WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Okay, so let's unpack this right from the start. 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:04.139 I want you to do a little mental exercise with 00:00:04.139 --> 00:00:06.099 me. Just, you know, close your eyes, unless you're 00:00:06.099 --> 00:00:09.039 driving, obviously, and picture two very specific, 00:00:09.179 --> 00:00:11.339 very different places. All right, I'm playing 00:00:11.339 --> 00:00:15.060 along. Okay, first, visualize the coast of West 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:17.760 Africa. Like, really picture it. The humidity, 00:00:18.019 --> 00:00:21.640 the heat, the sheer rhythm of the Atlantic Ocean 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:24.539 hitting the Liberian shore. It's tropical, it's 00:00:24.539 --> 00:00:29.410 vibrant, it's just loud. Got it. Yeah. I'm there. 00:00:29.489 --> 00:00:32.490 I can see it. Okay, now, hard cut. Complete shift. 00:00:32.850 --> 00:00:35.509 I want you to picture the mist rolling off the 00:00:35.509 --> 00:00:38.009 Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Wow, okay. 00:00:38.149 --> 00:00:41.009 That's a pivot. Right. Picture the scent of pine 00:00:41.009 --> 00:00:44.049 needles, the damp earth, that deep ancient quiet 00:00:44.049 --> 00:00:46.149 of the American South, and maybe, I don't know, 00:00:46.229 --> 00:00:48.710 a banjo picking somewhere way off in the distance. 00:00:48.750 --> 00:00:50.289 You're talking about two completely different 00:00:50.289 --> 00:00:52.369 worlds? I mean, they're almost alien to each 00:00:52.369 --> 00:00:55.149 other in terms of climate and culture. Exactly. 00:00:55.149 --> 00:00:57.710 I mean, on a map, they are thousands of miles 00:00:57.710 --> 00:01:00.899 apart. But here is where this gets really interesting 00:01:00.899 --> 00:01:04.659 for our deep dive today. What if I told you that 00:01:04.659 --> 00:01:08.379 in the music of one specific person, those two 00:01:08.379 --> 00:01:11.840 worlds don't just meet, they actually collide. 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:14.299 They bleed into each other. Yes, they bleed into 00:01:14.299 --> 00:01:16.200 each other to create something that sounds like 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:18.519 an absolute contradiction in terms, at least 00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:21.340 until you actually hear it. We are talking about 00:01:21.340 --> 00:01:24.140 a genre label that is starting to pop up literally 00:01:24.140 --> 00:01:27.659 everywhere right now. Afro -Appalachian. It's 00:01:27.659 --> 00:01:31.019 such a fascinating descriptor, honestly. It stops 00:01:31.019 --> 00:01:33.200 you in your tracks because it forces you to reconcile 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:36.219 two identities that history, and frankly, the 00:01:36.219 --> 00:01:38.159 music industry as a whole, usually keeps strictly 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:40.459 separated. It totally disrupts the categories. 00:01:40.700 --> 00:01:42.760 And the architect of this specific sound is a 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:45.280 guy named Jan J. Lowe, but the world knows him 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:49.200 professionally as Monrovia. And look, if you've 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:50.900 been paying attention to the charts or just the 00:01:50.900 --> 00:01:52.760 algorithms the last couple of years, you definitely 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:54.500 know the name. Oh, absolutely. He's unavoidable 00:01:54.500 --> 00:01:56.750 right now in the best way. But if you haven't, 00:01:56.750 --> 00:01:59.349 you are in for a serious trait because this story 00:01:59.349 --> 00:02:01.810 is, honestly, it's wild. It's a movie script. 00:02:02.030 --> 00:02:04.709 It is the story of geography, absolutely. But 00:02:04.709 --> 00:02:07.689 it's also a story about trauma, about the modern 00:02:07.689 --> 00:02:10.789 musical landscape, and about how borders, both 00:02:10.789 --> 00:02:13.310 physical borders and genre borders, are becoming 00:02:13.310 --> 00:02:15.870 increasingly fluid. We aren't just talking about 00:02:15.870 --> 00:02:17.909 a musician here. We're talking about a cultural 00:02:17.909 --> 00:02:20.550 synthesizer. And the timing for this deep dive 00:02:20.550 --> 00:02:23.550 couldn't be better. I mean, it is February 2026. 00:02:24.490 --> 00:02:27.349 Monrovia has just dropped this massive new body 00:02:27.349 --> 00:02:29.569 of work called Bloodline. Which is doing incredible 00:02:29.569 --> 00:02:32.789 numbers. Crazy numbers. His single, Heavy Foot, 00:02:32.930 --> 00:02:35.009 is sitting at number 25 on the AAA charts right 00:02:35.009 --> 00:02:37.909 now, the adult album alternative charts. So he 00:02:37.909 --> 00:02:40.069 is arguably one of the most important voices 00:02:40.069 --> 00:02:42.389 in folk music at this exact moment. Which is 00:02:42.389 --> 00:02:44.370 significant in and of itself. Just think about 00:02:44.370 --> 00:02:46.770 that. That a refugee from Liberia is defining 00:02:46.770 --> 00:02:49.900 the sound of American folk in 2026. Right. So 00:02:49.900 --> 00:02:53.500 here is our mission for today's deep dive. We 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:56.039 are going to unpack exactly how this happened. 00:02:56.259 --> 00:02:59.080 How does a kid from Liberia end up becoming the 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:01.740 voice of Appalachia? We're going to look at his 00:03:01.740 --> 00:03:04.020 origin story, which, like I said, is cinematic. 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:06.360 And we're going to break down this incredible 00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:08.819 four part musical structure he built called The 00:03:08.819 --> 00:03:11.199 Hero's Journey. Because he didn't just release 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:14.930 albums. He released a saga. A literal saga. And 00:03:14.930 --> 00:03:16.729 we are going to look at the philosophy behind 00:03:16.729 --> 00:03:19.250 it all. We have his tour manifests. We've looked 00:03:19.250 --> 00:03:21.750 at the messaging from his merchandise, specifically 00:03:21.750 --> 00:03:25.030 this recurring idea of, quote, heal with others. 