Don't miss an evening of history in the making when California filmmaker, Tobias Finkelstein, documents Jontavious Willis in "The Resonator Project"

The Project: When you think of major contributions to American music, you think of Nashville, Chicago, Memphis, but nobody thinks of Taft, California. Yet, from this hidden California desert town, the resonator technology found in Dobro and National guitars was created - a solution, born out of competition between electrical and mechanical technology, that gave American music a new dimension. The sound of Taft can be heard in homes and music halls from New York City to rural Georgia to Los Angeles. We are traveling with Andrew Boydston, a scion of generations of Taft oil workers, and a local history teacher, to discover the reach of that sound.

Jontavious Willis:  The 24-year-old multi-instrumentalist was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2020 thanks to his latest album, Spectacular Class. Through original lyrics written by Willis himself, the gifted musician delivers a timeless album that features dynamic vocals and all types of blues: Delta, Piedmont, Texas, and Gospel. His stand-out fingerpicking, flat-picking, and slide prowess are also on display.

Many fans of Willis regard him as an old soul. His style of playing, the instruments he plays, and his voice touch the very roots of country blues. He brings back the true soul of the music. A newspaper headline once called him a “70-year-old bluesman in a 20-year-old body.”

Spectacular Class is the follow-up release to his debut album, Blue Metamorphosis, which was released in 2016 and garnered him rave reviews from such notable magazines as Living Blues and Blues & Rhythm. In 2018, the Blue Metamorphosis earned recognition by the Blues Foundation through their International Blues Challenge, where he was honored with the Best Self-Produced CD Award.