We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mama Moon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mama, thanks for joining us today. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

I am one of those individuals that are often viewed as “eccentric”. Everything I do is often questioned in relation to what people believe things to be. As a musician, artists tend to adopt or try to discover who they will be as an artist and how they will present themselves. I never had to do that. Who I am is informed by my art. I never tried to appeal to a certain genre or audience I am always undeniably myself. The music I do now is Blues Fusion. Blues with a little something extra. In this genre, there is a way, a look, and a sound that is representative of what people will accept to be “the Blues”. There is often a lot of glitter and sequence in the uniform, the sound is usually 1,4,5, and from my observation as a woman, you must be introduced or backed by a male blues artist in order to be valid in this genre or have linage from great blues artist in your blood. I have none of that. I refuse to wear sequence, My style is very colorful and earthy. I rarely wear shoes, I am the leader of my own band not part of a band as a featured artist. All the decisions come down to me as well as the business of the music. Our music is a cumulation of all of the band members’ backgrounds and influences. So you can not characterize us as doing, Chicago Blues, or Memphis Blues. We do what I call “Tribal Blues”. The only lineage I have is those of my ancestors who sang this music in the cotton fields. My band “Mama Moon & The Rump Shakers” had the opportunity to travel to Memphis early in the year to compete at the International Blues Challenge. No one knew us and we were definitely not your normal group so there was a lot of head-scratching when we performed. We made it to the semi-finals but did not go on to win the competition. Some of the comments made by the judges were vague because we didn’t fit the “blues mode” in a way that they could understand. They didn’t know what to think of us or do with us. I don’t try to be different but if I am at the helm of something artistic it just turns out that way because of who I am. It used to bother me at first always feeling like I had to prove myself in order to be understood. I have realized that people can only understand you if they orbit in the same stratosphere as you do or have unlimited openness in how they receive this universal gift of art.

Mama, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a unicorn of some sort. Majestic, Mysterious but grounded. Optimistic by nature and move through this life very intentionally. Music and art is my family’s legacy. My dad is a musician, songwriter, and producer. My mom is a vocalist and visual artist. My siblings are in music and my grandfather (mom’s dad) was a famous Doo-Wop singer in the 50s with a group called “The Dubs”. He was the lead singer. When you come from a family where everyone is talented you question your own. I was not considered the vocalist in my family. However, we were obligated to get involved in music in some way shape, or form. Church was where I honed my musical gifts and talents. It was also my introduction to all things spiritual which got me in a lot of trouble because I asked a lot of questions that later on in life were answered when I left the church. I recorded for the first time when I was 16 with my father’s choir. I never imagined I would be doing music I didn’t think I was gifted enough to do that. So I became a poet. I performed all over the DC, Maryland, and Virginia. I won a few poetry slams and wrote my first self-published book of poems. When I performed my spoken word I would often sing a few lines here and there to bring the message together. I was then approached by someone saying hey you should sing. I figured why not? It was art I would try to do anything artistic, paint, dance, rap it was art. From the moment I began to sing I wasn’t really worried about what I sounded like. I knew my voice was different. I met my Husband during this time who saw the potential in my voice and took me to audition for a band which I was chosen to sing with and from there we created our own unit called “Uninterrupted” We were a funk-rock unit ripping stages in the middle of the Neo-Soul Movement. You can imagine how we were received. We dealt with sexism, racism, and a lot of other things that you had to be there to believe it. After a while I got married started a family put music on the back burner for a while. I decided to try to start a solo career after “Uninterrupted disbanded. I thought it was going to be easy for me but it wasn’t. I didn’t release my first solo project until 2015 under the name Moon Newbill called “Come Through Mother”. I recorded some other singles after that project which got some notoriety. I started singing the blues for something to do really. It was like the gospel music I grew up on. I joined Full Power Blues sang with them for 9 years before I left the group and some of the members came with me and I formed “Mama Moon and the Rump Shakers’. All of these transitions were not without its challenges. We pray for transitions to be smooth but we rarely get that. As stated before we are a Blues Fusion group challenging the status quo on what blues music is supposed to be. I realized recently that with this unit I am able to fully be all that I am on stage. This Moon has many phases and depending on the project you saw certain phases but never the full Moon . With Mama Moon & the Rump Shakers you get the full Moon every time. The freedom in that is indescribable. In blues music its all about the story and the way its told. The experience, the trauma, the heartache, the spirit and the ancestors. Our group has found a unique way to tell the stories that in my mind is still blues just told differently. We don’t just get on stage and sing songs for you. We inject you into the songs. We hold your hand through the heartache. We give you something to dance about , to laugh about . We give an experience. Like Howlin Wolf once said “Blues is a feeling”. My goal every time I step on that stage is to give you a feeling then guide you through song and performance so you can understand what you are feeling.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist and creative is the freedom to express what is inside your mind. I don’t create for people to like what I create. I create because I like it. If other people like it then that’s an added bonus for me. However, I view humans in a way that informs me that there are other people out there just like me. people who like the things that I like. I believe there is an audience and community for everything under the sun. You find your tribe when you create and they come to you. The ability to express myself through the medium of music gives me a piece of mind. I don’t sit and say today we are going to write a song. The songs come through life lived, through observations. I write songs and record them and those songs sometimes become my therapist, minister, or diary. If I wrote for people to like it then I am giving them power over my expression which causes me a lot of anxiety because I hate being controlled. As a creative you will often hear people say things like “This is how it’s always been done”, There is a way you have to do this or that…” People do not want to see that or won’t like that etc… All these rules are based on what others have done over time but you are an individual. Unique in every way. No one can do it like you can so all the rules may not apply to you. people don’t know what they want until you show them.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Being able to create something meaningful is part of the goal. The other part is sharing in humanity with those that you create with and create for. I am an individual who has stated on more than one occasion that I loathed the music industry. I feel it exploits, extracts, and ruins creative people for monetary gain. A whole industry that is hell-bent on control of other human beings. So if I say that why do I do this music? I realize that I have to be the change I want to see in this world. In all musical genres in every city, and country throughout this world there are music scenes. There are musicians who have what I call an Ocean mentality and a Pond mentality. I have come across other creatives that have fallen victim to Ego. Creatives who had some success but are now privileged in a way where they feel they don’t have to put in much effort toward their art but expect to receive an abundance of blessings. I have seen creatives who gatekeep, those who disrespect and treat those who create with them as if they are an afterthought. I do my best to create an environment where everyone involved is receiving something positive. I’m not afraid to collaborate with other artists. My band is treated with the utmost respect and our unit is run with transparency and democracy. I want the Ocean where there is enough space, room, and appreciation for all types of artists. There is no lack so no one has to prevent you from being you. The pond is small and the pond mentality makes an artist feel like there is only room for a select few. They are not included, they are ignored, they are not considered because there is no room. So the things that I witness that are not admirable or positive I try to do the opposite of that. I am not insecure when it comes to my musical gifts. I can stand on stage with anyone and hold my own. Not everyone is like that. I do not expect those who feel threatened by me due to their own insecurity to support me. I lead with kindness because I truly believe there are still some good humans in the world in these creative spaces.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mamamoonrumpshakers.com
• Instagram: Mama Moon and the Rump Shakers
• Facebook: Mama Moon and the Rump Shakers
• Youtube: mama moon and the rump shakers

Image Credits
Eva Graham , Robert Goodman Photography