Martha Redbone: Freedom is in the Songs

Photo credit: Cedic Pilard

Martha, vocalist/songwriter/composer and United States Artist fellow, known for her unique gumbo of folk, blues, and gospel, has developed her own singular style of American Roots music that is a direct reflection of her Southeastern Afro-Indigenous culture and heritage; the Appalachian hills of Harlan County, Kentucky; and the eclectic grit of pre-gentrified Brooklyn.  

For her Spring concert performance at Weeksville Heritage Center, musician and storyteller Martha Redbone and her ensemble invite the audience to sing along while they perform music spanning the Black American music diaspora, weaving in her own American story through music that celebrates Black and Indigenous shared histories.  Inspired by Weeksville’s community newspaper, Freedman’s Torchlight, dating back to 1866, Martha will compose two new songs based on the text as part of her Weeksville performance honoring the history and legacy in song, as one of the oldest Black settlements in New York and the United States. Come celebrate our stories of resilience in honor of the free Black families and community created in Brooklyn.

Open to families and children of all ages.

Weeksville is home, and your comfort matters to us. If you have any accessibility needs or questions, please reach out to us at programs@weeksvillesociety.org we’re happy to support you in any way we can.

Evening Itinerary

• 6 pm: Doors Open
• 6:30 pm: Preshow Talk
• 7 pm: Performance Starts
• 7-8:30 pm: Performance
• 9 pm: Doors Close

Cast & Ensemble

• Martha Redbone- Lead Vocal, Percussion
• Aaron Whitby: Keyboards MD
• Fred Cash: Bass
• Marvin Sewell: Guitars
• Charlie Burnham: Violin
• Jenny Douglas-Foote: Vocals
• Keith Anthony Fluitt: Vocals

Presenter Bios:

Dominique Jean-Louis, Ph.D, is the Chief Historian of the Center for Brooklyn History at the Brooklyn Public Library. Among the exhibitions she has curated are The Battle of Brooklyn: Fought and Remembered, Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn, and a pop-up exhibition, Memories Matter, in the Euclid Avenue subway station as a collaboration with the MTA’s Vacant Unit Activation Program. She received her Ph.D in US History from New York University, with her doctoral research focusing on race, ethnicity, and immigration in post-Civil Rights Era Brooklyn schools. Dominique regularly writes and lectures on Blackness in America, schools and education, and New York City history.

Oleana Whispering Dove, Keeper of Cultural Lifeways, has worked as a museum professional for over 20 years and now curates’ Native American programs, spotlighting Traditional Contemporary Indigenous artists. Likewise, Oleana is Smithsonian Museum trained in Lenape Indigenous history and fulfills public speaking engagements on the topics of Carving Out a Legacy and Historic Native American Women Chiefs, which reflect her Indigenous heritage as a Native American descendant.

About Martha Redbone 

Photo credit: Christine Jean Chambers

Martha Redbone is an American vocalist, songwriter, composer, educator, and United States Artist Fellow, celebrated for her “brilliant collision of cultures” (The New Yorker), embodying the folk and mountain blues sounds of her childhood in “Coal country” Harlan County, Kentucky with the eclectic grit of her teenage years in pre-gentrified Brooklyn. Inheriting her powerful gospel-singing father’s voice and the resilient spirit of her mother’s Southeastern Indigenous and African American culture, Martha broadens the boundaries of American Roots music. Songs and storytelling share her life experience as an Afro-Indigenous mother in an ever-changing world. Working in partnership with longtime collaborator Aaron Whitby, their works include Original Music and Score for the 2022 Broadway revival “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuff, Ntozake Shange and 2020 Drama Desk Award- Outstanding Composer in a Play, Public Theater, NYC. Their musical works uplift issues of social justice, connecting cultures and celebrating the human spirit.