Greetings Good People,

It is with mixed emotions that that I say goodbye to 2022. It was a year that was full of contradictions and outlandish revelations, rife with global conflicts, hosted one of the most contentious US midterm elections and saw divisions and nationwide tensions widen.  And with all of that, it was also a year of new connections and community restarts. Unlike its caustic predecessors, the year had a bit more promise with more opportunities to open things up to exploration of in-person gatherings and letting go of fears that 2020 and ‘21 hardened into place. We began to trust that there was some small windows of hope on the horizon, even if they were clouded over with haze.

For the first time in several years, I actually saw many of you in real live concerts, festivals, and later in the year I took journeys in person to explore sites of the Civil Rights Movement with the Living Legacy Project. It was a year of resetting and restoring relationships. Thanks to all of you for coming out and sharing in those moments of humanity. We all needed them.

December provided me with a unique opportunity, mostly by choice, to wind down more than in most years. Usually I have acquiesced to the temptation to work up until the last minute and into the holidays. But this year, by scheduling  fewer concerts than normal, I sought to establish a new tradition: a time of personal reflection that allows me to sort through the emotions and challenges of the year in a way that I hope to make a regular pattern. It seemed to work to make my year end more of a gradual time of a personal respite.

It was in that precious time that I rediscovered something that the veterans of the Civil Rights Movement and elders like Pete Seeger and Holly Near passed along in conversation about self care. (Holly continues to do so). That is the simple but critical fact that in the midst of community activism and global concern, failing to attend to your physical and emotional well-being sets up situations and emotional deficits that don’t serve any of us well.  It’s critical for each one of us to remember to care for ourselves SO we can care for others. Taking time to recharge and restore our emotional and physical energy benefits the world and those we love. In that way, the music and the feeling behind it can  actually work to help us to recover from the constant bombardment that has become our everyday world.

My earliest memories of playing the guitar are of finding such  joy in spending hours alone in a room, enjoying the sound created by my fingers pulling on the strings and soaking in those vibrations that resonated as my mind  and heart were free to wander.

In those early days, I remember that there was a barking dog that lived across the alley, that responded to the sound of my playing and made its way onto every tape I recorded. My reverie of solitude this month was shared by Carmel, a sweet little pit bull, who sat quietly in the chair next to me, keeping me company. A few of those moments are captured here.

 (https://youtu.be/XkSxWQKedLkhttps://youtu.be/XkSxWQKedLk).

Apparently, my guitar playing has improved. Carmel didn’t bark once.

I look forward to seeing you in 2023, in concerts and at festivals, and occasionally on Zoom, as we continue to rebuild our lives and meet new challenges in a world that needs more music and more love.

In reflection, renewal, and song,
Reggie

Hey Friends!

Got a minute? I’ve got a question for you.

Here in the waning/not so waning weeks of this pandemic, that just won’t seem to go away, I’m thinking about the various upsides that might have occurred for you in that VERRRRRY obvious downside of the limbo we’ve all been living through. (And yes, we can choose not to discuss the many reasons for that dilemma in this particular moment!)

I’m wondering if your time in Pandematory allowed you to reconnect with any friends with whom you were out of touch or simply just didn’t see often enough? Maybe you wrote a note to someone whose page or name popped up on your screen on any random day and experienced the joy of having a new stream of conversation emerge? Or maybe you unexpectedly found some long-lost friend or comrade on a social media get-together and shared a few exceptional pandemic Zooms catching up? Did they blossom into something new and deeper that you are now keeping alive? Well, as it turns out, all those things were true for me.

And, by the way, it’s fine if you just hunkered down, binge watched some time-wasting series of shows and got through every day as best you could! It’s a no shame zone here.

All through this hard time I managed to, with some degree of effort, desire, encouragement, and a fair amount of dumb luck, get blessed with several friendship reconnections from unexpected sources. We got busy talking and helped each other with everyday struggles, recipes, swapped songs and wrote music, started radio shows, shared information about technology, encouraged each other through the tough news of life and in those sullen moments worked to lift each other’s spirits. As a result, I’ve come out of the void with a new appreciation of friendships, old and new.

