Episode 20 | Stew & The Negro Problem – Notes of a Native Song

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio by Stew Stewart of Stew & The Negro Problem to discuss his music, his work on James Baldwin, and his teaching.

Stew & The Negro Problem recently performed Notes of a Native Song – written for Harlem Stage’s Baldwin centenary celebration and named for Baldwin’s 1955 collection of essays on being black in America – at Duke University. Stew and his mighty band the Negro Problem use Baldwin’s work to examine our lingering civil rights woes through a rapturous mix of rock, jazz, and soul. The show turns Baldwin into a sort of rock star, which has how Stew has long seen him — a flawed, essential visionary who transforms how we see ourselves.