On March 16, 2024, award-winning artists from across the country will convene at the fourth annual Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival (FWAAMFest) from noon-10 p.m. Dedicated to celebrating the central presence of blackness in American roots music, this is the only major city festival of its kind that is both Black-led and centered around Black artists. The event’s headliners include Lizzie No and Jerron Paxton. FWAAMFest will be hosted at Fort Worth’s historic Southside Preservation Hall.
FWAAMFest is the only major city festival in the nation focused on old-time, early blues and jazz, bluegrass, and folk that is Black-led and showcases Black performers. The event is produced by Decolonizing the Music Room, a nonprofit that works to center Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian voices in music education and related fields.
“Black musicians have been there since the beginning of this music, yet there is little to no representation in the large music festivals that cater to these genres,” said Brandi Waller-Pace, Founder and Executive Director of Decolonizing the Music Room. “We aim to change that.”
Headliners at FWAAMFest 2024 help the organization producing it to deliver on its mission.
New York singer-songwriter, harpist, and guitarist Lizzie No is one of the most exciting new voices in contemporary Americana music. Her 2017 debut album, ‘Hard Won,’ was hailed as “simultaneously understated and fervent” by Billboard Magazine. No’s 2019 album, “Vanity”, was a hit at college radio stations across the country, cracking the NACC Top Adds Chart. Rolling Stone Magazine called the first single, ‘Narcissus,’ a ‘crisp alt-rock gem’ and a ‘Song You Need To Know.’ After dropping a surprise home-studio-made EP in 2020, Lizzie is currently working on her third studio album and sharing music and writing with her loyal subscriber base on ampled.com/artist/lizzieno. This summer she joins the Basic Folk podcast team as guest co host.
Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton has earned a reputation for transporting audiences back to the 1920’s and making them wish they could stay there for good. Blind Boy Paxton may be one of the greatest multi-instrumentalists that audiences have not heard of – yet. Paxton plays Black folk music from nearly all the idioms that entails.
From the jazz of stride piano and banjo from New Orleans to New York, to the deepest of the blues played on guitar and harmonica of which he has been a noted figure since his teenage years. His talents range from the rural music that reaches the beginnings of Black arrival in America (played on fiddle, banjo, and bones), to ragtime and other turn of the century music that gives the full breadth of Black music before World War II.
Other acts and presenters confirmed to-date for FWAAMFest include:
Jontavious Willis – Jontavious Willis
Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo – Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo
EJ Mathews – Instagram @ej_mathews
Spice Cake Blues -Instagram @SpiceCakeBlues
The live music event is open to the public. Tickets are $50 per-person for adults, $35 for educators and school staff (with ID), $30 for students (with ID) and $20 for children ages 3+. Tickets include access to all scheduled performances and presentations.
Sponsors of FWAAMFest 2024 include Elderly Instruments, Ear Trumpet Labs, Datule’ Artists Collective, Sistufara, Fan Alliance, Swan Strings, and the Austin Friends of Traditional Music. The event is supported in part by a grant from Arts Fort Worth, The City of Fort Worth, and the Texas Commission on the Arts, as well as a grant from the Fort Worth Tourism Public Improvement District. FWAAMFest is facilitated in partnership with Southside Preservation Association.