One of the most unexpected connections was with my friend Alastair Moock, who I met years ago when I was visiting the home of dear friends and he came home from college as the boyfriend of their daughter Jane. Suddenly there was a new brash and creatively gifted musical type in the mix who would also become a professional musician.  I’ve had the pleasure of watching as Alastair and Jane got married and began building their lives and careers and struggling through the process of life together and the challenges of raising a family. He and I would periodically exchange notes, calls and news as musicians and activists who found themselves traveling in connected but different circles, so our actual physical connections were rare. He’s a fine award-winning songwriter now who takes on many of the same issues as I do in life and career focus. Alastair does so in remarkably creative ways that add to the mix of our profession quite admirably and we have appreciated each other’s work from distance.

But then COVID happened and without warning, I got an email from him in June 2020 that broke a few years of radio silence. That email opened the door to our having some conversations around sussing out the impact of the raging national events shaking our nation and the world during the pandemic. We took a deep dive into the burning issues of race and injustice that were triggered by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and too many others as well the various statue and voting rights protests across the nation.

We also engaged on a topic close to our career paths: the longstanding lack of recognition, discrimination and lack of acknowledgment that continues to frustrate artists of color in the recording and performing industry. (The Recording Academy had recently announced yet another slate of all-white nominees in the Children’s Music category and Alastair was one of them. This led to some soul searching and some deep conversations between he and others in a group called the “Family Music Forward” (FamilyMusicForward.org) that led to some bold action. 

As a result of those talks, Alastair and a few other White artists chose to act by turning back their nominations and joined forces with Black artists they respected to start a course of actions for change. Meanwhile, he and I began to explore a variety of actions we could do related to music’s role in creating more awareness, diversity and equity as a way forward.

Our conversations led to a collaboration we now call “Race and Song: A Musical Conversation!” This song and story-based exploration of history and current events, one we have both championed for years through the powerful tool of music and story, has allowed us to discuss the complicated issues of race, class, gender and intersectionality, at first in schools with students and staff and then branching into community forums, has turned out to be a real gift for focusing the energy and frustration that was present as the administration in office pile on the prejudice and hate. 

The resulting show has evolved into a concert offering of great depth and meaning. One of the first to engage with us was the Charles River School’s Head of Performing Arts Mica Moellering who wrote to say, “We brought ‘Race and Song’ to our entire school community, and it was a fantastic success. Reggie and Alastair were incredibly kind, open, and generous, and their beautiful video provided a jumping-off point for important and timely conversations.”

It’s clear that without the challenges of the last two years, the horrific events and spirit deadening onslaught of aggressions, coupled with the downtime to reflect, alone and together, this inspired collaboration would probably never have occurred. With the difference in our ages, life narratives and perspectives, I find this partnership with Alastair to be a marvelous vehicle for learning and a great complement to the work I have been doing the last 6 years with my friend Greg Greenway in our presentation, “Deeper Than The Skin.” This program takes on many similar issues but seen through a different set of lenses. Inspired and energized by the work, Alastair and I are setting our sights on continuing to offer and grow this phenomenal program with schools, communities of faith and societal concern and with people taking on the task of reclaiming and redefining our relationships, building a new way forward.

 I hope that the friendships and connections you have rekindled during the pandemic have helped you to find some insight into making what WAS positive even better. Or perhaps, it has given you and your friends more courage to shed ideas or actions that needed to be left behind. And maybe you have also taken the chance to have conversations about justice, injustice, and to take action with members of your families in ways that are making good changes  in the world. If you feel like need a push or a hand, check us out at:https://moockmusic.com/race-and-song-a-musical-conversation/.  

We are all in need of more willing hands on the freedom plow.

In peace, action, and song,
Reggie

 

WHY I’M NOT SCARED (Here me out!)
I wasn’t gonna write this! In fact, I talked myself out of it at least five separate times. I said to myself, “There’s just too much stuff out there. Who will read it or HEAR it in the way you intend?” That was before my friend and colleague Annette Marquis from The Living Legacy Project sent this article. After reading it (not much of the info was new, but it still hit home) thousands of heartfelt and anxiety filled comments and posts on Facebook, Twitter and in every other social and political corner available really pushed me over the edge. Each one raised the level, saying how scared, anxious, terrified, nervous, unable to function and close to collapse people are feeling. And I hear you!
But it made me think, “Now you HAVE to do it.” So here goes.

