Singer-songwriter Mon Rovîa’s debut album, “Bloodline,” chronicles his life from Liberia to Tennessee. His unique sound has been described as “Afro-Appalachian.”
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Y’all, we made it to Friday. It is time to kick off the weekend with some new tunes.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HEAVY FOOT”)
MON ROVIA: (Singing) Love me now, hold me down. And the government staying on heavy foot, and they tried to keep us all down. No, they never going to keep us all down.
KELLY: That’s “Heavy Foot” from the debut album “Bloodline” by Mon Rovia. The Tennessee-based artist is originally from Liberia. His sound has been described as Afro-Appalachian. It’s a unique style, which has attracted millions of followers on social media. For this week’s New Music Friday segment, we are joined by Celia Gregory of WNXP in Nashville. Celia, great to speak to you. Happy Friday.
CELIA GREGORY, BYLINE: Oh, likewise, Mary Louise. So glad to be here for this purpose.
KELLY: So a blend of Liberia and Tennessee makes me suspect this artist has an interesting backstory. What is it?
GREGORY: Oh, it is, and the story is the whole reason for this album. This artist was born in war-torn Liberia, adopted by U.S. missionaries when he was really young, moved around North America a lot in his youth and eventually found a home here in Tennessee, where he still lives and makes music.
So he took on Mon Rovia as a stage name in dedication to his home country’s capital City, and this debut record really starts there. You know, it puts us in the place he left as a young boy before carrying us through all these other geographies and communities that he remembers in real vivid detail.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL”)
MON ROVIA: (Singing) Heroine eyes, I can’t see you behind my disguise, the gun strap and the boots that don’t fit right. The kids left to fight the war again.
KELLY: So let’s get into that sound. I just described it as Afro-Appalachian, and I wonder, where should we be listening for? Where do you hear the influence of both those places on the album?
GREGORY: I do. I hear it in the rhythms and in the choices of instrumentation, right? And first of all, the clarity of his voice begs you to listen closely, and you can hear each pluck of the guitar. It takes you on the journey with him. And I think the instrumentation varies from sparse and folky. You might hear those traditions from West Africa and/or the Southeastern United States with ukulele, solo guitar. And it goes more lush in parts, including some of those stomp-and-holler sing-along tunes like “Field Song” and “Heavy Foot,” which fit him more in modern Americana and even country worlds. He actually just played the Grand Ole Opry for the first time last year.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “FIELD SONG”)
MON ROVIA: (Singing) Trying to carry on. Still got miles to go. Don’t go forgetting on me. Don’t go forgetting on me. Honey, leave a light on, shining for the ride home.
KELLY: Love that one. That is “Field Song.” OK, the title of the whole album, though – “Bloodline” – what’s in that name? How does it relate to the theme of the album?
GREGORY: Yes, on “Bloodline,” Mon Rovia enunciates his experiences being raised as a Black immigrant child in a white religious household here in the States. And in the title track, he, quote, “deals with the tangle of where and who I am from.” And he sings with this choir accompaniment, came a long way, and I can’t find my bloodline.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BLOODLINE”
MON ROVIA: (Singing) Come a long way, can’t find my bloodline. My name still ties my bloodline.
GREGORY: So the record highlights memories of different environments from his growing up and grappling with this identity, from a day at the soccer field, which is really sort of close in to somewhere in Georgia. And as for the title of the record, Mon Rovia says, one’s ancestors, no matter where you’re from or why you came to a new place, they, quote, “live in you and your choices and how you give yourself to the world.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BLOODLINE”)
MON ROVIA: (Singing) Call it my own.
KELLY: Oh, it’s beautiful. Celia, thank you.
GREGORY: Thank you so much for having me.
KELLY: “Bloodline” is the new album from Mon Rovia. It’s out today, and you can hear more from WNXP’s Celia Gregory on today’s episode of New Music Friday from NPR Music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BLOODLINE”)
MON ROVIA: (Singing) Play on, play on. Came a long way, can’t find my bloodline.
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