Jake Blount brings Afrofuturist folk to Tønder Festival
Tue 25 Aug 2026Few artists are pushing the boundaries of folk music quite like Jake Blount. The award-winning musician, scholar, and cultural historian has become one of the genre's most compelling voices, reimagining Black folk traditions through an Afrofuturist lens that blends banjo, fiddle, electric guitar, and synthesisers into something both timeless and strikingly contemporary.
Following acclaimed Smithsonian Folkways releases The New Faith (2022) and symbiont (2024), Blount has earned widespread recognition for his fearless approach to traditional music, with performances at Carnegie Hall, Newport Folk Festival, NPR's Tiny Desk, and the Library of Congress, alongside collaborations with artists including Rhiannon Giddens, Molly Tuttle, Kronos Quartet, and Adia Victoria.
His forthcoming album, due in September 2026, marks a return to the traditional string band music that first shaped his career, continuing his exploration of the past while redefining the future of American folk.
This August, audiences at Denmark's renowned Tønder Festival can experience Jake Blount's extraordinary live show—an exhilarating fusion of history, innovation, and musicianship from one of folk music's most exciting modern voices.