Lunchtime talk with singer/songwriter Martha Redbone

Join a lunchtime talk 12-1 p.m. Sept. 30 with singer/songwriter Martha Redbone, in conversation with Hollis Ashby, director of the Williams Center for the Arts.

Martha Redbone is a Native and African-American vocalist/songwriter/composer/educator and consummate storyteller. She is known for her original American folk music from her childhood in Harlan County, Kentucky infused with the eclectic grit of pre-gentrified Brooklyn. Inheriting the resilient spirit of her mother’s Cherokee/Choctaw culture and the powerful range of her gospel-singing African-American father, Redbone writes songs and stories that share her life experience, giving voice to issues of social justice, bridging traditions from past to present, and celebrating the human spirit.

Martha Redbone’s Bone Hill is the true story of her multi-racial Cherokee and African-American family, their home on Black Mountain, the coal mines of Kentucky, and of people permanently bonded to the land despite its violent past. In Redbone’s hands, Bone Hill is also a jamboree, with songs of love, lament, protest, and faith, and toe-tapping tunes that bring audiences to their feet.

Bone Hill will be performed 8 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Williams Center.