00:03:25.250 --> 00:03:27.889 And we have the biographical records. Yeah. So 00:03:27.889 --> 00:03:29.710 this isn't just a music review. This is a look 00:03:29.710 --> 00:03:31.789 at healing. We're looking at how you process 00:03:31.789 --> 00:03:34.569 profound displacement. Yeah. Through a guitar 00:03:34.569 --> 00:03:36.729 and a microphone. Exactly. But before we get 00:03:36.729 --> 00:03:38.289 to the biography, I want to just stick on that 00:03:38.289 --> 00:03:40.830 label for a second. Yeah. Afro Appalachian. It 00:03:40.830 --> 00:03:42.849 sounds cool. Sure. It looks great on. playlist 00:03:42.849 --> 00:03:45.509 cover. But is it just marketing fluff? Like, 00:03:45.509 --> 00:03:47.509 is it just two cool words smashed together to 00:03:47.509 --> 00:03:49.909 sell a brand? That is the million dollar question, 00:03:50.030 --> 00:03:51.830 isn't it? Yeah. And frankly, if you know your 00:03:51.830 --> 00:03:53.689 history, it isn't a marketing gimmick at all. 00:03:53.750 --> 00:03:56.129 It's actually a reunion. A reunion. Can't blame 00:03:56.129 --> 00:03:58.270 that. Well, we tend to think of Appalachian folk 00:03:58.270 --> 00:04:00.909 as this purely white Scots -Irish tradition. 00:04:01.169 --> 00:04:03.150 You know, fiddles in the mountains, that high 00:04:03.150 --> 00:04:05.949 lonesome sound. But think about the central instrument 00:04:05.949 --> 00:04:10.479 of that genre. The banjo. Right, the banjo, twangy, 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:14.639 round, very classically American. Well, no, that's 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:16.279 the thing. It's not originally American. It's 00:04:16.279 --> 00:04:19.360 West African. Really? Instruments like the akanting, 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:22.180 the angoni, these are the direct ancestors of 00:04:22.180 --> 00:04:25.660 the modern banjo. Enslaved people brought that 00:04:25.660 --> 00:04:27.779 technology, that structural design, and those 00:04:27.779 --> 00:04:30.660 specific rhythms across the Atlantic to the American 00:04:30.660 --> 00:04:33.870 South. So for centuries, Appalachian music actually 00:04:33.870 --> 00:04:36.110 was Afro -Appalachian. It was fundamentally a 00:04:36.110 --> 00:04:38.970 blend. Wow. OK, so it was always a fusion. Exactly. 00:04:39.189 --> 00:04:41.370 It was only in the early 20th century when the 00:04:41.370 --> 00:04:43.629 recording industry came along that they started 00:04:43.629 --> 00:04:46.430 separating things for marketing. They created 00:04:46.430 --> 00:04:49.050 hillbilly records for white audiences and race 00:04:49.050 --> 00:04:51.569 records for black audiences. And we culturally 00:04:51.569 --> 00:04:54.449 segregated the sound. We literally drew a line 00:04:54.449 --> 00:04:56.649 down the middle of a shared culture. So when 00:04:56.649 --> 00:04:58.949 Monrovia steps up to a microphone and calls his 00:04:58.949 --> 00:05:01.529 music Afro -Appalachian, he isn't inventing a 00:05:01.529 --> 00:05:03.850 fusion at all. He's reclaiming a lineage that 00:05:03.850 --> 00:05:06.230 was already there. That's exactly it. He's picking 00:05:06.230 --> 00:05:09.850 up a thread. But, and here is the nuance we really 00:05:09.850 --> 00:05:11.949 need to get right, he is doing it through a very 00:05:11.949 --> 00:05:15.740 modern lens. He isn't playing... traditional 00:05:15.740 --> 00:05:19.220 old time spirituals in a museum exhibit. He is 00:05:19.220 --> 00:05:21.560 taking that ancestral connection and filtering 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:23.939 it through the experience of a modern refugee 00:05:23.939 --> 00:05:27.220 and adoptee and a kid who was raised on the Internet. 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:29.560 Right. It's not a historical reenactment. No, 00:05:29.620 --> 00:05:31.540 it's a restoration of the genre, but it's also 00:05:31.540 --> 00:05:33.750 a mutation of it. It's like he picked up that 00:05:33.750 --> 00:05:35.889 thread that was dropped in, what, 1920 and just 00:05:35.889 --> 00:05:38.529 tied it directly to a trap beat from 2020. A 00:05:38.529 --> 00:05:41.029 perfect analogy. And that creates this incredible 00:05:41.029 --> 00:05:44.089 tension in the music. You hear the banjo, which 00:05:44.089 --> 00:05:46.750 feels ancient and grounded and earthy. But then 00:05:46.750 --> 00:05:49.329 you hear these production choices that feel very 00:05:49.329 --> 00:05:52.550 modern, very digital. It's the sound of being 00:05:52.550 --> 00:05:54.930 in two places at once. Which, honestly, is the 00:05:54.930 --> 00:05:57.420 story of his life. Let's jump into the time machine 00:05:57.420 --> 00:05:59.319 here. We have to go back to the beginning. Let's 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:01.879 start with the name itself, Monrovia. It's a 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:04.220 literal anchor. Right, because his birth name 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:07.879 is Jan J. Lowe, but he chooses the stage name 00:06:07.879 --> 00:06:11.089 Monrovia. And for those who might have skipped 00:06:11.089 --> 00:06:13.930 geography class, Monrovia is the capital city 00:06:13.930 --> 00:06:16.910 of Liberia. Yes. And think about the deep psychology 00:06:16.910 --> 00:06:19.990 of that choice. He was born in Monrovia, Liberia, 00:06:19.990 --> 00:06:22.509 but he was adopted at age seven by an American 00:06:22.509 --> 00:06:25.050 family. So he leaves his place of birth as a 00:06:25.050 --> 00:06:27.800 very young child. Seven is so young. But old 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:29.639 enough to remember. Exactly. You have memories. 00:06:29.779 --> 00:06:31.720 So by taking the name of the city as his professional 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:34.560 identity, he is making a very specific, very 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:36.600 loud statement. He's saying, no matter where 00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:39.579 I go, no matter how American my folk music sounds, 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:42.279 this is where I begin. This is the root. It's 00:06:42.279 --> 00:06:44.139 a way of honoring roots that were physically 00:06:44.139 --> 00:06:46.500 left behind. It's almost like he's carrying the 00:06:46.500 --> 00:06:49.560 map in his name. He is the place. And speaking 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:52.500 of maps, the journey this kid took after being 00:06:52.500 --> 00:06:55.459 adopted is exhausting just to read about. Oh, 00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:58.230 it is a dizzying trajectory. So he gets adopted 00:06:58.230 --> 00:07:00.949 at seven. And the family doesn't just settle 00:07:00.949 --> 00:07:03.089 in one spot and stay put. They live in Florida. 00:07:03.269 --> 00:07:06.730 Then they go to Montana. Then the Bahamas. And 00:07:06.730 --> 00:07:09.610 finally, they land in Tennessee. Just pause on 00:07:09.610 --> 00:07:12.290 that list for a second. Let that sink in. Florida, 00:07:12.290 --> 00:07:17.899 Montana, the Bahamas. It's whiplash. It really 00:07:17.899 --> 00:07:20.360 is. You have the humidity of Florida. You have 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:23.019 the big sky country and the freezing winters 00:07:23.019 --> 00:07:24.779 of the Mountain West. You have tropical islands. 