(Sorry about the length but I promise you that I did edit it down as far as I could.)

Tonight I wrote a Facebook post that said. “Take a deep breath, friends. We’re gonna be alright!” Many seemed to think that I was saying “Don’t worry, it will all come out like we want it to. Tomorrow goodness will be restored.” Many responses seemed to indicate that I was trying to sooth nerves by guaranteeing that “ALL WILL BE WELL!” That was NOT my intended message and I’m sorry I was not clear. It MAY go that way. Numbers seem to indicate that chances are good that it will… maybe even GREAT! But I have no crystal ball and I sho nuff don’t trust the “numbers. I am not a fan of polls. No, I was speaking from a source of wisdom passed to me by people who have survived more than 400 years of having to sweat this stuff out, vote for the “lesser choice’ again and again, as the prudent thing and then watch other people be OK when we ain’t OK.

Yes, this nation is divided. Many say that it’s as much on more so as it was at the time of the civil war. And that is all true for much the same reason. Donald Trump and the GOP have classically made race, division and hate the dividing line for citizens to choose a direction for our nation. And just as in that scurrilous time, white people are having to choose which side they are on. For people of color it’s always been about survival. The choice involves other issues of greed, class and “otherness” as well and in truth, Trump has managed to co-op some people of color with his lies and promises that were a staple of the ruling class during slavery. But he has mostly convinced many whites that he is the savior of their very existence and they are flocking to that message in trucks, cars and vans with alarming emotional fervor. So now, as many white people have been stirred, nudged or violently shaken awake, that message has created a situation where they have reason to fear and now realize that with his staunch hatred of liberals and “others” he and his henchies will eventually come for them, to bully, batter, kidnap the “too loud leaders” and push their proverbial bus off the road.

I’m hopeful that this gives more clarity on why I am not finding fear to be useful. And maybe this won’t help you to feel better this week or this month… maybe not even until all the dust settles on this the latest incarnation of political, financial and racist/sexist trauma. Perhaps a ways down the road it will kick in after we think we know where we stand and are able to take a good breath and see a clear path to cleaning up this swamp… for real. Maybe this will help some of you frame your actions in the next phase when the forces of power, greed and hate are continuing their challenge to the very nature of our existence. But one thing is true: Now that you’ve seen what you’ve seen, it will be harder NOT to see it when it shows its ugly head again.

Please allow me to quickly thank all of you who have been at this for as long or longer than me. You who understand that fear and anxiety are tools that the power brokers in the world use to keep the less powerful off balance, occupied and easier to control. Donald Trump might seem like a fool but he fully understands how the game is played. So does Mitch McConnell, Robert Barr, Kevin McCarthy, Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Alexander Putin, Ann Coulter, Lindsey Graham, the Koch Brother (yes, one died) Clarence Thomas and all those greedy 1 percenters (and their wannabee trailers) who enjoy all the privileges while the rest of us feel the burn.

To all of you who have internalize the struggle to the point that you know the rich and powerful are simply never going to give up trying to get their way, (regardless of who wins tomorrow) and have committed yourselves to stay in the game win, lose or whatever, kudos. We all know that they will be as relentless at controlling the narrative as they’ve always been in this nation and that they will try to put a good face on while they organize the next maneuver. Those people are ready to go regardless of the outcome. And they will not consider, in any way, how we feel about it.

Yes, we will be joyful or exhausted, relieved or exasperated, happy or angry, as fits the good or bad news. But just as civil rights pioneer Flonzie Brown Wright, (the first African American woman elected to office in Jim Crow Mississippi years ago) said to us in May in our Living Legacy series on voting rights, we’ve got to just keep on keepin’ on! Asked ”Do you ever get frustrated and just want to quit?” she replied, “You know, (she may have said “Honey!”) I quit this job every night. But in the morning, I remember that I took a vow to work for justice when I was 16 years old. So every day I put on my shoes and get back to work!”

