Across the nation, more than 390,000 children rely on foster care. However, a shortage of licensed foster homes is creating a national crisis. While official foster care cases are carefully tracked, many informal examples of kinship care aren’t part of the data. For this Us & Them episode, we hear the experiences of those who’ve been part of the foster care system.
LISTEN: Artist Cris Jacobs Drops "Color Where You Are" Album
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“I think sometimes we just look way too past the present and are sort of blinded to…our ability to create beauty in the present.” That was the meditative response from singer/songwriter Cris Jacobs when asked about the meaning of the title to his newest album “Color Where You Are”. Recently Jacob’s life has changed drastically with the birth of his child and now has been focused on creating music in the present instead of waiting for it to happen. This new lifestyle help put the impetus on Jacobs to write this new album–even between changing diapers.
Throughout the album are the influences that have always been a part of Jacobs’s repertoire since his days with his former band, the Bridge: folk, funk, blues, and bluegrass. These styles mix together in a veritable “gumbo” from songs like the grooving “Under the Big Top” to the funky “Rooster Coop”. The lyrical ballad “Painted Roads” is a bluesy meditation that provides us the title of the album in its lyrics.
Take a listen to this interview between Matt Jackfert and Cris Jacobs about this new album as they discuss everything from Jacobs’s influences to his songwriting process to his new lifestyle.
If you’re looking for a chance to catch Cris play live, you can see him perform this weekend at the 4848′ Festival in Snowshoe, WV. Or if you can’t make that, you can always download the podcast of his performance on WVPB’s Mountain Stage!
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