Reggie Harris Counters Injustice With Love On His New Album 'On Solid Ground'

"Well it's a plague on the nation / It's all across the news / Splashed up in color for all the world to see." Those are the opening lines Reggie Harris sings on his new album On Solid Ground. A veteran folk musician-recently the recipient of Folk Alliance International's 2021 Spirit of Folk Award-Harris has sung songs like this his entire career, but the current political and social climate is drawing his personal voice out and into the conversation.

"My story includes aspects of my journey as a Black male growing up in Philadelphia during the 50s and 60s; pushed into integrating schools and neighborhoods which forced me to learn to live between two worlds using music as a foil to become a bridge-builder." Harris's experiences led to a special dichotomy between the hard truths of the world and a focus on the love and togetherness that help soften the former, and fans and critics alike would be mistaken to overlook Harris's complete-picture songwriting; genre-stretching tunes inspired by love, personal relationships, and everyday life. On Solid Ground is just as much about healing and inspiration in the face of injustice and dissension.

That first stanza closes with a perfect example of Harris's honed duality: "Our leaders say they're angry / The people are confused / So, I guess this just comes down to you and me." In the end, it's all about how we collectively move forward. Longtime fans and curious readers can stream or purchase On Solid Ground-out now.

Of the thirteen songs on On Solid Ground, Harris penned nine of them. From the driving, funky "Standing In Freedoms Name"-which tells the tale of Rev. C.T. Vivian's iconic encounter with Sheriff Jim Clark in Selma, Alabama, in 1965-to album-closing tribute to his friend and mentor Pete Seeger, "High Over the Hudson," Harris dances between genres without hesitation and rides the highs and lows of each song's content with a confident wisdom that only comes from a lifetime of studying folk music. A beautiful cover of the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" with Baltimore-based jazz pianist Eric Byrd is carefully placed in the album's lineup, along with a version of John Prine's "Hello In There" and an uptempo recasting of Malvina Reynolds' classic protest song, "It Isn't Nice."

Recorded at Morning Star Studios in Norristown, PA, Reggie reconnects for support with the same production crew from his chart-topping 2018 album Ready to Go-co-producer Greg Greenway and engineer/co-producer Dave Schonauer-and again, they delivered. Also back from RTG are bassist Chico Huff, drummer Matt Scarano, NY guitarist Pat Wictor, sax favorite Ken Ulansey, Mark Murphy on bass, and Tom Prasado-Rao and Colleen Kattau on vocals. Additional instrumentation was provided by the aforementioned jazz keyboard wiz Eric Byrd and the soaring electric guitar of world-renowned sideman John Platania.

While writing for On Solid Ground, Harris was featured in 2020 on CNN's Silence is Not An Option with Don Lemon and in The New York Times to discuss his familial connection as the descendant of slavery as a great-great-great-grandson of confederate General Williams Carter Wickham and his slave Bibhanna Hewlett with his White cousins. "I've been a 40-year pioneer as one of the few African-Americans in the folk music community and a Black educator touring around America," he says. On Solid Ground continues to add to Harris's legacy, but there's something about this album-at this moment-which feels prodigious; a perfect statement on the times and a peaceful guide to overcoming them.

Listen here:

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