In this varied program, Scott Ainslie tours the music of the American South where European and African musical traditions cross-pollinated to create the powerful musical hybrids that have long dominated American popular music. With a calabash gourd banjo, his one-string diddley bow, guitars, stories and song, Scott explores the Africanization of old-time mountain music, and African musical and cultural retentions in the Blues, Gospel and work songs of our African-American communities. Students will come away with a broad appreciation for the movement of cultural information across geographic, cultural and class lines, and be able to hear and identify traditional African musical conventions today’s popular music.

Artist Background

Scott Ainslie comes to the classroom as educator, storyteller, scholar/historian and musician. He performs & lectures on the African roots & American diversity of the blues. A Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude grad of Washington & Lee and author of the best-selling Robert Johnson/At the Crossroads & an instructional video on Starlicks Master Sessions Series, he was awarded a Sam Ragan Fine Arts Award from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian College, an Indie Award from The Independent in Durham, NC and a Living Heritage Award from the National Slide Guitar Festival. He’s received support for his educational work from the National Endowment for the Arts and North Carolina Arts and is a past Public Fellow in arts education at UNC Chapel Hill.

Search Criteria

• Program Type: Performance
• Discipline: Music
• Grade Level: Elementary, High, Middle
• Cultural Context: African, African-American, European
• Accepts bookings in Johnston County