The album will be available on all major streaming platforms Sept. 22

In September last year, Denver-based musician and songwriter Martin Gilmore attended a roundtable conversation with fellow musicians, representatives from local organizations and nonprofit leaders. They met at the historic Shorter AME Community Church near MLK Jr. Boulevard in Denver — the same church that was burned by the Ku Klux Klan nearly 100 years earlier. Together, this group talked about significant civil rights events in the Denver area and Black-White relations in and around the city. These conversations were the springboard for the Denver leg of the Black Legacy Project.

The Black Legacy Project is a multi-dimensional, national project produced by Music in Common, a nonprofit that strengthens, empowers and connects communities through the universal language of music. The Black Legacy Project is a musical celebration of Black history to advance racial solidarity, equity and belonging. The project will culminate in an interactive tour of a full-length album, which includes 24 songs recorded in seven different communities across the country.

“We conceptualized the Black Legacy Project in 2020 as we were seeing the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor on the news and on social media, and after seeing the level of reckoning and polarization that was erupting in the country around the legacy of racism and anti-Black racism in the U.S.,” said Trey Carlisle, program coordinator for Music in Common. “At this time, Todd Mack (founder and director of Music in Common) and I were listening to songs from the ‘60s and the Civil Rights Movement. We were struck by how resonant their lyrics are today, as if they were written today.”

For the main component of the project, producers and leaders from Music in Common traveled to communities across the country to engage Black and White community members in roundtable discussions about topics, themes and songs that are centered around race relations in the United States. From those conversations, they engaged local Black and White musicians in creating present-day interpretations of those songs, reimaginations those songs, and co-writing original songs to provide tangible steps that advance greater solidarity in the community and the nation as a whole.

“I have always been inspired by history, and I love hearing people’s stories and ideas,” said Gilmore, who lives in Englewood. “I developed a deep love for history and the complexity of people. A lot of my songs explore historic themes. I’ve recently been trying to write more personal songs, or at least explore more personal or social themes.”

The Black Legacy Project is a multi-dimensional, national project produced by Music in Common, a nonprofit that strengthens, empowers and connects communities through the universal language of music. The Black Legacy Project is a musical celebration of Black history to advance racial solidarity, equity and belonging. The project will culminate in an interactive tour of a full-length album, which includes 24 songs recorded in seven different communities across the country.

“We conceptualized the Black Legacy Project in 2020 as we were seeing the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor on the news and on social media, and after seeing the level of reckoning and polarization that was erupting in the country around the legacy of racism and anti-Black racism in the U.S.,” said Trey Carlisle, program coordinator for Music in Common. “At this time, Todd Mack (founder and director of Music in Common) and I were listening to songs from the ‘60s and the Civil Rights Movement. We were struck by how resonant their lyrics are today, as if they were written today.”

For the main component of the project, producers and leaders from Music in Common traveled to communities across the country to engage Black and White community members in roundtable discussions about topics, themes and songs that are centered around race relations in the United States. From those conversations, they engaged local Black and White musicians in creating present-day interpretations of those songs, reimagining those songs, and co-writing original songs to provide tangible steps that advance greater solidarity in the community and the nation as a whole.

“I have always been inspired by history, and I love hearing people’s stories and ideas,” said Gilmore, who lives in Englewood. “I developed a deep love for history and the complexity of people. A lot of my songs explore historic themes. I’ve recently been trying to write more personal songs, or at least explore more personal or social themes.”