Chicago Kinfolk: The Juke Joint Blues

Chicago Kinfolk: The Juke Joint Blues is an audio monograph by Terry Blade conceived as a 1970s Chicago juke joint brought to life through sound. The work functions as an ethnographic blues document and a composed listening experience, blending Blade’s original songs with restored archival interview excerpts recorded in 1977 to place living voices of the tradition in direct dialogue with the present. 

Built from meticulous research and curation of public-domain archival recordings, the project draws from materials associated with the Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Collection held by the American Folklife Center at the U.S. Library of Congress. Issued intact, it is meant to be experienced beginning to end as a single, finished work rather than a talk-format episode.