Seattle songsters Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons give life to voices that have long been silenced in American culture. Their award-winning performances are highlighted by story-telling that, rather than bringing the past to life, vividly shows how the past still lives in the present. Through their songs, audiences witness current issues crop up again and again in folk songs, dance tunes, acoustic blues, and prison ballads.

 

Ben & Joe bounce from fiddle & banjo breakdowns to a cappella field hollers, early jazz to gospel songs featuring Piedmont guitar style and rattlin’ bones. With the same versatility that won them the International Blues Challenge in 2016, and allowed them to record with National Heritage Fellow Phil Wiggins, the duo celebrates the ways Americans have triumphed over oppression through the vitality of their art. Audiences walk away from Ben & Joe’s concerts and workshops inspired to learn more of their own heritage, and engage more deeply with their communities. 

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In 2019, the duo was recognized by the Ethnic Heritage Council with the Gordon Ekvall Tracie Memorial Award for excellence in ethnic performance and significant contributions to the development and presentation of the traditional cultural arts in the Pacific Northwest. 

 

Read more about Ben & Joe in this Behind the Blues profile by Amy Sassenberg, or by clicking on any of the articles linked to on the Press page. 

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For more about Ben, see his website. 

For more about Joe, see his website.