BNA hosts music acts for Black History Month

By Ron Wynn

NASHVILLE, TN — Three prominent Nashville acts will be performing at the Nashville airport as Black History Month continues. The first will be Joseph Wooten & The Hands of Soul on Friday. Then the Joe West Trio featuring Frankie Staton are scheduled for Feb. 28 and the series concludes with the Rosalyn Malone Jazz Trio Feb. 29. Each performance runs from noon to 2 p.m. outside the Green Beans Coffee Co. in the Nashville International Airport. Joe West, who is both the duet partner with country singer/songwriter Valierie Ellis and a member of the Nashville International Airport house band, helped pick the acts scheduled to perform along with Ellis.

Joseph Wooten is now the keyboard player/vocalist for the legendary Steve Miller Band, and whenever possible also serves as keyboardist to his brother Victor Wooten. But when heading Joseph Wooten & The Hands of Soul, fans get a chance to hear him upfront headlining an array of different musical sounds and styles. Wooten’s also a member of an elite group of hand picked musicians called Freedom Sings, organized by the First Amendment Center in Washington D.C., presenting a multi-media experience celebrating The First Amendment and free expression.

The West Trio will feature the pioneering country music singer/songwriter and advocate Frankie Station, who became the force between the idea of a Black Country Music Association and the actual formation and activation of such a force. Both West and Ellis at one time were members of the Association, and though it’s no longer in operation, it was honored last year with a display at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, as well as featured in an extensive 2020 article in Rolling Stone magazine. The formation and continued activities of the Black Opry owe a great debt to Staton’s many years of activity and groundwork.

The Rosalyn Malone Jazz Trio, an ensemble that performs both originals and covers of contemporary and classic numbers, will close out the series. Malone is both a fine vocalist and gifted saxophonist.