Music can tell different things about ourselves. It serves to build our personal and cultural identity, and Terry Blade knows this. With his latest release Ethos: Son of a Sharecropper, he uses music to explore his personal worldview, and how his life experiences have forged it. Each track exploration of his roots, culture, history, family, relationships, adversity, perseverance, and childhood; they are a remembrance of distinct moments of Terry Blade’s life. Ethos is a deep and powerful exploration of identity through music.
Terry Blade is a multi-award-winning American singer-songwriter based in Chicago. His music parts from his identity as a black queer artist. His sound has been compared with the one of Meshell, Ndegeocello, Isaac Hayes, and Tracy Chapman. His experience in many musical genres allows him to adapt his sound to the themes he wishes to explore. Ethos refers to the morals, values, and beliefs of a person or an entire culture. That is why Terry Blade names his album Ethos: Son of a Sharecropper and focuses on an exploration of Americana roots music, particularly those from the African American tradition (blues, gospel, country) as a statement on the construction of the modern American identity and an exercise on memory and tradition. The ten tracks of the album explore distinct facets of this music while narrating with deep lyricism and attention to detail the personal ethos of Terry Blade.
Musically, Terry Blade reconstructs various Americana genres and gives them a personal twist to examine how culture and personal experiences forge and transform our identity. He establishes a personal link with each track, mixing powerful images and storytelling with traditional genres like the blues of “Come Home” and “In My House”, the country in “Wasn’t Mine”, “Jimmy James” or “Talk About It” or the gospel-like vocals of “Rigor Mortis” and “Rainbow Child”. All of them are characterized by vocals and harmonies that are guaranteed to send chills down your spine. By painting thoughts, life events, and even everyday life (as in the tracks “Fiddle & Banjo” and “Grandma’s Kitchen”), he makes each of the tracks into something extremely personal that resonates with every listener. Slowly, Terry Blade opens himself for us, letting us know where he comes from, who he is and where will he go. Thus, Ehtos is a complex self-portrait and autobiography told by music.
Ethos: Son of a Sharecropper is a personal album that explores the identity of Terry Blade. It presents us with a complex individual making us realize just how our own ethos is influenced by different factors: race, sexuality, history, culture, friends family, life events and many more. Ethos is a deep album that will be released on January 20 on Spotify and on February 3 on other streaming platforms, so make sure to keep an eye and don’t miss it!
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Don’t forget to support this project and follow on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, YouTube, Apple Music, and Spotify. You can also check out his official website. If you enjoy his music and are able to provide monetary support, you might consider downloading it on Bandcamp.
It also helps to stream and share this music; you can obviously find it in the following Playlists: Fresh Singles, Indie Only, Alterindie State Of Mind, 12 New Songs This Week, Chill – Folk – Acoustic, Sickest & Dopest, and Unknown but Essentials!
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This coverage was created via MusoSoup #Sustainablecurator
