Wednesday, September 17, 2025
7:30pm
St. Luke's Chapel
Free Admission
Rural Black string music flourished throughout the Jim Crow era, but few people know anything about it. On Wednesday, September 17, at 7:30 p.m. in St. Luke’s Chapel the musicians Earl White, Victor Furtado, and Tray Wellington will perform songs in that tradition. (Admission is free.)
White, Furtado, and Wellington are all acclaimed bluegrass performers; among them, they play fiddle and two banjos. See their bios at the Roberson Project posting. They will share songs first recorded by the Warren County trio of Gribble, Lusk, and York back in the 1940s.
Hailing from Warren County, Murphy Gribble, John Lusk, and Albert York recorded dozens of songs featuring jaunty and folky string tunes rooted in African American and Americana folk music tradition. The works of Gribble, Lusk, and York represent a period in American history defined by the survival of music and tradition through the Jim Crow South. Despite mountain music of the time only being hailed as being “real American music” if it was performed by white musicians, Gribble, Lusk, and York’s works paved the way for a unique and resilient genre of music. On September 14 in St. Luke’s Chapel, musicians Earl White, Victor Furtado, and Tray Wellington, will perform works by the famed Tennessee black string band, Gribble, Lusk, and York. Admission is free for this event!
These songs are both haunting in the eras they represent, but also incredibly joyful and vivacious in their sound, with songs such as “Across the Sea” delighting the listener with playfully strung rhythms and rustic harmonies. The scholar Linda Henry hosts a website on the music of Gribble, Lusk, and York, including several dozen recordings at www.gribbleluskandyork.org.
