THE SPIRIT OF THE SEEGERS INFUSES DOM FLEMONS’ SOLO ALBUM ‘PROSPECT HILL’

ESQUIRE PREMIERES FIRST TRACK OUT FROM SOLO LP OUT JULY 22 ON MUSIC MAKER RELIEF FOUNDATION

As January 27 became January 28, folk and bluesman and Prairie Home Companion favorite Guy Davis stepped onto a redeye flight from New York to meet Dom Flemons and perform on the first recording sessions for the latter’s album ‘Prospect Hill,’ out July 22 on Music Maker Relief Foundation. Flemons recalls, “Guy was a guiding light within the whole process. The day before he came, he was at Pete Seeger's bedside saying goodbye. Guy has a long history with Pete Seeger: he was one of the singers in the Sloop Singers in the '70s. Guy had known Pete since he was a little kid. They were very close. Guy was torn up about it but he said, let's do this, that what Pete would've wanted. It was a heavy sort of thing to have at beginning of session.”

Esquire Magazine premiered “But They Got It Fixed Right On” today.

Brooklyn Vegan has previewed ‘Prospect Hill’ and Flemons’ set at the Brooklyn Folk Festival, which drew a standing ovation.

The connection between Flemons and Davis and the Seegers grew deeper as Davis playing a six-string banjo of Flemons’ that belonged to Pete’s half-brother and fellow musician and folklorist Mike Seeger, a mentor whom Flemons had met years earlier at the Black Banjo Gathering. He remembers, “We played together at his house in Lexington, VA. I went over there about a dozen times. He was very open to sharing his library, his information, his stories. I’d call Mike, ask him about stuff. He was a wonderful confidante and a good friend. He was also the first major person I’d met who I’d known from recordings. He took a lot of delight that I could quote liner notes and talk critically about music he produced. We got to be pretty close.”

Ultimately, Seeger’s passing helped bring the project into harmony with the missions of the Seegers. Flemons says, “Pete was never insular about getting music out there. A single person can help organize. Like-minded musicians organized together.”

In the liner notes for ‘Prospect Hill,’ Flemons writes, “As the year has progressed, I can proudly proclaim I see 2014 as the year of the Folksinger… When Pete Seeger passed the night before we began recording this record I knew that notion was a reality.”

Flemons tour dates, including NYC, Philadelphia, and Boston.

DOM FLEMONS LEARNS RARE AFRICAN-AMERICAN FOLK INSTRUMENT FROM MIKE SEEGER, IS LAST LIVING PLAYER IN QUILLS TRADITION

NEW SOLO ALBUM 'PROSPECT HILL' OUT JULY 22

Dom Flemons – the American songster whose new album 'Prospect Hill' comes out July 22 on Music Maker Relief Foundation – carries on a traditional instrument he learned from Mike Seeger. Flemons demonstrates and talks about the panpipe-like instrument in this video.

Flemons told me, "Most audiences, they've never seen anything like that. Whoa!" He first picked it up from Mike Seeger at a Black Banjo Gathering. Flemons said, "He was a revelation, making new music out of traditional music elements. He was the only guy I heard playing the quills. I met him and asked him where I could get quills. He showed me a couple of things. I'm the last living black quills player in the country."

Another inspiration was the 1920s recordings by songster Henry Thomas, who has been covered by Bob Dylan and Canned Heat, and 1960s recordings by Joe Patterson. Hear Henry Thomas' "Old Country Stomp" here.

Playing the Newport Folk Fest, Flemons befriended Bob Jones and Murray Lerner, who led him to footage of Alabama's Joe Patterson, the only known historical footage of a quills player. Flemons says, "With Mike included, there are four quills players whose recordings are readily available. You blow over it like you're blowing over a bottle. It's a goofy instrument!"

Flemons' new solo album 'Prospect Hill' comes out July 22 on Music Maker Relief Foundation.