Music in Common, the nonprofit that produces The Black Legacy Project, announces the 2023 launch of the Black LP touring band. A nationwide call for musicians is being conducted and online auditions are open through Feb. 15.
The Black Legacy Project is a musical celebration of Black history to advance racial solidarity, equity and belonging. The Project kicked off in September 2021 in the Berkshires and has since traveled to Los Angeles, the Ozarks and Denver, and will launch in the Mississippi Delta, Atlanta and Boise in 2023.
In each community the Black LP travels to, songs addressing a theme connected to the local community are reimagined and composed.
To date, 15 songs have been recorded for the project, 12 of which will be released on The Black Legacy Project, Vol. 1, on April 3, the 55th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech.
A second album, The Black Legacy Project, Vol. 2, is slated for a February 2024 release. Both volumes will also be released as a double vinyl record in 2024.
The band will tour behind the upcoming debut album and subsequent releases. The first tour is scheduled for late May throughout the southeastern United States.
Interested musicians can audition online at theblacklegacyproject.org/audition. Final band member selections will be made by the end of the month.
Music in Common was founded by singer-songwriter and producer Todd Mack in response to the murder of his friend and bandmate, Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter abducted by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.