Lara Downes curator
Don Flemons The American Songster

The first of two CURRENT programs exploring unexpected musical connections, curated by LACO Creative Partner Lara Downes, follows the highways and byways of American music with surprising roadside discoveries and detours to the crossroads where musical traditions merge and transform. Joined by Dom Flemons, The American Songster®, discover the foundation of the folk tunes that Aaron Copland used to paint his vibrant portraits of the Wild West; connect with the rural San Gabriel Valley childhood of American maverick Roy Harris; and trace the routes of the Great Migration in the music of William Grant Still, who started his American journey in Jim Crow Mississippi and ended it in the bohemian, granola glam of 1970s Los Angeles.