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:26.899 And then you have the deep south. It's like a 00:07:26.899 --> 00:07:29.560 randomized travel itinerary. And sociologically, 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:32.259 it creates what we often call a third culture 00:07:32.259 --> 00:07:35.939 experience. When a child moves between such vastly 00:07:35.939 --> 00:07:37.839 different environments during their really formative 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:40.639 years, they often don't feel fully, quote unquote, 00:07:40.839 --> 00:07:42.540 of any single one of them. Because they haven't 00:07:42.540 --> 00:07:44.720 been anywhere long enough to put down deep roots. 00:07:45.160 --> 00:07:47.160 Right. So what happens? They become incredibly 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:49.500 adaptable. They learn to synthesize their surroundings. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:51.560 Right. And I think if you look at his music later 00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:54.779 on, that ability to blend genres effortlessly, 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:58.360 to not feel restricted by the idea of this is 00:07:58.360 --> 00:08:00.240 what country music is or this is what African 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:02.839 music is, that comes directly from that youth 00:08:02.839 --> 00:08:05.209 in transit. You have to imagine being 10 years 00:08:05.209 --> 00:08:07.970 old, moving from the snow of Montana to the beaches 00:08:07.970 --> 00:08:10.550 of the Bahamas. Your brain has to be constantly 00:08:10.550 --> 00:08:13.389 rewiring itself just to understand where you 00:08:13.389 --> 00:08:16.009 fit in, what the social cues are. Precisely. 00:08:16.029 --> 00:08:18.769 You become an observer by necessity. You learn 00:08:18.769 --> 00:08:21.329 to watch people, to mimic, to adapt to whatever 00:08:21.329 --> 00:08:23.889 the local frequency is. And that is the fundamental 00:08:23.889 --> 00:08:26.110 skill set of a storyteller. That's the skill 00:08:26.110 --> 00:08:28.449 set of a songwriter. You're always sort of on 00:08:28.449 --> 00:08:30.569 the outside looking in. And the final stop on 00:08:30.569 --> 00:08:32.490 that transit, the place where the family finally 00:08:32.490 --> 00:08:35.389 lands, was Chattanooga, Tennessee. And according 00:08:35.389 --> 00:08:37.429 to the biographical records we have, this is 00:08:37.429 --> 00:08:40.169 the pivot point. This is where the Appalachian 00:08:40.169 --> 00:08:42.450 part of Afro -Appalachian starts to take root. 00:08:42.950 --> 00:08:46.169 Chattanooga is a city with a very deep, rich 00:08:46.169 --> 00:08:48.669 musical history. It's right there in the foothills. 00:08:48.970 --> 00:08:51.309 And this is where he was first really exposed 00:08:51.309 --> 00:08:53.850 to folk music. It wasn't something he brought 00:08:53.850 --> 00:08:56.529 with him from Liberia in his suitcase. It was 00:08:56.529 --> 00:08:58.710 something he found in the mountains of Tennessee. 00:08:58.830 --> 00:09:00.769 And he starts learning instruments, right? He 00:09:00.769 --> 00:09:02.669 picks up the ukulele. He picks up the guitar. 00:09:02.850 --> 00:09:05.629 He's becoming a musician. But, and here is the 00:09:05.629 --> 00:09:07.909 curveball that I think really surprises people 00:09:07.909 --> 00:09:10.529 when they dig into his discography. He didn't 00:09:10.529 --> 00:09:14.009 start as a folk singer. At all. No, not even 00:09:14.009 --> 00:09:16.490 close. If we look at the archives, if we go way 00:09:16.490 --> 00:09:19.330 back to the SoundCloud era around 2017, he's 00:09:19.330 --> 00:09:21.389 uploading his first tracks. And then a few years 00:09:21.389 --> 00:09:24.549 later in 2021, he drops his actual debut album, 00:09:24.750 --> 00:09:27.230 Dark Continent. And if you listen to it, it sounds 00:09:27.230 --> 00:09:29.009 absolutely nothing like the stuff he's playing 00:09:29.009 --> 00:09:31.409 at the Grand Ole Opry today. No, Dark Continent 00:09:31.409 --> 00:09:34.269 is fascinating because it is a snapshot of an 00:09:34.269 --> 00:09:36.490 artist desperately trying to find his voice. 00:09:36.889 --> 00:09:39.389 It wasn't folk. It was this raw blend of hip 00:09:39.389 --> 00:09:42.029 -hop, trap, and R &B. Trap music. From the guy 00:09:42.029 --> 00:09:44.429 who is now the total darling of the acoustic 00:09:44.429 --> 00:09:47.549 folk scene. It's a leap. But that sonic history 00:09:47.549 --> 00:09:49.610 is so important to understand him. It adds all 00:09:49.610 --> 00:09:52.529 this texture. When you listen to his modern folk 00:09:52.529 --> 00:09:55.509 tracks, they have a rhythmic complexity that 00:09:55.509 --> 00:09:57.590 owes a massive debt to that trap background. 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:00.139 Just think about trap beats for a second. They 00:10:00.139 --> 00:10:03.240 rely heavily on sharp hi -hats, on rapid triplets, 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:06.700 on deep rolling sub -bass. Right, that rattling 00:10:06.700 --> 00:10:08.759 hi -hat sound, like tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. 00:10:08.759 --> 00:10:11.679 It's very fast, very nervous energy almost. Exactly. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:14.379 Now, take that sound in your head and compare 00:10:14.379 --> 00:10:18.340 it to a traditional banjo roll. Oh, wow. Right. 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:21.019 It's also incredibly rapid. It's highly percussive. 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:23.740 It's rhythmic and cyclical. So when he eventually 00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:26.120 pivoted to folk, he brought that trap here with 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:28.639 him. He plays the ukulele and the acoustic guitar 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:31.600 with a sense of rhythm that feels way more like 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:34.019 a hip hop beat maker than a traditional campfire 00:10:34.019 --> 00:10:36.840 strummer. It's percussive. It's driving. It pushes 00:10:36.840 --> 00:10:38.759 the song forward. That makes so much sense. So 00:10:38.759 --> 00:10:41.220 he's experimenting in 2021. He's trying on these 00:10:41.220 --> 00:10:42.659 different hats. He's doing the hip hop thing. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:45.440 And then 2022 hits and something just shifts. 00:10:45.539 --> 00:10:48.899 The tectonic plates move. 2022 is the absolute 00:10:48.899 --> 00:10:52.259 pivot point. The style shifts noticeably and 00:10:52.259 --> 00:10:55.070 definitively toward folk. You have tracks released 00:10:55.070 --> 00:10:57.269 in that window, like Vulture Culture, Where the 00:10:57.269 --> 00:10:59.610 Rivers Run, and Borderline. Even the titles, 00:10:59.669 --> 00:11:02.049 like Vulture Culture, Where the Rivers Run, they 00:11:02.049 --> 00:11:04.230 immediately sound more earthy, more grounded 00:11:04.230 --> 00:11:07.250 in nature. But why the shift? Did he just get 00:11:07.250 --> 00:11:09.629 bored of rap? Did he think folk was more marketable? 