Why Our Newest Board Member Supports Music Maker

Why David A. Jones, Jr. Supports Music Maker.

If we start from the 9/11 attacks and carry through until today, our country and society have taken some hits, and have been through some disruptive times, at least as I understand them. The global economy that seemed to be pulling so many out of abject poverty turned out to be creating rage and atomization, sometimes erupting in war and slaughter. Our stable democracy may prove to be something different; what had seemed to be progress in racial healing and justice, up to the election of an African-American president, gave on to rage and anger, political antagonism, and a new racial reckoning; and who knows what the Covid pandemic will come to stand for – probably not the triumph of science and the dawning of a new Enlightenment.

In these times where we seem to be pulling apart, I’m finding solace and wisdom in traditional music – including both different ways of playing shared words like gospel hymns, and also the very different traditions to which efforts like Music Makers’ give me access. The joy and illumination of listening to the words of Freeman Vines and seeing the reality of his guitars, embodying the saddest and most sinful part of American history, is important to my own understanding of today, of our context. Listening to Precious Bryant tell the angels how she’s broke and ain’t got a dime, and then play “it’s alright,” soothes the soul. Music can reach us in different corners of our society, touch us and maybe hold us together when we’d otherwise drift apart.

– David A. Jones, Jr., Board of Directors