Episode 8 - Dom Flemons

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons, formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, is also a historian with a passion for the history of black musicians in America. His acclaimed album, Black Cowboys, pays tribute to the music, culture and complex history of the golden era of the Wild West. It received a GRAMMY nomination for “Best Folk Album,” and just last year Flemons won an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for the liner notes he wrote. The recording is now part of the African American Legacy Recordings series, co-produced with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. Flemons was in New York City recently where he sat down with ASCAP’s Erik Philbrook and talked about his own musical journey and the experiences of the black music creators who helped pioneer the American west both physically and musically. He also performed a few songs from his acclaimed album. Also, from the ASCAP Archives, we have a clip from our 2018 ASCAP EXPO panel called “The Paths of Rhythm: From Producer to Composer.” The panel featured producer-composers Adrian Younge, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad - an original member of A Tribe Called Quest. The two of them collaborated on the music for the Netflix series Luke Cage. They also have a group called The Midnight Hour, who wrote the bumpin’ theme music for this very podcast! Joining them on the panel was Morgan Rhodes, a music supervisor who’s worked on projects like Selma, Queen Sugar and Dear White People.