Registration Advisory: This program is free, but requires registration. Note there is a 2-seat limit per household when registering for this program.
Blues music—African American cultural expression, musical style, and musical form—goes back over 100 years and remains a vital genre of music today. Women blues musicians have been there since the start and have made an impact well beyond the blues to all forms of American popular music. Explore how women musicians have engaged the blues genre to shape the musical and lyrical contours of and the social conversations surrounding one of the country’s most influential musical forms.
The blues women of the past broke through barriers and created new spaces for self-expression, establishing an important legacy that lives on in the work of contemporary blues women. Krystal Klingenberg, curator of music at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, is joined in discussion with blues and soul vocal legend Bettye LaVette and a sparkling newcomer, singer/songwriter Adia Victoria, about their work in the field today and the legacy that they share. Through conversation and live performances, learn about the history of women’s blues expression and the ways in which the blues still offers a unique point of commentary on society today.
The program’s principal funder is the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.
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