00:11:09.909 --> 00:11:11.870 I don't think it was boredom, and I definitely 00:11:11.870 --> 00:11:13.629 don't think it was purely a cynical marketing 00:11:13.629 --> 00:11:15.740 move. I think it was about utility. Folk music 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:18.639 is traditionally speaking a storytelling medium. 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:21.059 It is literally the music of the people. It's 00:11:21.059 --> 00:11:23.539 used to process local history, systemic struggle, 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:25.879 relationship to the land. For someone who is 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:28.080 deeply exploring an Afro -Appalachian identity, 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:29.820 someone trying to make sense of being a refugee, 00:11:29.980 --> 00:11:32.460 an international adoptee, a black man in the 00:11:32.460 --> 00:11:34.700 American South, folk music offers a narrative 00:11:34.700 --> 00:11:36.860 framework that trap music might not have provided 00:11:36.860 --> 00:11:39.919 in the exact same way. Folk allows for a very 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:42.919 specific, raw kind of vulnerability. It's just 00:11:42.919 --> 00:11:45.100 the perfect vessel for the story he suddenly 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:48.179 realized he needed to tell. And speaking of stories, 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:50.639 this brings us to what I think is the most ambitious 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:53.240 thing he's done, and maybe one of the most ambitious 00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:55.799 things anyone in folk has done recently, the 00:11:55.799 --> 00:11:59.259 acts. Yes, the hero's journey. Starting in July 00:11:59.259 --> 00:12:02.740 2023, he decides he's not just releasing singles 00:12:02.740 --> 00:12:06.639 anymore. He initiates a massive four -part saga. 00:12:07.419 --> 00:12:11.279 Four entire EPs released over the course of basically 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:14.440 two years, structured explicitly around the hero's 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:16.679 journey narrative framework. And I really want 00:12:16.679 --> 00:12:18.559 to walk through these titles one by one, because 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:20.559 they tell a story all by themselves, even before 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:22.879 you hear a single note. Let's do it. But as we 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:25.009 go through them... Let's also unpack the psychology 00:12:25.009 --> 00:12:27.350 of these titles because he isn't just using literary 00:12:27.350 --> 00:12:30.710 terms to sound smart or pretentious. He's actively 00:12:30.710 --> 00:12:33.230 mapping out a trauma response. OK, act one released 00:12:33.230 --> 00:12:36.509 in 2023. The title is The Wandering. The Wandering. 00:12:36.730 --> 00:12:39.269 Just the word implies displacement. It implies 00:12:39.269 --> 00:12:42.129 being lost or searching for a path that isn't 00:12:42.129 --> 00:12:44.509 clear yet. If we map this back to the immigrant 00:12:44.509 --> 00:12:47.129 or the refugee experience, this is the departure 00:12:47.129 --> 00:12:49.870 phase. This is the profound feeling of not having 00:12:49.870 --> 00:12:52.419 a home. You are physically present in a new country, 00:12:52.519 --> 00:12:55.120 but spiritually, psychologically, you are drifting. 00:12:55.259 --> 00:12:57.399 It sets the stage perfectly. You have to admit 00:12:57.399 --> 00:12:59.840 you're lost before you can be found. Then later 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:04.600 that same year, 2023, we get Act 2. Trials. Trials. 00:13:04.620 --> 00:13:07.679 The conflict phase. Every hero in every myth 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:10.000 faces obstacles. In the classic Joseph Campbell 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:12.220 myth structure, this is where the hero fights 00:13:12.220 --> 00:13:15.090 the dragon. But in Monrovia's context, the dragon 00:13:15.090 --> 00:13:17.269 isn't a literal monster. The dragon is likely 00:13:17.269 --> 00:13:19.990 assimilation. It's racism. It's the sheer struggle 00:13:19.990 --> 00:13:22.269 of growing up or the relentless feeling of being 00:13:22.269 --> 00:13:24.570 an outsider in Tennessee. The music in this era 00:13:24.570 --> 00:13:26.990 feels a bit more urgent. It's a bit more conflicted. 00:13:26.990 --> 00:13:30.090 You can hear the struggle. Then comes 2024, Act 00:13:30.090 --> 00:13:32.789 3. And this title, man, this one hits incredibly 00:13:32.789 --> 00:13:36.149 heavy. The Dying of Self. That is a profoundly 00:13:36.149 --> 00:13:39.830 heavy title. The Dying of Self. In the hero's 00:13:39.830 --> 00:13:42.230 journey framework, this is what Campbell calls 00:13:42.230 --> 00:13:44.370 the abyss. It's the ultimate point of death and 00:13:44.370 --> 00:13:46.570 rebirth. Let's really dig into that. Dying of 00:13:46.570 --> 00:13:48.750 self. It sounds almost morbid on the surface. 00:13:49.049 --> 00:13:51.009 Why is this a necessary step in the journey? 00:13:51.090 --> 00:13:53.350 Why can't he just go straight from facing his 00:13:53.350 --> 00:13:57.429 trials to getting the victory? Because you cannot 00:13:57.429 --> 00:14:00.570 solve a new problem with an old identity. That 00:14:00.570 --> 00:14:03.139 is the entire crux of the hero's journey. The 00:14:03.139 --> 00:14:05.019 self that started the journey, the traumatized 00:14:05.019 --> 00:14:07.779 kid from Liberia, or the confused teenager trying 00:14:07.779 --> 00:14:10.360 to fit in in Montana, that version of the ego 00:14:10.360 --> 00:14:12.779 simply isn't equipped to find lasting peace. