Reggie Harris is a singer-songwriter, storyteller and world-renowned song-leader who is a powerful interpreter of the global music narrative. A passionate, engaging inspirational entertainer and concert artist Reggie is recognized for focusing new energy on the important role of music in the discourse for inclusion and the struggle for human rights using the lessons of history as a base. As an expert on the music of the Underground Railroad and the Modern Civil Rights Movement, he is at home on stage as performer, lecturer or leading discussion in seminars or in the classroom.
Known for over 40 years as one-half of the eminently prominent duo, Kim & Reggie Harris, Reggie continues to criss-cross the country, carrying the message of joy, unity, tolerance and peace through the powerful medium of live music.
A 2021 winner of both the Spirit of Folk Award from Folk Alliance International and the W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Award, Reggie is a charismatic community builder who was featured in 2020 on CNN’s “Silence is Not An Option with Don Lemon.” He was recently featured in The New York Times to discuss his familial connection as the descendant of slavery as a great-great-great grandson of confederate General Williams Carter Wickham and his slave Bibhanna Hewlett with his white cousins.
A teaching artist in the Kennedy Center’s CETA program (Changing Education Through the Arts) and a fellow for the prestigious Council of Independent College lecture program, he also serves as Co-President and Director of Music Education for the Living Legacy Project, an advocacy group that sponsors Civil Rights pilgrimages throughout the South and online education seminars worldwide.
His 2018 album Ready To Go ranked as the #5 CD on the Folk DJ Charts and was in the top 30 on the US Folk DJ charts for 5 months of 2018. The title cut was the #1 song for May 2018. In 2019 Reggie and Greg Greenway released Deeper Than the Skin in response to their challenging and insightful presentation of the same name. Reggie is currently a rotating DJ featured on "Prisms: The Sound Of Color: on SiriusXM’s The Village.
His April 2021 release On Solid Ground, the number one CD on the FolkDJ Charts for May 2021, is a collection of 13 songs compiled in response to the challenges and changes in American civic circles stirred by the COVID pandemic and years of racial and political unrest that erupted post the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and thousands of others. Reggie’s leadership in racial and interfaith dialogue continues to open opportunities for dialogue and courageous conversation.
Reggie is a featured artist in the “Americans Who Tell the Truth” portrait series by Maine artist Rob Shetterly and a recipient of the 2018 Magic Penny Award for lifetime achievement for his impact in music from the Children’s Music Network. His recordings and collaborative discography contribute to the national dialogue on history, wellness and to the opening of dialogue and courageous conversations.
Special Project:
Race and Song: A Musical Conversation with Reggie & Alastair Moock
Race and Song is an exploration of history and current events geared for school aged audiences through the lens of race and inclusion. ––using the powerful tool of music. Veteran musicians and storytelling troubadours, Alastair Moock and Reggie Harris, rely on their years’ of friendship and their curriculum based expertise to discuss complicated issues of race, class, gender and history with intentionality and generosity of spirit. Together in musical conversation, they open up to each other and frame their lived experiences through music (which always helps the medicine go down!) and the use of historical and family photos.
10/2024