Lamont Jack Pearley – Executive Director/ Founder of Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation. Pearley
is an award-winning Independent Filmmaker and radio journalist. Pearley is an applied folklorist, ethnographer, African American traditional music historian, and practitioner enrolled at WKU in the African American and Folk Studies programs. The founder and Editor in Chief of the African American Folklorist Magazine, Pearley also hosts a weekly segment on WKU Public Radio & NPR called the African American Folklorist. He was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as Great Blues Historian and TV/Radio Producer (2017) and Great Blues Artist (2018). Pearley works in Folklore's academic and public sectors, where his expertise assists communities and local advocacies to document their stories and strategize and implement long-term goals for cultural sustainability.
