Hosted by Corey Harris, a MacArthur Grant recipient, True Blues chronicles the extraordinary living culture of the blues in an evening of music and conversation. In bringing the True Blues  film to the concert stage, the True Blues concert vividly brings to life this crucial wellspring of American music.

Corey Harris brings the blues to life and is available Cedric Watson, and/or Alvin Youngblood Hart. Both Harris and Hart were featured in Martin Scorsese’s The Blues: A Musical Journey, which followed Harris to West Africa, where he explored his familial and musical roots.

Corey Harris is a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and band leader who has carved out his own niche in blues. A powerful singer and accomplished guitarist, he has appeared at venues throughout the North America, Europe, Brazil, The Caribbean, West Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

He began his career as a New Orleans street singer, traveling throughout the southern U.S. In his early twenties he lived in Cameroon, West Africa for a year, which had a profound effect on his later work. He has recorded many old songs of the blues tradition while also creating an original vision of the blues by adding influences from reggae, soul, rock and West African music. His 1995 recording, Between Midnight and Day, is a tribute to the tradition of acoustic blues. Subsequent recordings, such as Greens From the Garden (1999), Mississippi to Mali (2003), and Daily Bread (2005) show Harris’ maturation from interpreter to songwriter. Some of his imaginative compositions are marked by a deliberate eclecticism; other works stay true to the traditional blues formula of compelling vocals and down-home guitar. With one foot in tradition and the other in contemporary experimentation, Harris is a truly unique voice in contemporary music.