Jake Blount to Release SINGLE-FOOTING HORSE Sept 18, Tour Set Through Nov

Jake Blount is set to release Single-Footing Horse, an album he is calling his last stringband record, on September 18. The release will be followed by a national tour running from September through November, and Blount is already preparing an entirely new project set to arrive in early 2027.

On Single-Footing Horse, Blount returns to the music that inspired him early on: Appalachian old-time stringband music. Following his 2020 album Spider Tales, Blount became known as an artist who could contextualize centuries of Black struggle and American oppression through the lens of folk music. His later work on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, including 2022's The New Faith and his 2024 joint album symbiont with Mali Obomsawin, moved into afro- and indigenous-futurist concepts that pushed beyond old-time music, but Blount still felt pigeonholed as an old-time artist. Over the years, those ties became overwhelming, and he struggled to understand why it was so important to so many white folk musicians that he remained a spokesperson for Black banjo music. He grew tired of fan interactions that devolved into tearful confessions about slave-owning ancestors, of merch table microaggressions, and of being seen as a product rather than a person — to the point that he stopped playing old-time banjo.

Instead, Blount focused on his doctoral studies in ethnomusicology, opening up new understandings of the music industry. He consulted on the film Sinners and wrote an essay for the soundtrack's liner notes. He also formed New Dangerfield, a group bringing together the next generation of Black stringband musicians, and began writing original music toward a new statement album meant to take his sound in a different direction. Before that, he wanted to give one last send-off to the old-time music he loved, paying homage to the people and places that taught him and kept his love for the music alive.

'I wanted it to be a reflection of the type of old-time music I like to play,' he explains. 'To actually perform old-time, you have to make a lot of musical compromises. My approach came out of a growing awareness on my part that I'd started to compromise more than I could stand, and lost touch with the things I really liked about playing old time music.'

Blount recorded with mentors Jeff Claus and Judy Hyman of the pioneering stringband The Horseflies, and brought on old friend Cap Cooke, a powerhouse banjo player who had never toured or recorded in a studio before. Late one night during the session, the band began playing a tune called 'Single-Footing Horse' as a test for their microphone setup. Learned from New England fiddlers Jon Bekoff and Nate Paine, it was a tune Blount had loved for years. Transfixed, the band decided to record it on the spot. Double fiddling with Hyman on the second take, Blount rediscovered the feeling that made him fall in love with old-time. Asked to explain it, Blount cites performance studies scholar Jayna Brown, describing jam sessions as 'melting times' where musicians experience a collapse of the bounded self, linked to the surrounding matter via vibrations, experiencing themselves as something less limited than an individual being or body.

This feeling of transcendence through community music-making is what makes old-time so popular today, fueling the careers of Americana stars like Sierra Ferrell, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Tyler Childers. Blount, however, points out that community is about more than sharing tunes — it's about mutual support and care, which he found through the friends and mentors he met through the scene. Single-Footing Horse is his way of paying respects to that community while enjoying one more time around the block with these old tunes. 'I wanted to put this out for the old-time community,' he says, 'not overthink how to sell others on it.'

'Of course, now that I've decided this is my last stringband album,' Blount chuckles, 'I've found myself playing my banjo more than ever!'

Jake Blount's first single, 'Shady Grove,' is out now. Blount shared the following thoughts on the track: 'This version of Shady Grove is adapted from one played by Jon Bekoff of Greenfield, MA. I didn't get to meet him before he died, but Jon was a major influence on many of my own mentors. His tunes are queer and full of mystery, and his version didn't sound quite as magical coming from me—so I dropped the top string of my fiddle down a whole tone, added the singing section, and started playing it that way. Shady Grove was probably one of the first three songs I learned when I was first starting out in this music. My upcoming release is a celebration of my teachers, friends, and musical community as I look toward a new musical chapter. It felt important to include both Jon and Shady Grove in that celebration.'

Jake Blount on Tour

Tuesday, September 8 — The Station Inn, Nashville, TN

Wednesday, September 9 — The Woodshop Listening Room, Chattanooga, TN

Thursday, September 10 — The Grey Eagle, Asheville, NC

Friday, September 11 — Laurel Theater, Knoxville, TN

Saturday, September 12 — Floyd Country Store, Floyd, VA

Sunday, September 13 — Culture Center Theater, Charleston, WV

Monday, September 14 — John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC

Tuesday, September 15 — The Pinhook, Durham, NC

Wednesday, September 16 — Potter's Craft Cider, Charlottesville, VA

Thursday, September 17 — Pie Shop, Washington, DC

Friday, September 18 — Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD

Saturday, September 19 — Jalopy Theatre and School of Music, Brooklyn, NY

Sunday, September 20 — Swell Folk Festival 2026, Lippitt Memorial Park, Providence, RI

Wednesday, October 14 — Club Passim, Cambridge, MA

Thursday, October 15 — The Parlor Room, Northampton, MA

Friday, October 16 — May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society, Syracuse, NY

Saturday, October 17 — Caffè Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY

Sunday, October 18 — One Longfellow Square, Portland, ME

Saturday, October 24 — Riddlefest 2026, Burnsville Town Center, Burnsville, NC

Thursday, November 19 — The Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN

Friday, November 20 — The North Street Cabaret, Madison, WI

Sunday, November 22 — The Focal Point, St. Louis, MO

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