Gaye Adegbalola - The Griot (2019)

Gaye Adegbalola serves up topical blues for topical times. Like the storytelling griots of West Africa, she is the living archive of oral history, the seed-sower, the now-knower, the entertainer, the unchainer. In song stories like (You're) Flint Water and I've been Kaepernicked! THE GRIOT tackles themes of hypocrisy, sexism, poverty, pollution, love, vanity, freedom and betrayal, all wrapped in Gaye's trademark wit and wisdom. Gaye has performed all over the world individually, in duos and bands, and as a founding member of the group Saffire The Uppity Blues Women, who ended their glorious 25-year run in 2009. She is a mother, a Blues Music Award (BMA) winner and former Virginia State Teacher of the Year. Now 74, she sees her life's work as a contemporary griot - keeping the history alive, delivering messages of empowerment, and finding joy in the mundane.