Coming June 14, 2024, Smithsonian Folkways will release The Complete Friends of Old-Time Music Concert by Bessie Jones, John Davis & The Georgia Sea Island Singers with Mississippi Fred McDowell and Ed Young. The recording preserves a historic look at the intersection of Black Folk traditions and civil rights activism.

Taken from a concert in April 1965, this recording showcases the songs of the Georgia Sea Islands Singers, led by Jones and Davis, Black Folk songs and spirituals that have influenced everyone from Jerry Garcia to Afrofuturist Folkways artist Jake Blount.

These songs of the Gullah Geechee people of Georgia retain deep connections to Africa, and were “encoded with powerful messages of resistance to slavery and oppression.” The concert also featured the Country Blues of singer and guitarist Mississippi Fred McDowell and Mississippi cane fife player Ed Young.

Mable Hillery of the Georgia Sea Island Singers was a noted Civil Rights activist and frequent marcher who had stayed back from protests to testify before a crowd of mostly young, white people in New York City.

Peter Siegel, who recorded the concert said:

Bessie Jones and John Davis were very aware of their mission to help people understand this music. Where it came from and how it could inform the future.