Martha Redbone: Guardian Spirit - The Words of bell hooks

Apollo New Works artist, vocalist, composer, Martha Redbone teams up with longtime collaborator, composer, pianist, and producer Aaron Whitby to celebrate the words of bell hooks in their work-in-progress, Guardian Spirit: The Poetry of bell hooks, a multidisciplinary musical exploration of bell hooks’ landmark work, Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place. Known for their powerful and awardwinning settings of poets Ntozake Shange in for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, Drama Desk Award 2019; Broadway revival 2022 and the William Blake, album The Garden of Love: Songs of William Blake, Redbone and Whitby channel bell hooks’ meditative, confessional, and political lyricism into a genre-defying soundscape that echoes the spirit of her Kentucky roots and heritage shared with Martha.
This will be an “open-studio” performance of their work-inprogress, as the team will continue developing the piece and, with support from the Apollo New Works and additional partners, leading to a premiere in 2026/27. The conjuring of mountain spirituals and hollers, Blues, Old-Time Gospel, Rock, Soul, and Funk, this new work-in-progress transforms hooks’ poetic elegy into a living, breathing tribute to the marginalized voices of Appalachia, the land, and beyond. In hooks' words, the “long dead, the long gone” speak—here summoned through music that is at times mournful, at times joyous and triumphant, honoring both the grief and resilience of a land scarred by history yet still brimming with life. The interweaving of music in this work-in-progress, performed by Redbone and Whitby’s stellar ensemble of musicians and vocalists, along with video projections designed by Martha with Attilio Rigotti, creates an auditory sanctuary where all who yearn for belonging, healing, and transformation may find their place.
As hooks’ poetry grapples with loss, displacement, and the fight for justice, Redbone’s Guardian Spirit: The Words of bell hooks carries forward her legacy with echoes of ancestral spirits rising from the land, the laments of the past, and wildflowers blooming in defiant beauty.
Martha Redbone reflects on bell hooks: “bell hooks changed my life. bell hooks is everywoman; she represents my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, for time untold. bell hooks helped me listen to the whisperings of the guardian spirit. As an Apollo Theater New Works cohort, I am profoundly thankful for the opportunity to create and develop this piece and deeply honored to have the blessing from her sister Ms. Gwenda Motley, along with the belief and support from the Estate of bell hooks, The bell hooks Institute at Berea College; noted scholar, educator, civil rights leader and family friend Dr. William H. Turner and friend and colleague Margaret Prim, Executive Director of Pennyroyal Arts Council in Hopkinsville, KY for their encouragement, guidance and support, all to celebrate bell hooks’ powerful legacy in song.”