Meet Dr. Dom Flemons
Dr. Dom Flemons “The American Songster" received an Honorary Doctorate from Northern Arizona University and he's a GRAMMY Award Winner with four GRAMMY nominations, Two-Time EMMY Nominee, International Acoustic Music Award Grand Prize Winner, and was a United States Artists Fellow. He is a musician based in the Chicago area and he is famously known as "The American Songster®" since his repertoire covers over one hundred years of American roots music; including country, folk, bluegrass, Americana, and the blues. Flemons is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music scholar, historian, actor, narrator, host, slam poet, record collector, podcaster, and the creator, host, and producer of the American Songster Radio Show on WSM in Nashville, TN. He is considered an expert player on the banjo, guitar, harmonica, jug, percussion, quills, fife and rhythm bones. He is the Co-Founder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the Founder of American Songster Productions.
FUN FACT: Dom Flemons competed and WON a Merengue Dance Competition in the Dominican Republic during an Artist Excursion on the Cayamo Cruise.
Solo Career Highlights
In 2023, Dom Flemons recently released his highly anticipated solo album “Traveling Wildfire” on the Smithsonian Folkways label. The album included original songs, a 50-page liner notes booklet designed with custom artwork, tin-type photos, and images by world-renowned photographers. The critically acclaimed album produced by Ted Hutt earned him a GRAMMY Nomination for “Best Folk Album” in the same category as Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Old Crow Medicine Show, Milk Carton Kids, Nickel Creek, and Rufus Wainwright.
In 2020, Flemons released his two CD solo reissue album titled Prospect Hill: “The American Songster Omnibus on Omnivore Recordings. He was also invited to collaborate with Tyler Childers and performed on his entire album titled, Long Violent History, which received a GRAMMY Nomination at the 2022 GRAMMY Awards. In addition, he collaborated with the legendary guitarist Steve Cropper and Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band and together they released a single of the Elmore James classic blues song titled “Shake Your Money Maker”, which they recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis, TN. Another collaboration he did in 2020 was performing on a track titled “Skip, Skat, Doodle-do” which was produced by Branford Marsalis for the soundtrack to Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom on Netflix starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Bozeman. In 2019, Flemons was chosen to be a "Spotlight Artist" at the Soundtrack of America event curated by the World Renowned Quincy Jones and EMMY Award Winning Director Steve McQueen. He was then featured on the Bank of America and Ken Burns ‘Country Music’ commercial that airs regularly on PBS.
In 2018, Flemons released a solo album on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings titled Dom Flemons Presents Black Cowboys which is part of the African American Legacy Recordings series, co-produced with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. The album sparked a worldwide phenomenon and his interview with AJ+ went viral on twitter and Facebook reaching over 2.5 million views, bringing the black contributions to country music and western history to the forefront of popular culture. His album Black Cowboys received a GRAMMY Nomination and went on to win a Wammie Award for “Best Folk Album”, a Living Blues Award for “New Recordings/ Traditional & Acoustic album”, the ASCAP Foundation Paul Williams “Loved the Liner Notes” Award, and he was selected for a 2020 Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Award. The Black Cowboys album peaked at #4 and spent over 55 weeks on the BILLBOARD Bluegrass Charts and Flemons was nominated for “Artist of The Year” at the International Folk Music Awards, “Best Acoustic Album” at the Blues Music Awards, and “Best Folk Album” at the Liberia Awards.
In May 2018, Flemons had his solo debut on the Grand Ole Opry, during a night with Carrie Underwood and Old Crow Medicine Show. He was included in the American Currents Class of 2018 exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame Exhibit alongside Reba McEntire, Jeannie Seely, Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Kane Brown, Dan Auerbach, Dan + Shay, John Prine and more. At the 2018 National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Mid-America Awards, Flemons was nominated for TWO EMMY's for PBS Episode: Songcraft Presents Dom Flemons and for the co-written song “Good Old Days” with Songwriter Ben Arthur. He was the first Artist-in-Residence at the “Making American Music Internship Program” at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in the summer of 2018. In 2017, Flemons was featured on David Holt’s State of Music on PBS and performed as bluesman Joe Hill Louis on CMT’s original television show “Sun Records”. In 2016, Flemons released a DUO album with British musician Martin Simpson titled “Ever Popular Favourites” on Fledg’ling Records. He launched a podcast, American Songster Radio, with two seasons on WUNC Public Radio and filmed two instructional DVD’s through Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop.
