It was a great week for roots music in Raleigh NC at the 2024 IBMAs in late September, with music showcases galore, practically every artist and label in bluegrass especially meeting and greeting and doing business, late night jams, and plenty of engaging and informative music panels during the day. The highlight of the business conference side of things, for me, was a two-day series of seminars titled “Roots Revival: A Black Stringband Symposium”. Much of what those panel events put forward was not only new; some of it was quite revelatory.

In recent years, roots music fans have been turning over stone after stone when it comes to the importance of Black artists in traditional music, ranging from the very dawn of string bands up to the current era of bluegrass and beyond. Knowledge of key figures like Arnold Shultz and DeFord Bailey is much more widespread now, thanks in large part to the music of Generation X stars like the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Old Crow Medicine Show, who are succeeded by younger generations of artists like Jake Blount and Kaia Kater in making their predecessors’ stories, along with the broader history and culture, much better known.

Tray Wellington took part in the Black Stringband Symposium series, and we caught up after he spoke and played at the seminar titled “Black Music In Appalachia”, which was one of the six hosted by IBMA in partnership with The Banjo Gathering and Elderly Instruments. Tray makes his second appearance on this podcast, and brings us new music as well from his 2024 collection Detour To The Moon.

Tray Wellington speaks at the “Black Music In Appalachia” seminar at IBMA 09/27/24
Photo: The Banjo Gathering

Songs heard in this episode:

“Moon In Motion 1” by Tray Wellington, from Detour To The Moon

“Till Summer Was Gone” by Tray Wellington, from Detour to the Moon, excerpt

“Lift Up Every Stone” by Tray Wellington, from Detour to the Moon, excerpt

“Spiral Staircase” by Tray Wellington, from Detour to the Moon

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This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to everyone at IBMA for helping to make this interview possible, and to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Artist stereotypes do not apply

How many times have parents cringed when their children fell in love with a musician? Let's be honest, the world has looked askance at artists of all stripes (with notable exceptions) for most of our history. Musicians tend to be thought of as people who may be great at their art but who are nonetheless pretty bad at life skills like paying bills, getting to work on time, and sticking with the missus.

Aaron turns all those stereotypes on their head; he is not only a fantastic songwriter and musician, but he also runs his own construction business and is a devoted family man living a stone's throw from where he grew up in the western NC mountains. He is as meticulous and intense about his guitar and ballads as he is about his green built homes and raising his two girls.

As you'll see in our pilot episode, Aaron does both life and art exceptionally well. The folks around him are a big part of that.