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:15.620 It has too much baggage. So that version of the 00:14:15.620 --> 00:14:18.379 ego has to be systematically dismantled. Dismantled 00:14:18.379 --> 00:14:20.460 is a very polite word for it. In the music, it 00:14:20.460 --> 00:14:22.600 sounds more like a complete implosion. It is 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:25.220 violent, psychologically speaking. If you look 00:14:25.220 --> 00:14:27.139 at the track Crooked the Road from this specific 00:14:27.139 --> 00:14:29.960 era, the production actually gets murkier. It's 00:14:29.960 --> 00:14:32.139 less purely acoustic. It gets more distorted 00:14:32.139 --> 00:14:34.779 and layered. He's sonically representing mental 00:14:34.779 --> 00:14:37.720 confusion. He's grappling with what psychologists 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:40.960 literally call ego death. For a transnational 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.960 adoptee, this is deeply specific. It's the terrifying 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:46.240 realization that, wait, I'm not fully Liberian 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:48.639 anymore, but I'm also not fully American. The 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:50.820 entire identity I tried to build just to please 00:14:50.820 --> 00:14:53.179 my adoptive parents or to blend in with my peers, 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:57.740 it's just a mask. And that mask has to burn. 00:14:57.899 --> 00:15:00.000 That's terrifying. To basically burn down your 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:02.620 own house psychologically while you are still 00:15:02.620 --> 00:15:04.820 living inside it? It is terrifying. But look 00:15:04.820 --> 00:15:06.580 at the merch messaging from this specific era. 00:15:06.679 --> 00:15:08.320 We checked the sources on this. It wasn't about 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:10.870 hope. It was about sorrow. He forced his audience 00:15:10.870 --> 00:15:12.990 to sit in that profound discomfort with him. 00:15:13.090 --> 00:15:15.649 He didn't rush to the shiny resolution. And I 00:15:15.649 --> 00:15:18.009 think, honestly, that is exactly why the fans 00:15:18.009 --> 00:15:20.250 connected so hard to this phase. We live in a 00:15:20.250 --> 00:15:22.090 culture of toxic positivity, right? Oh, yeah. 00:15:22.269 --> 00:15:25.370 Good vibes only. Manifest your best life. Right. 00:15:25.649 --> 00:15:28.710 Good vibes only. And Monrovia steps up and says 00:15:28.710 --> 00:15:32.059 no. Bad vibes right now. We are actively dying 00:15:32.059 --> 00:15:33.960 right now. We are grieving the cells we have 00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:35.899 to leave behind. Which makes the eventual pivot 00:15:35.899 --> 00:15:38.379 to the finale actually feel earned. It's not 00:15:38.379 --> 00:15:41.259 cheap grace. He did the work. Precisely. You 00:15:41.259 --> 00:15:43.419 simply cannot have a resurrection without a death 00:15:43.419 --> 00:15:45.299 first. And that brings us to the resolution. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:50.320 Early 2025. The final part. Act 4. Atonement. 00:15:50.700 --> 00:15:54.700 Atonement. Coming to terms with the past. Finding 00:15:54.700 --> 00:15:57.460 a sense of peace. In the mythic structure, it's 00:15:57.460 --> 00:16:00.139 the return home. But notice the specific word 00:16:00.139 --> 00:16:03.500 choice he uses, atonement. That usually implies 00:16:03.500 --> 00:16:05.700 making up for a wrong you committed. Right, like 00:16:05.700 --> 00:16:08.200 apologizing, like saying sorry for a sin. But 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:09.779 what does he have to be sorry for? He's the one 00:16:09.779 --> 00:16:11.820 who was displaced. He was the child. And that 00:16:11.820 --> 00:16:14.120 is the absolute beauty of it. In this psychological 00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:16.460 context, atonement can also be read literally 00:16:16.460 --> 00:16:19.440 as at -one -ment, becoming one with yourself, 00:16:19.740 --> 00:16:22.080 finally reconciling the deeply fractured parts 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:24.019 of your identity. It's the Liberian child and 00:16:24.019 --> 00:16:25.840 the American adult finally looking at each other 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:29.000 and shaking hands. Wow. At one minute. So when 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:31.159 you look at it like that, wandering trials, dying 00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:34.179 of self, atonement, it completely changes how 00:16:34.179 --> 00:16:36.000 you listen to the music, doesn't it? It's not 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.340 just a playlist anymore. Completely. It elevates 00:16:38.340 --> 00:16:41.120 it. It turns a standard discography into a linear 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:43.519 narrative. It's not just a collection of catchy 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:46.440 songs. It's a memoir delivered in four parts. 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:49.320 And what's truly brilliant about how he executed 00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:51.740 this is that he invited the audience to go on 00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:54.039 this intense psychological journey with him in 00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:56.769 real time. We had to wait for atonement. We were 00:16:56.769 --> 00:16:58.669 living through the dying of self with him for 00:16:58.669 --> 00:17:01.549 months. It creates this incredibly tight, bonded 00:17:01.549 --> 00:17:03.809 connection with the listener, which actually 00:17:03.809 --> 00:17:06.490 segues perfectly into his whole broader philosophy. 00:17:06.609 --> 00:17:08.750 Because if you go to his official website, if 00:17:08.750 --> 00:17:10.869 you look at his merch store, there is this three 00:17:10.869 --> 00:17:14.369 word slogan plastered everywhere. Heal with others. 00:17:14.569 --> 00:17:16.890 Heal with others. It's the core thesis. Not heal 00:17:16.890 --> 00:17:20.170 yourself. Not I am healing. Heal with others. 00:17:20.390 --> 00:17:23.309 That preposition with is doing a massive amount 00:17:23.309 --> 00:17:25.930 of heavy lifting there. Oh, absolutely. But I 00:17:25.930 --> 00:17:27.630 do have to play devil's advocate here for a minute. 00:17:27.769 --> 00:17:30.109 Heal with others. It's a great slogan. It looks 00:17:30.109 --> 00:17:33.210 fantastic. Printed on a hoodie, sold for 65 bucks. 00:17:33.670 --> 00:17:35.589 We see this all the time in the modern wellness 00:17:35.589 --> 00:17:38.769 economy, right? Commodifying trauma, slapping 00:17:38.769 --> 00:17:41.049 a therapy buzzword on a T -shirt. Is this just 00:17:41.049 --> 00:17:43.369 brilliant branding? Is he just selling the aesthetic 00:17:43.369 --> 00:17:46.430 of therapy to a sad generation? It is a totally 00:17:46.430 --> 00:17:49.710 valid cynicism. I mean, we are trained by the 00:17:49.710 --> 00:17:52.819 Internet. to see mindfulness as a marketing tactic 00:17:52.819 --> 00:17:55.000 these days. Yeah. But I think with Monrovia, 00:17:55.039 --> 00:17:57.519 we have to look at the actual receipts, literally. 00:17:57.539 --> 00:17:59.339 You mean the financial receipts. Put your money 00:17:59.339 --> 00:18:01.319 where your mouth is. I do. Let's talk about the 00:18:01.319 --> 00:18:03.160 Winter Watch 24 campaign. Right. This was the 00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:05.799 single that was released from Act 4, Atonement. 