That’s the same kind of resolve and fierce persistence that pushed Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Mary McLeod Bethune, Jackie Robinson, Medgar Evers, Rosa Parks, C.T. Vivien, Malcolm X, Ella Baker, Fred Shuttlesworth, Vernon and Ellie Dahmer, John Lewis, and millions of others including Eleanor Roosevelt, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Mahatma Gandhi, Pete and Toshi Seeger and Ruth Bader Ginsburg to walk in the ways of justice.

Yes, friends, I am concerned, agitated, full of righteous rage and fired up and at times, worn down. I’m working the self-care thing too. But I am not scared!

We have seen millions of young people embrace a new energy and create strategies of revolution and millions of people of all races, backgrounds, persuasions and in some cases, political opposition come awake and alive to take to the streets, where many of them still are. They march, tweet, organize, chant, lie down in the streets and say “NO MORE!

We have seen corporations and companies (perhaps engaging in enlightened self-interest) release statements that say Black Lives Matter and state that no children of any background deserve to be separated from their parents or locked in cages. We’ve watched millions who have begun addressing our hate filled and divisive past, including my own family of Wickhams and Hewletts, acknowledging that they… women, children, men, agender, bigender and nonbinary alike are ready to shape a new vision of America. We’ve seen Moms, dads, able-bodied and person of varying abilities willingly face armed thugs posing as authorities and be gassed, shot, illegally arrested and injured as statues and symbols of hate have been toppled to the ground while calling for redress and accountability.

We have all painfully seen our fellow citizens needlessly die as we’ve been isolated and lied to and had our own lives placed in jeopardy by a government that said openly they are willing to sacrifice as many as it takes to help them resume making money without establishing the needed scientific protocols for our safety. We’ve watched athletes and entertainers stop the game and the show and share their time, their money, resources and their platform in support of justice as doctors, nurses, teachers factory workers and first responders have selflessly offered and sacrificed themselves in service to us.

We watched a man kill dispassionately kill another man in eight minutes and 46 seconds and collectively lost our breath. We have seen inhumanity explained away as “normal human behavior.” And we are tired, stress and worn. But I am not scared. I am committed, enraged and disgusted yet also hopeful and ready.

I do not write this because I am confident that things will go the way I believe they should. Donald Trump and the GOP have told and shown us for months that they plan to steal this election. They don’t even bother to deny it. But they’re also trying to steal our will and in the spirit of those who have gone before and the spirit of those who have risen up in the last six months I absolutely refuse to let them own my will or incite my fear. I invite you to flip the fear response and reorganize your energy for the ongoing mission to turn this nation around.

I know that for some of you this will be a new and at times a totally uncertain and frustrating endeavor. I’m with you and I love that you have signed on to ride this train. Feel free to admit that you need some guidance and feel free to let go of the guilt if you just climbed on board. But as Bernice Johnson Reagon and Sweet Honey in the Rock sang, “We who believe in freedom will not rest until it comes.” We’re just getting started. Joe and Kamala will need to hear our voices WHEN they break through. (See, I am hopeful!)

And when you need a break, a supportive word, song or a hand to hold (virtually or otherwise) know that we got your back and your side. But let’s do this in the spirit of Fanny Lou Hamer who said “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired!” How bout that for a mantra?

In Solidarity and Song,
Reggie Harris
Four ways ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ is shaping this presidential election
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/01/us/voter-suppression-jim-crow-blake/index.html

Greetings Good People.
I’ve been “off the road” now for 3 plus months and the view from here is almost as uncertain as when this crazy COVID-19 journey started. I mean, I’m well, healthy, and have most of the particulars sorted out… (how to shop, how to avoid the virus, how to clean the house, and how to get online concerts ONLINE!).

My last date in Buffalo, NY performing for students at Saint Mary’s School for the Deaf seems 5 lifetimes ago as we have all crossed that boundary into this brave new isolation-filled world full of virtual concerts, podcasts, Zoom sessions (view this site for more information), and platforms each with their own benefits, quirks, and protocols, all designed to bring us closer together without getting TOO close for comfort or health. And then just as we were getting somewhat used to the distance and extended time online (with most of us hoping that it would soon be over!)… BOOM, the world exploded.

