JOHNSON CITY — East Tennessee State University’s Black Faculty and Staff Association will host an annual banquet and a presentation by the Rev. Robert Jones Sr. at 6 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 8, in the ballroom of the D.P. Culp University Center.
Jones is an inspirational storyteller and musician dedicated to celebrating cultural diversity. His appearance at ETSU is in conjunction with Black History Month.
Acclaimed photographer James Fraher said about Jones, “Perhaps the world’s most highly educated blues musician, an ordained minister, a long-time DJ and a living encyclopedia of blues history, the Rev. Robert Jones is comfortable among juke joint loud talkers, fancy-hatted church ladies and PhDs alike.”
A resident of Detroit, Jones is an award-winning instrumentalist on guitar, harmonica, mandolin, banjo and fiddle. He has recorded six albums of original and traditional songs and is the former host of the “Blues from the Lowlands” and “Deep River” broadcasts on Detroit Public Radio, WDET-FM. He was also a featured storyteller at the International Storytelling Center’s 2013 National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, as well as a 2013 Teller-in-Residence.
Tickets are $35 for adults and $10 for children 12 and younger. To purchase tickets, call Dr. Keith Johnson at (423) 833-4979 or email johnsonk@etsu.edu or call Dr. Lorianne Mitchell at (423) 218-2199 or email mitcheld@etsu.edu
For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at (423) 439-8346.