00:18:05.859 --> 00:18:09.460 Correct. Now, normally in the industry, an artist 00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:12.359 releases a highly anticipated single from the 00:18:12.359 --> 00:18:15.059 final act of a massive project. It streams millions 00:18:15.059 --> 00:18:18.119 of times and they collect a massive check. But 00:18:18.119 --> 00:18:21.019 Monrovia announced publicly that all proceeds, 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:23.900 every single cent generated from that specific 00:18:23.900 --> 00:18:26.059 track would go directly to the International 00:18:26.059 --> 00:18:29.119 Rescue Committee, the IRC. Which is the global 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:31.779 organization that helps refugees rebuild their 00:18:31.779 --> 00:18:35.480 lives. Connect the dots here. You have Jan J. 00:18:35.579 --> 00:18:38.519 Lowe, a child born in Monrovia, adopted and brought 00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:41.740 to the U .S., essentially living a refugee story. 00:18:42.019 --> 00:18:45.119 He grows up. He struggles immensely. He goes 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:47.700 through his trials, experiences his dying of 00:18:47.700 --> 00:18:50.480 self, and finally reaches his atonement. And 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:52.180 what does atonement actually look like for him 00:18:52.180 --> 00:18:54.299 in the real world? It looks like giving back. 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:57.240 It looks like taking the platform and the capital 00:18:57.240 --> 00:18:59.599 he built from his trauma and using it to fund 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:02.579 the exact organization that helps the next generation 00:19:02.579 --> 00:19:05.920 of displaced refugees. So the width in Heal with 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:07.759 Others isn't just about the audience standing 00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:09.900 in the room with him at a show. It's about the 00:19:09.900 --> 00:19:11.819 people who aren't in the room, the people still 00:19:11.819 --> 00:19:14.119 wandering. It's a circular economy of trauma 00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:16.779 and recovery. He used the trauma of his past 00:19:16.779 --> 00:19:19.920 to create art, sold that art to fans who needed 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:22.200 their own healing, and then used that money to 00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:24.980 physically, tangibly help the next child who 00:19:24.980 --> 00:19:27.759 was currently stuck in the trauma phase. It operationalizes 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:29.740 the art. It stops being just entertainment and 00:19:29.740 --> 00:19:32.059 starts being, I don't know, activism or direct 00:19:32.059 --> 00:19:34.559 action. Community organizing might actually be 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:37.099 the better term for it. He's organizing a community 00:19:37.099 --> 00:19:40.670 around the fundamental concept of recovery. It 00:19:40.670 --> 00:19:43.269 completely validates that heal with others is 00:19:43.269 --> 00:19:45.950 a working mission statement, not just a clever 00:19:45.950 --> 00:19:49.210 tagline to sell clothes. And the fans are absolutely 00:19:49.210 --> 00:19:51.490 buying into the mission. I mean, we're looking 00:19:51.490 --> 00:19:53.450 at the tour manifests here from the sources. 00:19:53.589 --> 00:19:56.329 The tour wasn't called the Monrovia concert tour 00:19:56.329 --> 00:19:59.250 or the atonement tour. It was explicitly called 00:19:59.250 --> 00:20:02.170 the A Place to Gather tour. Again, his language 00:20:02.170 --> 00:20:05.250 choices matter so much. A place to gather. It 00:20:05.250 --> 00:20:08.150 sounds like church. Or a community town hall 00:20:08.150 --> 00:20:10.569 meeting. It doesn't sound like a rock show. It 00:20:10.569 --> 00:20:12.849 reinforces that communal aspect we keep coming 00:20:12.849 --> 00:20:14.990 back to. A concert is fundamentally passive. 00:20:15.230 --> 00:20:17.210 You buy a ticket, you stand in the dark, you 00:20:17.210 --> 00:20:19.369 watch the performer. But a gathering is active. 00:20:19.549 --> 00:20:21.849 You participate. It implies that the audience 00:20:21.849 --> 00:20:23.789 is just as important to the event as the person 00:20:23.789 --> 00:20:26.829 standing on the stage. And in 2025, his promotional 00:20:26.829 --> 00:20:29.569 messaging was super explicit. It said, quote, 00:20:29.710 --> 00:20:32.210 join us on tour as we make our way around the 00:20:32.210 --> 00:20:35.539 world to heal. To heal. Not to party, not to 00:20:35.539 --> 00:20:39.279 rock out, not to catch a vibe, to heal. It creates 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:42.500 a very specific, almost sacred expectation for 00:20:42.500 --> 00:20:44.859 the night. You aren't going to that venue to 00:20:44.859 --> 00:20:47.140 get drunk and forget your problems. You're going 00:20:47.140 --> 00:20:49.380 there specifically to remember them and process 00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:51.960 them with a thousand strangers. And looking at 00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:53.559 the merch list from the store, which by the way 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:56.880 is sold out of almost everything, you see this 00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:59.700 exact theme reinforced visually. There are hoodies 00:20:59.700 --> 00:21:01.839 that say Alive Again. There are teeth that say 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:05.079 Daybreak Sorrow. Daybreak Sorrow. Alive Again. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:07.559 These sound like victory banners after a long 00:21:07.559 --> 00:21:10.099 war. They are. They perfectly track with the 00:21:10.099 --> 00:21:12.019 narrative arc of the acts we just discussed. 00:21:12.740 --> 00:21:14.920 Specifically, moving out of the dying of self 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:17.660 and arriving at atonement. The merchandise isn't 00:21:17.660 --> 00:21:19.640 just branding his name. It's a physical extension 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:22.519 of the storytelling. When a fan buys and wears 00:21:22.519 --> 00:21:25.539 that Alive Again hoodie, they are physically 00:21:25.539 --> 00:21:27.460 wearing the resolution of the hero's journey. 00:21:27.829 --> 00:21:30.529 They are publicly identifying themselves as survivors. 00:21:30.910 --> 00:21:32.730 It's essentially a uniform for the gathering. 00:21:32.930 --> 00:21:34.970 Exactly. It identifies who's in the community. 00:21:35.190 --> 00:21:38.029 And clearly, this resonated on a massive scale. 