BLUES PHILOSOPHY
I have always understood in order to play the blues, you must know the blues. To be clear, this doesn’t mean studying it in an academic setting, it means grasping its essence through your own experience and empathy. I certainly understood the blues by listening to it while playing live around the city and living through tragic, amazing, and ridiculous situations. Nevertheless, I am a philosopher and I utilized my status both as a student and an instructor as tools to further explore the blues.
I spent ten months working for American University’s department of philosophy at first as an interning instructor at Roosevelt High School, engaging high school students in ethical theory and application. I also interned at the administrative level redesigning the rules and curriculum for the ethics bow, a national tournament on moral philosophy. Shortly after, I used my skills as a trained ethicist to research and analyze philosophical theory within pre-war blues, under the direction of American University’s College of Arts and Science. My pursuit of education and philosophy became a conspicuous resource and pathway to investigate the blues. I understand advancing my own music is an opportunity to spread the philosophy of the blues, while simultaneously reviving the ghosts of the blues.
You can read some of my work here, directly below.