HOUSATONIC, Mass. — Berkshire-born Music in Common returns to the Guthrie Center for an Album Release concert for the new Black Legacy Project record, Vol. 2. 

 

The Aug. 23 show is part of the Guthrie Center's annual summer Troubadour Series. Tickets are available online.

 

Black Legacy Project, Vol. 2 features 12 songs reimagined and written by musicians in the Mississippi Delta, Boise, Atlanta, and the Berkshires. The three Berkshire songs feature Wanda Houston, Billy Keane, Matt Cusson, Rufus Jones, and more than a dozen other local artists. The album's first single, "It's About More", was written and recorded in the Berkshires. 

 

The Aug. 23 concert will showcase songs from the new album, the entire Black LP repertoire, and the greater Music in Common songbook. The MIC band features Berkshire's own Bree Soul and Katherine Winston (both of whom first got involved with Music in Common as teens), Michael Aaron, Bryan House, and MIC Program Manager, Trey Carlisle (another MIC youth alum), aka EMCEE P.O.E.T.R.E.Y. The band will be joined onstage by Music in Common founder & director, Todd Mack, for a few songs. This will be Music in Common's last area show until October.

 

The Black Legacy Project is a musical celebration of Black history to advance racial harmony, bridge-building, and partnership. Developed in the summer of 2020 in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, the project launched with week-long residencies in seven communities across the country between 2021 - 2023, including Atlanta, Boise, the Mississippi Delta, Denver, the Ozarks of Northwest Arkansas, Los Angeles, and the Berkshires.. As it traveled the country, Black LP brought together Black and White artists and artists of all backgrounds to record present-day interpretations of songs central to the Black American experience and to compose originals relevant to the pressing calls for change of our time. Community roundtable discussions helped inform how these songs were interpreted and written.

 

Twelve of the twenty-four songs recorded for the project were released on the debut album, Black Legacy Project, Vol. 1, in September 2023, and a touring band has been on the road ever since performing the project songs. Vol. 2 will be released on August 22 and will contain the second set of twelve songs recorded for the project. 

 

As Music in Common continues to tour the country, a feature-length documentary film is in post-production, highlighting the full Black LP arc with an expected release date of February 2026. A seven-part docuseries comprised of an episode from each of the seven communities the project launched in is also in post-production and will be released following the documentary film. 

 

To date, more than 100 local, regional, and national musicians across the country have participated in the project including American roots music luminaries such as Blues legend Bobby Rush, Nick Forster of Hot Rize and eTown fame,  and Lionel Young as well as the heirs of American music icons such as Abe and Annie Guthrie, Arlo's kids and Woody's grandkids, and Keith Johnson, great grand nephew of Muddy Waters.

 

"We are thrilled to return to the Guthrie Center where the project began back in 2021 ", says MIC Executive Director,  Todd Mack. "It promises to be a meaningful night of powerful musical performance and community connection."

 

The Black Legacy Project is produced by Music in Common, a Berkshire-born,  Atlanta-based nonprofit that strengthens, empowers, and connects communities through the universal language of music. Since 2005, Music In Common has directly served thousands of people in more than 300 communities across the globe and across religious, ethnic, cultural, and racial axes. The organization was founded by singer-songwriter and producer Todd Mack in response to the murder of his friend and bandmate, Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter abducted by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. In 2022,  Mack and Carlisle were named CNN Champions for Change for their work with the project.