Flemons has been invited to be a speaker at virtual programs and at prestigious institutions, including; Harvard University, Stanford University, Vanderbilt University, Princeton University, Library of Congress, Blue Ridge Music Center, Berklee School of Music, and served as a co-convener speaker for the Cultural Equity Council at Folk Alliance International. In 2022, he was the Keynote Speaker at the Folk Alliance Region Midwest conference in Lisle, IL. He has served on the Board of Directors at the Steve Martin Banjo Prize, Folk Alliance International, Music Maker Relief Foundation, and was elected as a Governor on the Board of Directors for the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Recording Academy.
As a solo artist, he has toured over a million miles all across America and has had a successful tour throughout Canada, Ireland, the U.K., Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, and Malaysia. He has represented America at internationally acclaimed venues and festivals, like the Rainforest World Music Festival in Malaysia, the YodelFest in Germany, and the Cecil Sharp House in England. Flemons has performed at historic venues throughout the U.S. including the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman, the Kennedy Center, Abraham Lincoln’s Cottage, Appomattox Courthouse, National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and the opening ceremony for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Flemons has performed with hundreds of artists from around the world and has been featured on albums by Tyler Childers, Dropkick Murphys, Fantastic Negrito, Paula Boggs, Eric Andersen, Martin Simpson, and Bassekou Kouyate. He has performed with Yo Yo Ma, Kathy Mattea, Branford Marsalis, Steve Cropper, Rev. Payton’s Big Damn Band, Old Crow Medicine Show, Molly Tuttly, Billy Strings, Jerry Douglas, Andy Hedges, Tony Trischka, Ranky Tanky, Amysthyt Kiah, Leyla McCalla, Valerie June, Allison Russell (w/ Birds of Chicago), David Holt, Guy Davis, Taj Mahal, Vince Gill, Jimbo Mathus, and Alvin Youngblood Hart, to name a few. Throughout his career he has met iconic figures; including, Quincy Jones, Steve McQueen, the Honorable Congressman John Lewis, Congressman Jamie Raskin, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Denzel Washington, Ken Burns, and more.
Educational Background
From 2000 to 2005, Dom Flemons attended college at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ where he graduated with a degree in English. As a student he took courses on Latin, Greco-Roman Literature and Philosophy, Shakespeare, Chaucer, creative writing, poetry, and the history of photography. He began his music journey busking on the streets of downtown Flagstaff and studying music at the Cline Library on campus. Flemons also became a slam poet and went on to represent Northern Arizona on the National level in 2002 and 2003. In 2005, he attended the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, NC at Appalachian State University and after graduation he left Arizona and relocated to North Carolina to pursue a professional career in music. In 2022, Dom Flemons received an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Humane Letters) from NAU and was the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2022.
Family Background
Dom Flemons was born on August 30th, 1982 and he is a 5th generation Black and Mexican native of Phoenix, AZ. His parents Charles Henry Flemons and Dorina Dickey Flemons have deep roots in Arizona and both are connected to prominent black leaders in the southwest. His father Charles Henry was born in Flagstaff, AZ and became a successful college basketball player at Northern Arizona University. Dom’s paternal grandfather Reverend Raymond Flemons migrated to Arizona from Texas after serving in WWII and he became a sawmill worker. He also built churches throughout Northern Arizona and became an influential preacher in the African American community of Holbrook and Flagstaff, AZ. Dom’s mother was a flamenco dancer and the daughter of Bill Dickey, the Founder of the National Minority Junior Golf Scholarship. Dom’s grandfather Bill Dickey was inducted into the Western States Golf Association Hall of Fame (1985); the National Black Golf Hall of Fame (1989); the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame (2000); and the African American Golfers Hall of Fame. His maternal Great Uncle Dr. Lincoln Ragsdale, Sr. was a Tuskegee Airman and an influential leader in the African American community of Phoenix. Flemons family legacy not only includes Tuskegee Airmen but also military veterans, western pioneers, and prominent civil rights leaders in Arizona.
Personal Life
Dom Flemons is married to Vania Kinard and they have been together since 2015. They met in Washington, D.C. at a GRAMMY event at the Kennedy Center celebrating Lead Belly’s 125th birthday. Vania Kinard was part of the D.C. political industry from 2008 to 2016 and one of her professional highlights include working on the 2012 Presidential Campaign for Barack Obama. Since 2016, Vania has been working with Dom as his business and creative partner on all his projects. From 2016 to 2020, they lived in Washington, D.C. and in 2018 Vania gave birth to their daughter Cheyanne Love Kinard Flemons. At the end of 2020, they relocated to the midwest and currently call Naperville, IL their home.
