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.
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

Apr 20, 2024
Apr 20, 2024
35 min
Award-winning musician Erica Brown talks with Dr. Adams about the power of community to lift up talent, how that influenced her career, and the importance of mentorship to continue to build and innovate in blues music.
Host: Dr. Chelsea Adams
Guest: Erica Brownhttps://www.ericabrownentertainment.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/.
Apr 20, 2024
35 min

Feb 15, 2024
Feb 15, 2024
16 min
In honor of Black History Month, Dr. Chelsea Adams gives a brief historical spotlight of famed, but often forgotten or marginalized blues singer and performer Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, utilizing information from archives and a variety of sources, including the one official biography of Ma Rainey: Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey, written by Sandra Lieb.
Link to Biography
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/.
Feb 15, 2024
16 min

Jan 15, 2024
Jan 15, 2024
39 min
In our first episode of 2024, Dr. Chelsea Adams and musician Brother Yusef discuss blues, history, black experience in the United States, and why race is inextricable from the music, culture, and conversation surrounding blues and other forms of black music.
Host: Dr. Chelsea Adams
Guest: Brother Yusef http://www.brotheryusef.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/.
Jan 15, 2024
39 min

Dec 15, 2023
Dec 15, 2023
31 min
In our final episode of 2023, Dr. Chelsea Adams talks with Grand Rapids, MI organizer Andi Hansen about what it was like restarting a dance community post-pandemic, what the differences are between a dance scene and a dance community, and why that matters for community building, sustainability, and a sense of belonging both locally and regionally.
Host: Dr. Chelsea Adams
Guest: Andi Hansen
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/.
Dec 15, 2023
31 min

Nov 15, 2023
Nov 15, 2023
1 hr 2 min
Anyone who loves music can likely tell you who their favorite DJ is, whether that's a radio DJ, club DJ, or dance DJ. In this episode, Dr. Chelsea Adams and DJ Steven Watkins discuss the art of DJing, what it takes to teach it, and how we evolve our understanding of what a DJ is and does for a dance floor in comparison to the choices we make when we DJ in other situations.
Host: Dr. Chelsea Adams
Guest: DJ Steven Watkins
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/.
Nov 15, 2023
1 hr 2 min

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.