The sorrow, suffering, and unrest caused by COVID-19 was powerfully ramped up by the brutal murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd… three African Americans whose deaths have become catalysts for change.

In the aftermath of that explosion I have found myself more in demand and more engaged with calls for concerts, interviews, and requests for comment, conversation and activity than I have been in some time. That brief hiatus in March to gather my senses and bearings is clearly over. And now the world is on fire for change.

Part of that change took place last Monday night in Richmond, VA where, in the midst of protests, arrests and uprisings, the statue of my great, great, great grandfather General Williams Carter Wickham – slave-owner (257 persons), Confederate general, statesman, and VP of the C&O Railroad – was unceremoniously toppled from its pedestal and left lying on the ground in Monroe Park. For Richmond, it was one more radical rejection of racist intransigence represented by public symbols that have stood for decades. For my white Wickham cousins and me it opened a new opportunity to probe our common ground and move into a deeper relationship. We used a Zoom session to express our thoughts and feelings with each other, and began to fashion a familial response. We’re all on it and we’re moving forward.

As always, I am finding deep inspiration and reserve in music. In week 3 of the COVID-19 crisis I wrote the song “On Solid Ground” as a call to a deeper sense of community and to point out a “Sankofa” moment… looking back to look forward. More song writing and creative expressions have helped me to center myself and others as rallies and gatherings continue to increase.

(You can watch and listen to me sing “On Solid Ground” here: https://vimeo.com/409236657

I know that many of you are also concerned that this shift for positive change becomes a real window for impacting our nation and are searching for ways to make this a part of your personal mission. In that spirit, I continue to offer concerts like my Every-Other-Friday Concert Series, as well as other online concert and performance opportunities as we gather to support each other in this window of change and growth.

As they sang at the mass meetings for the Modern Civil Rights Movement, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round!” We are fast becoming the change we want to see in the world. And it’s gonna take us all working together to face down the forces of hate and a system that is dead set against making that change matter.

We got this!

In change, action, and song,

Reggie

Dear Music Family,

I hope you are all well and paying attention to keeping yourself safe in this ongoing COVID-19 crisis. My heart is very sad in this moment as cancellations, mis-information, and fears continue to mount. We all find ourselves in a state of uncertainty as we try to adjust to the need for individual, community, and global safety.

Two weeks ago, in my role as co-president of the Living Legacy Project, I led a conference call where our board decided to cancel two Civil Rights Pilgrimages that were scheduled for this month. At that time, we had two bus-loads of excited participants who were looking forward to exploring over 20 sites related to our extraordinary Civil Rights heritage. At that time, it felt like a hard and bold decision to make. Now, in hindsight, it was clearly the reasonable thing to do.

As you know, one of my great joys is leading music on these powerful journeys that connect people not only to the past, but to the critical issues that still plague our nation. Singing with people on the bus is always one of the highlights that sets the tone for the narratives that we must consider, past and present. These songs have stood the test of time, and still inspire activism and action to drive us forward.

Last month I had the chance to celebrate some of these very songs with one of my musical heroes, my brother Josh White, Jr. We sat together on stage in East Lansing and traded songs and stories, and watched our audience “come alive” with the passion and fervor of a mass meeting. There were moments when we could have been in one of those churches in Selma, Birmingham, Montgomery, AL, or Jackson, Mississippi, waiting for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or C.T. Vivian to stand and deliver a stirring sermon aimed at firing us up to register to vote. And here in this election cycle, faced with some of the most important challenges our nation has ever faced, we need all the inspiration we can get.

Check out this video: https://vimeo.com/397802933

Like Josh, I come from a long line of committed song leaders who knew the power of song. When they sang “Woke Up This Morning with My Mind (stayed on Freedom)” they were committing themselves to personal action in hopes of changing the world.

Our cancelled journeys will be rescheduled, and as most of us feel trapped in our homes for periods of time, I encourage you to use this opportunity to read, watch, and learn so that when we again have the opportunity to gather, organize, and vote, we will be ready. Two favorite books include The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson and Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. You might also watch that movie, or watch the documentary “13th,” a very thought-provoking documentary on our system of justice. An additional reading list is available at https://deeperthantheskin.com/about/bibliography/

In peace, health, and song,
Reggie