12-Bar Talk: A Blues Podcast
Welcome to 12-Bar Talk, a blues music and dance podcast that covers blues history, current artists and trends, dances done to blues music, and more. Join Dr. Chelsea Adams as she interviews musicians, dancers, scholars, and delves into the myriad of topics that deal with this uniquely black American art form.
Episodes

Monday Jan 20, 2025
Episode 17: Mapping the Diaspora, a Conversation with Deirdre Molloy
Monday Jan 20, 2025
Monday Jan 20, 2025
How do you map dances across space and time, especially when doing so requires dealing with forced migration and slavery? Dr. Chelsea Adams and Deirdre Molloy discuss dance, the African Diaspora, and Molloy's ambitious Doctoral project of mapping dance from Africa to the Caribbean and Americas in her interactive Unity Atlantic Map (link below).
Guest: Deirdre Molloy
Website to the Unity Atlantic Map: https://unityatlantic.org/
A Note on the Map from Deirdre Molloy: I designed the Map to be iterative – to grow deeper as a research notebook and public Afrofuturist digital heritage resource. The Map is a collective art-research work that touches many communities, and comments, feedback, and contributions are welcome!
Molloy's Research:
Molloy, D. C. (2024). Black Atlantic Space-Time Portfolio by Unity (V.1). Nakala (Huma-Num - CNRS). Available online https://doi.org/10.34847/NKL.FCF71S7D
Molloy, D. C. (2024). Black Atlantic Space-Time Teaser by Unity (V. 1). Nakala (Huma-Num - CNRS). Available online https://doi.org/10.34847/NKL.5C091TX1
Molloy, D. C. (2021/2024). From Blues Dance to African Diaspora Identity : Diaries, Dialogues, Dreams of Unity (V.1) Nakala (Huma-Num - CNRS). Available online https://doi.org/10.34847/NKL.EFB8NLDA
Produced by Dr. Chelsea Adams
Post-Production by Jeremy Carberry
12-Bar Talk is supported by Salt City Blues, LLC, a blues dance event and education organization committed to bringing education about black dances and blues to the Greater Salt Lake City area.
Podcast intro music is Chicago Shuffle Blues, courtesy of JuliusH. Song can be found at https://pixabay.com/users/juliush-3921568/.

Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Sunday Dec 15, 2024
In today's world of social media, much of what was once accessible through online events is no longer easy to access. Josh Davis, board member on the Blues Association of Austin, discusses what we might do to help make events work for more people, and how we can get more of the community involved.
Guest: Josh Davis
Website: joshdavis.contact
Produced by Dr. Chelsea Adams
Post-Production by Jeremy Carberry
12-Bar Talk is supported by Salt City Blues, LLC, a blues dance event and education organization committed to bringing education about black dances and blues to the Greater Salt Lake City area.
Podcast intro music is Chicago Shuffle Blues, courtesy of JuliusH. Song can be found at https://pixabay.com/users/juliush-3921568/.

Friday Nov 22, 2024
Episode 15: "The Social Part Matters," a Conversation with Grey Armstrong
Friday Nov 22, 2024
Friday Nov 22, 2024
Writer, Instructor, and Lecturer Grey Armstrong and Dr. Chelsea Adams get personal about community, why people are leaving social dance, and what we can do about it.
Guest: Grey Armstrong
Video Referenced: Why Is Everyone Leaving Social Dance?
Websites: https://obsidiantea.com/, https://greyarmstrong.com/
Produced by Dr. Chelsea Adams
12-Bar Talk is supported by Salt City Blues, LLC, a blues dance event and education organization committed to bringing education about black dances and blues to the Greater Salt Lake City area.
Podcast intro music is Chicago Shuffle Blues, courtesy of JuliusH. Song can be found at https://pixabay.com/users/juliush-3921568/.

Tuesday Oct 29, 2024
Tuesday Oct 29, 2024
Dr. Chelsea Adams sits down with local Utah musician Columbia Jones to discuss blues, genre, competitions, and building a career as a musician. Jones’ songs are earnest reflections of the everyday American experience paired with a sound that blends the best elements of Americana, Folk, Country, and Blues. His versatility as a musician is evident in the wide range of instruments and musical styles covered in his studio recordings, as well as onstage his on-stage performance, where gentle acoustic ballads can easily shift to a lively on-stage folk frenzy. Spectators of the his One Man Band can expect to see him perform on guitar while kicking a bass drum, foot tambourine, and some live looping. With the band, they serve up originals and covers peppered with lots of improvisation.
Host: Dr. Chelsea Adams
Guest: Columbia Jones
Website: Columbia Jones
Music: Columbia Jones - Music
Produced by Dr. Chelsea Adams
12-Bar Talk is supported by Salt City Blues, LLC, a blues dance event and education organization committed to bringing education about black dances and blues to the Greater Salt Lake City area.
Podcast intro music is Chicago Shuffle Blues, courtesy of JuliusH. Song can be found at https://pixabay.com/users/juliush-3921568/.

Thursday Sep 19, 2024
Episode 13: Intergenerational Power, a Conversation with Charlley Ward
Thursday Sep 19, 2024
Thursday Sep 19, 2024
Dr. Chelsea Adams talks with blues musician and dance instructor Charlley Ward about the power of sharing information across generations, an act called generativity. They discuss the power of both listening to elders and respecting culture, but also the importance of pushing genre and culture forward through innovation in both the music and dance communities. Charlley also shares some of his favorite stories and his belief in the power of storytelling to inspire generations and preserve legacy and culture.
Host: Dr. Chelsea Adams
Guest: Charlley Ward
Produced by Dr. Chelsea Adams
12-Bar Talk is supported by Salt City Blues, LLC, a blues dance event and education organization committed to bringing education about black dances and blues to the Greater Salt Lake City area.
Podcast intro music is Chicago Shuffle Blues, courtesy of JuliusH. Song can be found at https://pixabay.com/users/juliush-3921568/.

Welcome to 12-Bar Talk
Blues: it's a feeling, a state of being, a genre of music and an umbrella term for many black social dances, all with a rich history and thriving and evolving culture in the present. Join Dr. Chelsea Adams as she interviews practitioners and scholars and delves into the myriad of topics that deal with this uniquely black American art form.
You can support the 12-Bar Talk Podcast by subscribing anywhere you get your podcasts and by sharing it with friends and enthusiasts.
If you would like to be a guest on the podcast or have topic requests you'd like to see featured on the show, please contact Dr. Adams through her university email: chelseaadams1@weber.edu.