Charlton for that wisdom.

Ladies and gentlemen, next week, Thursday, April 29th, we're gonna release our full list of performances.

So be sure to check our website and visit Levitt Sioux Falls on our social media, either Facebook or Instagram.

We heard it from Charlton.

The three E's, entertaining, educating, enlightening.

This is a one of a kind experience.

So on Friday, June 11th, let's come out in waves to embrace, celebrate, learn, listen, and embody the Gullah culture.

Thank you again for Charlton Singleton for your time, your talent- - Thank you.

- your wisdom, your culture, your spirit, your love.

You are amazing.

(Charlton giggles) Ranky Tanky you rock.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm your host Apolonia Davalos and goodnight.

(instrumental music) (crowd cheering)