StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Lonnie Holley

This week, let's check out some videos featuring Lonnie Holley, who will perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, December 1 at Off Broadway.

Born in 1950 in Birmingham, AL, Holley was one of 27 children and grew up in dire poverty. He first gained recognition as a visual artist in his late twenties, working with found objects and carved sandstone, developing a distinctive style of assembly and collage and eventually winning considerable acclaim. Holley's artworks now are included in the collections of major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Folk Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Museum of Art, and many others.

He began recording music in 2006, releasing two albums on the Dust-to-Digital label, and started touring as a musician in 2013. Playing keyboard, singing, and sometimes inventing songs on the spot, Holley earned good notices from critics, turning up in some year-end "top ten" lists, and in 2014 he was featured in the New York Times, which served as a significant boost for his musical career. His latest recording is MITH, released in September of this year on the Jagjaguwar label.

Today's videos include a half-dozen performances from throughout Holley's relatively brief career as a working musician, starting up above with Holley doing his song "I Threw My Head Back," as recorded for the web series Jam In The Van in July of this year at the A Ship in the Woods festival in Escondido, CA.

After the jump, you can see the official music video for “I Woke Up in a Fucked-Up America,” a track from MITH, followed by a full-length performance by Holley recorded in February 2017 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

That's followed by two more full performances recorded in 2014, in April at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and in August at the Pickathon festival on Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon. Finally, there's an excerpt from Holley's performance in 2013 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC.

For more about Lonnie Holley, read the profile of him published in 2013 by The Fader, and this feature from October 2018 on Afropunk.com.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...