Joe Troop (Che Apalache) celebrates his new solo album with a series of live musical performances featuring guest musicians and artists.

In the midst of a global pandemic, radical folk singer Joe Troop found himself a whole ocean away from the rest of his GRAMMY-nominated band, Che Apalache. So he did what he knows best: bunkered up with his banjo and sang out his heart, and from its depths emerged his debut solo album, Borrowed Time.

To prepare for his upcoming tour, he’s teamed up with The Fruit to offer weekly performances featuring his touring band, rotating guest musicians, and visual arts. You don’t want to miss this.

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JOE TROOP

Joe Troop is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter hailing originally from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The founder of GRAMMY-nominated stringband Che Apalache, Troop’s music is deeply embedded with and inspired by his activism. After spending the last year learning direct action from stalwart progressive organizers, the radical folk singer is now channeling that energy into his first proper solo album Borrowed Time. The record was co-produced with Jason Richmond (The Avett Brothers, Branford Marsalis) and features music luminaries like Béla Fleck (who produced Che Apalache’s GRAMMY-nominated album), Abigail Washburn, Tim O’Brien, and Charlie Hunter, but the visceral songwriting speaks for itself. The worldly songs and instrumentals are influenced both by Troop’s time spent living abroad as well as his upbringing as an openly gay bluegrass musician in rural North Carolina.

FRIENDS

Joining Joe for the duration of the series will be Omar Ruiz-Lopez, a classically trained violinist/violist born in Panama and raised in Puerto Rico. A longtime resident of Durham, Omar has melded his Caribbean musical heritage and noteworthy virtuosity with Appalachian string band tradition. Joe and Omar will be joined by a rotating cast of local musicians and featured artists.

The first event will feature Sophia Enriquez. Originally from southern Ohio, Sophia is a Chicana-Appalachian scholar, teacher, and musician. She teaches in the department of music and program for Latina/o studies at Duke University. Interested in how music can unearth erased and forgotten stories, Sophia sings a variety of American folk musics (including bluegrass, country, son Jarocho, and ranchera).

The event will also feature a photography exhibit by Roderico Y. Diaz. Rode is Indigenous Maya Kaqchikel and was born in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. He is an independent photojournalist and documentary videographer who has worked in the areas of photo-documentary, photojournalism, and documentary for fifteen years. He has focused his work primarily on the path of people from indigeneous communities who search for justice and reparation after surviving the genocide in Guatemala (1960-1996).