Carnegie Hall

Martha’s multicultural lineage descends from the Southeastern region of the US—the ancestral homelands of the Cherokee Shawnee of the Appalachian Mountains down to the Choctaw and African American peoples of the Gulf Coast. The traditional music from this region centers around social dances: songs accompanying dances that are often performed at cultural festivals, powwows, and gatherings. The songs feature vocables, and are often sung in a Southeastern call-and-response style. Southeastern songs and social dances are accompanied by drums, hand and leg rattles, whistles, pipes, and flutes. Many instruments have spiritual significance and are made from natural elements: For example, gourds become rattles, with seeds and beans as the sounds they make, and logs become water drums. By the 1700s, Native American music changed with the arrival of European traders who introduced the fiddle, and incorporated African influences shared throughout the Southeastern region of the US.

Martha teaches traditional Southeastern songs and social dances to children of all ages, as an expression of her deep commitment to preserving and sharing her Native and African American cultural heritage. She writes and performs American roots music that is a direct reflection of her own family lineage in the Appalachian hills of Harlan County, where she spent her early childhood; and her teenage years in vibrant, fast-paced New York City. Combining the vocal style of her gospel-singing father with the resilient spirit of her mother’s Southeastern roots, Martha’s unique celebration of culture and heritage broadens the boundaries of American roots music