Given that Jake Blount’s first EP, Reparations, came out less than ten years ago, his career has been quite the journey. Those early records – Reparations and 2020’s full-length debut Spider Tales saw him re-establish the historical links between old-time music and black, indigenous and queer American culture, mostly through fiddle and banjo tunes – by turns stark and rousing – and haunting traditional songs. Songs like his deeply-felt rendition of ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night’ and a raucous instrumental re-imagining of ‘Rocky Road to Dublin’ saw him feted by the press in the world of American roots music and beyond. His next two albums – The New Faith (2022) and Symbiont (a 2024 collaboration with Mali Obomsawin) – represented a left turn into…

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