Learn the Music. Share the Stories. Carry the Tradition Forward.
Jack Dappa Blues Radio’s programs bring together Blues music, Black history, folklore, and community knowledge. Through guitar instruction, cultural education, elder storytelling, and oral history, we create opportunities for children, adults, families, and organizations to learn, connect, and help carry Black cultural traditions forward.
Blues People, Music & Folklore
Explore the Blues through the people, communities, and cultural traditions that give the music its meaning. Blues People, Music & Folklore connects listening, storytelling, and discussion with Black history, oral tradition, cultural memory, and everyday life. Participants consider how family, work, migration, community, and place shape the music—and how the Blues carries knowledge across generations.
Explore Blues People, Music & Folklore
Blues Guitar & Cultural Education
Learn acoustic Blues guitar while exploring the Black history, people, stories, and traditions behind the music. Open to children and adults, this beginner-friendly program combines weekly guitar instruction with an introduction to ethnomusicology and folklore—the connections between music, culture, and community. Students build skills and confidence at their own pace, with opportunities to continue into 12-Bar Blues in A and deeper study of Blues people, music, and folklore.
Explore Guitar Lessons & Cultural Education
The Blues People Elder Memory Project
We the Blues People: Black Music, Memory, and the Stories Our Elders Carry
Black elders carry knowledge that lives in music, family stories, church traditions, neighborhood memories, and everyday experience. This project brings together Blues performance, guided conversation, oral history, and intergenerational storytelling to recognize elders as cultural authorities and tradition keepers. Developed with elders and community partners, programs range from introductory gatherings to sustained collaborations, with participants helping determine how their stories are preserved and shared.
Explore the Elder Memory Project
Bring a Program to Your Community
Interested in lessons, hosting a community gathering, or supporting this work? We welcome conversations with families, schools, senior centers, churches, libraries, cultural organizations, and funding partners.