From the moment I heard the music and poetry of Blair, I was in love with it and believed in it.  He weaves spoken word poetry, with folk rock, trip-hop and punk. On his MySpace page, he writes, “My dad looked like Chuck Berry, played like Hank Williams. My mom cleaned white folk’s houses. She raised five children. On her own. I inherited all sorts of ghosts from both of them. Sometimes I can fly.”

After having met Blair a few times in Detroit, I asked him if he’d be interested in contributing an original song to our Bayard Rustin special.  Luckily, he was super receptive and gracious, and promptly sent us a song called, Enough Rope.  Blair says, “There’s a little bit of some other folks in it to, but Rustin’s life is the catalyst.” Unfortunately, because of time constraints, we weren’t able to include this heartfelt and beautiful song featuring Leah Woods in the show.  So instead, we wanted to present it here in its entirety.

In the coming year, State of the Re:Union will be scouring the country for stories about community and that includes music stories and musician profiles, both for our radio program and our music-themed video podcast, Sounds of the Re:Union.  If you’re a songwriter, a poet, in a band, write symphonies, make beats, or whatever, we’d be interested in hearing your stuff and your story. Submit to sounds@stateofthereunion.com.

Tags: Bayard Rustin, Blair, detroit, sounds of the re:union, State of the Re:Union

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