Veteran Bluesman and Carolina Chocolate Drop join forces in DC show

Music Maker is pleased to announce the addition of several upcoming tour dates for Boo Hanks and Dom Flemons, one of which will be at The Hamilton in Washington, D.C. on August 19.  The two blues artists plan to promote their new collaborative album Buffalo Junction, which will be released June 19.

Hanks, one of the most important ‘discoveries’ in recent blues history, grew up sharecropping in Vance County, N.C., where he learned to play guitar from his father and from listening to Blind Boy Fuller on a wind-up gramophone. After partnering with Music Maker he went from being heard only in his community to playing for thousands at shows and festivals across the South, at the Lincoln Center and in Belgium, and opening for the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Flemons, who won a Grammy in 2011 with the Drops, was at the Music Maker office the day Hanks first arrived, and their friendship and collaborations grew from that first jam session over the next six years.

Dom Flemons said of the recording experience: "Boo Hanks is a treasure. His vocal and guitar phrases are something so unique and forgotten in the modern world of folk and blues.  He an absolutely engaging songster and it has been a pleasure to have played with him for several years and to be a part of this album which will hopefully present his music to a much wider audience.”

Hanks’ and Flemons’ new album Buffalo Junction, named for Hanks’ hometown in Virginia, features upbeat, country blues that crosses generational lines. The album highlights Hanks on the guitar and vocals, while Flemons plays a variety of traditional instruments such as the jug, harmonica, bones and also sings backup vocals.

Music Maker president Tim Duffy said of the upcoming tour: “Audiences will have a chance to enjoy this new collaboration in person through these performances. They will see live the passing of the torch from Piedmont Blues veteran Boo Hanks to an artist like Dom, who is poised to take the sound into this new century.”

The Illinois Entertainer calls Buffalo Junction, "Fascinating, important, a singular musical experience, and required listening for blues, folk, and musical history fans alike featuring dazzling picking."

Hanks is a partner artist of Music Maker, while Flemons is a Next Generation Artist. Through Next Generation partnerships, MMRF fosters the continuation of Southern traditional music among younger generations of musicians. Buffalo Junction is a collaborative album that does just that.

Listen to a track from Buffalo Junction here.

Ticket information for tour dates will soon be available at musicmaker.org.

The Hamilton is located at 600 14th Street Washington, DC 20005, call (202) 787-1000.