Album cover of Jake Blount’s “The New Faith.” Photo courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

A dystopian future where a group of Black refugees tries to survive on an island off the coast of Maine is the basis for musician Jake Blount’s new album,”The New Faith.”

Blount, a Washington, D.C., native who lives in Providence, Rhode Island, tells the story through spoken word tracks and new arrangements of historical Black music found on field recordings from religious services. He’ll be retelling it in a performance in Portland on Sunday.

The album includes contributions by the rapper Demeanor and stellar blues guitar from Portland’s Samuel James, but at the heart is Blount’s own voice, banjo, fiddle, percussion and guitar.

He plays songs that originated in Belize, Jamaica, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and New York, which he gathered from several sources, including his own library of historical books.

“Slave songs from the 1700s and 1800s are available online, and there are a number of wonderful resources that I was able to draw upon,” Blount said.

But why Maine as a setting? There are two reasons, first of which is that his late grandparents owned a house on a Casco Bay island, which he wouldn’t name at his family’s request, and Blount spent time a lot of time there. But there’s a bigger one.

“I had the thought that people would go up there, and historically, what has happened when large numbers of displaced Black and brown people have shown up in majority white places like New England, they get confined somewhere undesirable,” he said.

Sure, the island might be lovely now, but “The New Faith” is set in the future where climate change has ravaged most places. “So I had the thought this actually makes kind of some sense, that this is where people would get shoved to not be paid attention to, that they would be confined to these islands.”

Jake Blount. Photo by Tadin Brown

“The New Faith” was released by the prestigious Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label as part of its African American Legacy Series, a collaboration with the Smithsonian National Museum of African History and Culture.

The idea for the album was inspired in part by the book “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia B. Butler, but also by the conversation he had with John Smith from Folkways, who asked Blount to come up with a few ideas. “I could tell just from my own reaction that it was gonna be the right call,” said Blount. He was excited and ran with the concept.

“The New Faith” begins with “Take Me to the Water/Prayer.” The song is based on a pair of late ’50s and ’60s songs recorded by gospel and folk singer Bessie Jones, as well as the song “Angola,” which was sung in the late 1600s by enslaved Africans in Jamaica. The track sets the stage for everything that follows. After singing “Take me to the water to be baptized” several times, Blount recites lines about gathering together to confess and to be washed clean of sins. Hand claps and other percussion come in with a background chant as Blount speaks of humans ruining the planet.

“Take Me to the Water/Prayer” bleeds right into “The Downward Road,” a tune originally recorded in the ’30s. This is the first time we hear from Demeanor, who raps about a man named Silas and the terrible king who ruled over him. Rap, which Blount considers to be a form of folk music, might seem out of place here, but its inclusion enhances the impact.

Blount continues the spoken word in “Parable,” which tells of the 30 refugees and how much they had to endure, from deadly storms to poisonous air and water and death sentences born out of false accusations from other travelers. Their road is relentlessly difficult, and by the time they reached the island, only three remained.

Blount concludes the storytelling with “Psalms.” More refugees joined the original three and eventually children were born. But no one ever forgot how delicate life is and how every life ends in death. “Every human being will have a final day,” speaks Blount.

Just before “Psalms” is where James comes in. Blount has known James for several years, and they played a Zoom show together during the pandemic. It was there he heard James cover several tunes by blues singer and guitarist Skip James. Blount knew who to call when he decided to include the Skip tune “They Are Waiting For Me.” Sam James did not disappoint with his intricate acoustic guitar licks. Blount thinks it’s one of the albums’ strongest tracks. “I love it,” he said.

Blount will play songs from “The New Faith” as well as his critically acclaimed 2020 debut album “Spider Tales” on Sunday night at One Longfellow Square. “The New Faith” is available digitally and on CD, with vinyl expected to be available early next year.

Jake Blount
8 p.m. Sunday. One Longfellow Square, 181 State St., Portland, $12 in advance, $15 day of show. onelongfellowsquare.com