00:21:38.230 --> 00:21:40.529 Because we are sitting here talking in 2026, 00:21:40.630 --> 00:21:42.529 but the last two years have been an absolute 00:21:42.529 --> 00:21:45.529 rocket ship for this guy. The numbers are staggering. 00:21:45.630 --> 00:21:47.690 They really defy standard indie folk metrics. 00:21:47.970 --> 00:21:51.410 Let's look at the data. By October 2024, he had 00:21:51.410 --> 00:21:54.430 accumulated over 500 million views on TikTok. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:58.000 Half a billion views. That is the raw power of 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:00.940 the digital age. But notice how he used TikTok. 00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:03.700 He wasn't just doing trending dances or lip syncing. 00:22:03.859 --> 00:22:06.940 He was sharing these incredibly raw, vulnerable, 00:22:06.980 --> 00:22:09.539 acoustic moments. He was bringing people into 00:22:09.539 --> 00:22:11.299 the wandering and the trials right there on their 00:22:11.299 --> 00:22:13.839 phones. He built the emotional community online 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:16.339 way before he ever gathered them in person at 00:22:16.339 --> 00:22:18.500 a venue. And the broader music industry caught 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:21.140 on fast. Spotify named him one of their 2024 00:22:21.140 --> 00:22:24.339 Juniper artists to watch. And then the major 00:22:24.339 --> 00:22:26.480 live festivals came calling. He plays Bonnaroo 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:29.680 in 2024. Which is incredibly poetic, right? Bonnaroo 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:32.079 is held in Manchester, Tennessee. It's a massive, 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:34.500 globally recognized festival, but geographically 00:22:34.500 --> 00:22:36.500 it is right in his backyard. It ties perfectly 00:22:36.500 --> 00:22:38.900 back to his Chattanooga roots. It's the ultimate 00:22:38.900 --> 00:22:42.579 homecoming show. And then the big one. The absolute 00:22:42.579 --> 00:22:45.619 holy grail for anyone touching country or folk 00:22:45.619 --> 00:22:50.720 music in any capacity. july 2025 grand ole aubry 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:53.430 he makes his debut An Afro -Appalachian artist 00:22:53.430 --> 00:22:56.509 born in Liberia, adopted at seven, former SoundCloud 00:22:56.509 --> 00:22:58.950 rapper, standing directly in the legendary wooden 00:22:58.950 --> 00:23:01.730 circle at the Opry. It is a profoundly historic 00:23:01.730 --> 00:23:04.150 moment. And we really need to pause on the cultural 00:23:04.150 --> 00:23:06.910 weight of that. The Opry is the bedrock institution 00:23:06.910 --> 00:23:09.710 of country and folk music. But for a very long 00:23:09.710 --> 00:23:12.069 time, it was a very exclusive, very white institution. 00:23:12.289 --> 00:23:15.250 By having Monrovia step into that circle, it 00:23:15.250 --> 00:23:17.809 signals a massive broadening of what Appalachian 00:23:17.809 --> 00:23:20.130 music looks like to the world. It exalts that 00:23:20.130 --> 00:23:22.519 the story of the South is changing. And that 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:25.200 this third culture, this beautiful, messy blend 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:27.940 of West Africa and Tennessee, belongs on that 00:23:27.940 --> 00:23:30.420 historic stage just as much as traditional bluegrass 00:23:30.420 --> 00:23:33.099 does. It's subversive in the best possible way. 00:23:33.220 --> 00:23:35.079 He didn't have to kick the door down or protest 00:23:35.079 --> 00:23:37.220 outside. He just walked right in the front door 00:23:37.220 --> 00:23:39.500 carrying a banjo, the actual instrument of his 00:23:39.500 --> 00:23:42.079 ancestors, and basically said, I belong here. 00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:44.640 This is my house, too. And the audience completely 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:47.029 agreed with him. They embraced it. It honestly 00:23:47.029 --> 00:23:48.690 gives me chills just thinking about the full 00:23:48.690 --> 00:23:50.950 circle nature of that moment. So that brings 00:23:50.950 --> 00:23:55.529 us right up to now. Today, February 2026. The 00:23:55.529 --> 00:23:57.710 Hero's Journey saga of the four EPs is officially 00:23:57.710 --> 00:24:00.630 finished. Atonement is out in the world. The 00:24:00.630 --> 00:24:04.890 fans are ideally healed. And now he drops a brand 00:24:04.890 --> 00:24:07.609 new album, Bloodline. Bloodline. Released in 00:24:07.609 --> 00:24:10.190 2026. And it is absolutely crushing it commercially. 00:24:10.470 --> 00:24:13.029 The lead single, Heavy Foot, peaked at number 00:24:13.029 --> 00:24:15.890 25 on the U .S. AAA charts. He is officially 00:24:15.890 --> 00:24:18.069 mainstream now. I look at that title. Bloodline. 00:24:18.210 --> 00:24:20.029 Yeah, let's dig into that for our final point. 00:24:20.150 --> 00:24:22.069 Because the hero's journey was very internal. 00:24:22.210 --> 00:24:24.150 It was all about the ego and the self. Bloodline 00:24:24.150 --> 00:24:27.700 feels... It feels like a pivot. It feels distinctly 00:24:27.700 --> 00:24:30.160 external. If the previous two years were all 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:32.539 about the internal psychological journey, the 00:24:32.539 --> 00:24:34.480 hero's journey of the fragmented self bloodline 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:37.380 suggests a major shift outward. It suggests a 00:24:37.380 --> 00:24:39.579 deep focus on heritage, on physical genetics, 00:24:39.700 --> 00:24:42.000 on legacy. It basically asks the next logical 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:44.299 question. Now that I am healed, now that I have 00:24:44.299 --> 00:24:46.759 atoned and found peace with myself, where do 00:24:46.759 --> 00:24:49.200 I actually come from? Who were my people before 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:51.779 I was adopted and my name was changed? It feels 00:24:51.779 --> 00:24:54.240 like he's digging even deeper into that Afro 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:57.359 side of the Afro -Appalachian equation now. He's 00:24:57.359 --> 00:24:59.259 secure in the Appalachian side, so he's looking 00:24:59.259 --> 00:25:01.440 across the ocean again. I think so. And you can 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:03.619 see it in the physical products. The merch store 00:25:03.619 --> 00:25:06.299 currently lists the Bloodline vinyl and the Bloodline 00:25:06.299 --> 00:25:09.240 CD as their featured products. It's a tangible, 00:25:09.380 --> 00:25:12.799 physical legacy. After the dying of self, you 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:15.660 have to rebuild a new self. And you rebuild that 00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:19.099 foundation by understanding your literal bloodline. 