Smithsonian Folkways artist Jerron Paxton

Jerron Paxton is an American musician from Los Angeles now based in New York City. A vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, his music draws deeply from the blues and jazz preceding WWII, inspired by artists like Fats Waller and Blind Lemon Jefferson. The Wall Street Journal highlighted him as one of the few from his generation to fully embrace the blues style of the 1920s and '30s, influenced by Bessie Smith and Lonnie Johnson. His performance at The Ark was a special benefit for the local professional 13-piece ragtime orchestra, the River Raisin Ragtime Revue.