Martha Redbone is a vocalist, songwriter, composer, and educator of African American, Cherokee, and Choctaw descent. A multi-award-winning musician, the charismatic songstress is celebrated for her tasty gumbo of roots music embodying the folk and mountain blues sounds of her childhood in the Appalachian hills of Kentucky, mixed with the eclectic grit of her teenage years in pre-gentrified Brooklyn. Inheriting her powerful gospel-singing father’s voice and the resilient spirit of her mother’s Southeastern Indigenous culture, Redbone broadens the boundaries of American Roots music with songs and storytelling that share her life experience as a Black and Native American woman and
Martha Redbone
Intro
Martha Redbone is a vocalist, songwriter, composer, and educator of African American, Cherokee, and Choctaw descent. A multi-award-winning musician, the charismatic songstress is celebrated for her tasty gumbo of roots music embodying the folk and mountain blues sounds of her childhood in the Appalachian hills of Kentucky, mixed with the eclectic grit of her teenage years in pre-gentrified Brooklyn. Inheriting her powerful gospel-singing father’s voice and the resilient spirit of her mother’s Southeastern Indigenous culture, Redbone broadens the boundaries of American Roots music with songs and storytelling that share her life experience as a Black and Native American woman and mother navigating in the new millennium. Martha also works in partnership with longtime collaborator/husband Aaron Whitby. Their works give voice to issues of social justice, connecting cultures and celebrating the human spirit.
Her album The Garden of Love: Songs of William Blake (produced by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder and Grammy-winner John McEuen), is “a brilliant collision of cultures” (New Yorker). Redbone and Whitby are the composers, arrangers, and orchestrators of original music and score for the 2022 Broadway revival of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuff, the 1976 classic choreopoem by the late Ntozake Shange, premiering at the Booth Theater, garnering seven Tony Award nominations and critical acclaim. Redbone and Whitby are the 2020 Drama Desk Award recipients for Outstanding Music in a Play and the 2020 Audelco Award recipient for Outstanding Composer of Original Music and Score for the Off-Broadway revival. Redbone is a 2021 United States Artist Fellow.
The Redbone and Whitby’s recent work is BONE HILL, an interdisciplinary musical theater work inspired by the lives of Redbone’s family in the hills of coal-mining Appalachia. A multi-racial Cherokee and African American family, they are permanently bonded to their culture, identity, and the mountain despite the region’s violent past and the ever-changing laws of the land that threaten to extinguish them. Commissioned by Joe’s Pub/NEA and Lincoln Center for the Arts, Bone Hill – The Concert is touring extensively nationwide and is a recipient of the NEFA National Theater Project Creation and Touring Grant and National Performance Network Creation Fund. (read more)
Video
Audio
FORMATS
Standard Performance
Martha Redbone Roots Project : acoustic quintet featuring Martha Redbone (vocals, hand percussion), Aaron Whitby (keyboard), plus three additional band members on acoustic guitar, fiddle, and bass.
> An Evening w/
> Festival Headliner
Other Options
> Trio, quartet, sextet, and septet configurations are also available.
> “This Land Is Our Land” : co-bill with American Patchwork Quartet (by arrangement with The Kurland Agency).
> “Bone Hill: The Concert” : interdisciplinary theater work with original script and songs written by Martha Redbone and Aaron Whitby.
> Outreach activities available.
OUTREACH
> Workshops/master classes
> Performances for young audiences
> Q&A
> Residencies
A wide range of educational outreach activities is available as related to Martha Redbone’s history of cultural preservation and mentorship through music.
As example, Martha helped curate the Native American session of Carnegie Hall’s youth K-2 music program MUSICAL EXPLORERS.
Please contact your SRO Artist Representative if you are interested in outreach options with Martha Redbone.
ITINERARY
10.06.2023 MD, Frederick
10.07.2023 NJ, Frenchtown
10.14.2023 PA, Blue Bell
10.20.2023 - 10.21.2023 NC, Black Mountain
11.02.2023 - 11.03.2023 DC, Washington
11.05.2023 NY, New York
01.31.2024 - 02.02.2024 ME, Portland
02.09.2024 CA, Los Angeles
02.15.2024 MI, East Lansing
02.16.2024 IN, Goshen
02.22.2024 CA, Rohnert Park
02.23.2024 CA, Modesto
03.05.2024 PA, Lewisburg
03.20.2024 KY, Frankfort
04.12.2024 IA, Des Moines
04.20.2024 FL, Cutler Bay
PROMO ASSETS
Documents
Artist Bio (rev. November-2021) | PDF | DOC
Press/Reviews | PDF
Images
Audio MP3’s
Garden of Love – The Songs of William Blake (©2012 Blackfeet Prod.)
> #01 The Garden of Love | ZIP
> #02 Hear the Voice of the Bard | ZIP
> #04 On Anothers Sorrow | ZIP
> #07 I Rose Up At The Dawn Of Day | ZIP
Video MP4’s
> Promo Video, 2013 (1080d) | ZIP | STREAM
> Live Video, globalFEST 2013 , Hear The Voice Of The Bard | ZIP
> also click Media above/left for approved streams on YouTube, SoundCloud, etc.
Bone Hill: The Concert
> For Bone Hill assets, go here.
Featured Media
Reviews
New York Times (John Pareles)
"Martha Redbone's voice held both the taut determination of mountain music and the bite of American Indian singing." Read Review
Huffington Post (Dusty Wright)
“An organic, gorgeous feast for ears and minds.” Read Review
The New Yorker
"A brilliant collision of cultures." Read Review
NPR COVERAGE
Anastasia Tsioulcas covering globalFEST for NPR: "Redbone combines folk, Appalachian, soul and Native tradition in a group of settings of poetry by William Blake — a startling idea, perhaps, but one that brims with potency and freshness." Martha on All Things Considered | Martha on Tell Me More | Martha on All Songs Considered | Read Review
Village Voice
“Poised to be Americana's next superstar.” Village Voice globalFEST Review 2013 | Read Review