00:25:19.369 --> 00:25:21.230 It's fascinating to see the visuals he's using 00:25:21.230 --> 00:25:23.210 now, too. We mentioned the Alive Again symbol 00:25:23.210 --> 00:25:25.470 hoodie earlier, but there's also an ivory symbol 00:25:25.470 --> 00:25:28.230 T listed in the sources. Yes, the visual language 00:25:28.230 --> 00:25:31.210 he's developing is very consistent and very intentional. 00:25:31.490 --> 00:25:34.329 He uses these symbols, almost like ancient runes 00:25:34.329 --> 00:25:36.569 or glyphs, to represent these different emotional 00:25:36.569 --> 00:25:38.670 stages of the journey. It essentially creates 00:25:38.670 --> 00:25:41.230 a secret language for the fan base. If you know 00:25:41.230 --> 00:25:43.170 what the ivory symbol means, you're part of the 00:25:43.170 --> 00:25:45.450 gathering. You're in the club. You've done the 00:25:45.450 --> 00:25:47.970 work. And clearly, people desperately want to 00:25:47.970 --> 00:25:50.900 be part of it. The Monrovia 2025 tour poster 00:25:50.900 --> 00:25:54.039 is listed as completely sold out on the site. 00:25:54.099 --> 00:25:56.799 You cannot get it. That scarcity implies intense 00:25:56.799 --> 00:25:59.900 value. It implies a highly dedicated fan base 00:25:59.900 --> 00:26:03.019 that wants to own a physical piece of that specific 00:26:03.019 --> 00:26:05.660 emotional moment in time. They don't just want 00:26:05.660 --> 00:26:07.720 a poster. They want the souvenir from the gathering 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:11.099 where they felt seen. So when we step back and 00:26:11.099 --> 00:26:13.420 look at this entire trajectory. It's kind of 00:26:13.420 --> 00:26:15.619 unbelievable. We start with a seven -year -old 00:26:15.619 --> 00:26:19.420 boy in Monrovia, Liberia. He gets adopted, moves 00:26:19.420 --> 00:26:21.940 across the entire ocean, bounces around the U 00:26:21.940 --> 00:26:24.440 .S. like a pinball from Florida to Montana, lands 00:26:24.440 --> 00:26:26.920 in Chattanooga. He starts making trap beats in 00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:29.880 his bedroom. Then he pivots, picks up a ukulele 00:26:29.880 --> 00:26:32.700 and a guitar, and constructs this massive four 00:26:32.700 --> 00:26:35.740 -part mythological narrative about trauma and 00:26:35.740 --> 00:26:40.359 healing. And now, in 2026, he's a chart -topping 00:26:40.359 --> 00:26:42.819 artist playing the Opry and funding... Refugee 00:26:42.819 --> 00:26:45.299 rescues. It is a massive testament to the sheer 00:26:45.299 --> 00:26:47.519 power of storytelling. It's a testament to the 00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:49.480 fact that in a highly digital and disconnected 00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:52.000 age, people are absolutely hungry for deep meaning. 00:26:52.140 --> 00:26:54.000 They don't just want a catchy chorus to dance 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:55.579 to. They want a framework for their own pain. 00:26:55.859 --> 00:26:57.559 Monrovia gave them that framework and he set 00:26:57.559 --> 00:26:59.980 it to a banjo roll. It really is inspiring. And 00:26:59.980 --> 00:27:01.700 I just keep coming back to that label from the 00:27:01.700 --> 00:27:05.220 beginning, Afro Appalachian. It's clearly not 00:27:05.220 --> 00:27:08.420 just a genre tag. It's a biography. It's his 00:27:08.420 --> 00:27:11.539 actual life. It's the truth. He lived it. And 00:27:11.539 --> 00:27:14.339 Monrovia represents an entirely new archetype 00:27:14.339 --> 00:27:17.640 of the modern folk musician. He uses digital 00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:21.599 tools, TikTok algorithms, Spotify playlists to 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:24.859 build something that is intensely physical and 00:27:24.859 --> 00:27:27.569 communal. He uses the isolation of the Internet 00:27:27.569 --> 00:27:30.150 to bring people into a physical room, into a 00:27:30.150 --> 00:27:33.130 place to gather, to process deep personal trauma 00:27:33.130 --> 00:27:35.950 together. He literally used the screen to get 00:27:35.950 --> 00:27:38.509 them to the stage. Precisely. And in doing so, 00:27:38.589 --> 00:27:41.029 he completely redefined who gets to sing the 00:27:41.029 --> 00:27:43.450 songs of Appalachia. He reminded all of us that 00:27:43.450 --> 00:27:45.809 the roots of that music go so much deeper and 00:27:45.809 --> 00:27:47.710 travel so much further than we usually want to 00:27:47.710 --> 00:27:50.049 admit. It's incredibly powerful stuff. It really 00:27:50.049 --> 00:27:52.049 makes you take a step back and think about what 00:27:52.049 --> 00:27:54.549 music is actually for. Like at its core, is it 00:27:54.549 --> 00:27:56.240 just back? ground noise while you do the dishes 00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:59.000 and commute? Or is it a functional tool? That 00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:00.960 is the exact question he's forcing us to ask. 00:28:01.099 --> 00:28:03.539 So here is my final question for you listening 00:28:03.539 --> 00:28:06.980 to this deep dive right now. If Monrovia's core 00:28:06.980 --> 00:28:09.900 mission is to heal with others, how do you engage 00:28:09.900 --> 00:28:13.299 with the art you consume? Think about it. When 00:28:13.299 --> 00:28:15.480 you buy a ticket and go to a concert, are you 00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:18.140 just there to be passively entertained, to stand 00:28:18.140 --> 00:28:21.119 there and hold your glowing phone up to record 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:24.250 a video you'll never watch? Or are you looking 00:28:24.250 --> 00:28:26.369 for a place to gather? Are you actually looking 00:28:26.369 --> 00:28:29.289 to heal? It actively challenges the listener 00:28:29.289 --> 00:28:31.960 to be more present. To participate in the healing. 00:28:32.059 --> 00:28:34.740 Yeah. To not just mindlessly consume the art, 00:28:34.819 --> 00:28:37.619 but to truly connect through it. Absolutely. 00:28:37.660 --> 00:28:39.920 If you haven't listened to the acts yet, do yourself 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:42.519 a huge favor tonight. Don't just hit shuffle 00:28:42.519 --> 00:28:44.660 on his top tracks. Listen to them in the intended 00:28:44.660 --> 00:28:47.180 order. The wandering, trials, the dying of self, 00:28:47.319 --> 00:28:49.940 atonement. Take the full journey, feel the descent, 00:28:50.220 --> 00:28:52.599 and then feel the return. And then, when you're 00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:55.140 ready, crank up Bloodline. It is more than worth 00:28:55.140 --> 00:28:57.119 the time. It might change how you listen to music. 00:28:57.579 --> 00:28:59.359 Thanks for diving deep with us today. We'll catch 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:00.539 you on the next one. Stay curious.