Music from the Edge of the Allegheny Plateau (2019)

Music from the Edge of the Allegheny Plateau focuses on rappers and gospel singers from various communities around Mansfield, Ohio. For this work, Kevin Jerome Everson was inspired by William Klein’s The Little Richard Story (1980), a film that tells the story of the life of this rock-and-roll icon through the eyes and experience of friends, family, and imitators. Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman) was one of the first musicians to introduce elements of the blues, gospel, and rhythm and blues into the genre of rock and roll, and he contributed to the broad popularity of Afro-American music. In 1957, Little Richard had achieved the status of an icon, and he was at the height of his career, but he left the limelight of show business to become an evangelist. Just a few years later he returned to the stage, however, only to later go back to his religious calling. In the late 1970s, William Klein came across him working as a salesman for Black Heritage Bibles in Nashville. At first the two men were both involved in The Little Richard Story (1980) project, but Little Richard left the work on the film, terminated his job as a salesman, and disappeared without trace. Klein did not abandon the film project, but rather saw this as an opportunity to deconstruct the story and the myth of the figure of Little Richard by making friends, family, fans, and imitators the film’s protagonists.

In Music from the Edge of the Allegheny Plateau, Everson is inspired by various aspects of this film. On the one hand, he highlights the connection between music and spirituality by filming the gospel singer Jamie Hillard and the pianist Sidney Brown Jr. in a house full of family photos. This is contrasted with scenes showing the young rapper Taj Torrence performing on the back of his truck as it is driven through the neighborhood. This film is one of a series of works that Everson made over the past two decades near his home town of Mansfield, Ohio, which once belonged to a strong industrial region, but today is part of the rust belt.