Jerron Paxton

Jerron Paxton
Things Done Changed - released October 18th on Smithsonian Folkways

Things Done Changed is an album of original songs that sound beamed in from nearly a century ago, when jazz and blues were performed as a means of both personal and cultural survival. Lick by lick, Paxton builds a bridge between generations gone and generations to come, singing the heartaches and joys of the past and present.

Once described as "virtually the only music-maker of his generation—playing guitar, banjo, piano, and violin, among other implements—to fully assimilate the blues idiom of the 1920s and '30s” by the Wall Street Journal, the thirty-five-year-old’s latest collection is his first of all original songs.

Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Paxton's music is steeped in the rich cultural heritage of the Great Migration. His family’s journey from Shreveport, Louisiana, to the Athens neighborhood of South LA in the 1950s laid the foundation for his appreciation of Southern Black culture.

Paxton’s previous work has drawn comparisons to blues legends like Robert Johnson, Lead Belly, and Mississippi John Hurt, yet his approach is distinctly his own.

“Things Done Changed is my way of honoring the culture I come from,” says Paxton. “I grew up playing for the last generation of folks who grew up listening to Black banjo players … Born from the lives of the people who raised me, I hope these songs resonate with listeners as a continuation of our shared history.”