#Tuskegee Prayer Band

[singeratlarge]

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Jessie Raymond, who inspired this song & video...

[mastersoftheair]

hi! question!! ok so like. I've been in hbowar fandom for awhile but I must admit I haven't followed MOTA news quite as religiously so I'm sorry if this has been answered before but like...... can I ask why there was such an emphasis on austin butler and callum turner's characters? is it because they're the "leaders" of a sort? (and if so, in like a dick winters way? in that they're the leaders of their unit? or is it in a sledge, basilone, leckie way? in that the narratives of the shows are based on their memoirs of the war?) or is it because they're the actors you're bound to recognize at first glance and therefore are pandering to the audience?

piggy back riding on that question..... do you think mota would follow a band of brothers kinda story telling where the povs sorta change almost every episode? and there's an emphasis on the group as a whole? or is it gonna be like the pacific? where it centers on 3 pov characters, as i said before, based off the irl guys' memoirs of the war?

thank you for running this blog, btw. it's good to have all the news in one place instead of having to go hunting for it!! have you tried to appeal to tumblr staff about getting the blog unshadowbanned? maybe they could help?

i think this website gives a very helpful overview of who the "main players" are (it's a bit dated tho, last updated in 2019!) lots could've changed by then, and even the author admits that it's all speculation. but by 2019, there were 5 confirmed "main characters": john "bucky" egan, gale "bucky" cleven, rosie rosenthal, harry crosby, and ken lemmons. they're palyed by austin butler, callum turner, nate mann, anthony boyle, and raff law, in that order.

the focus is on the 100th bombardment group ("the blood hundredth"), with likely a narrower focus on the 418th and 350th squadrons, with probably some focus on the 349th. cleven's part of the 350th, egan and cruikshank (also important) are part of the 418th, and major william veal's part of the 349th (which is likely less important, but i'm adding it bc i saw his name among egan and cleven's name in this behind the scenes photo almost 2 years ago, but not much on veal otherwise).

so, this is one group and (more or less) two different squadrons. the narrowed focus is meant to lean more "band of brothers" and less "the pacific".

to answer your first question, the focus on butler and turner is probably 1) better for promo (they're more well known to the public) and 2) cleven and egan were both the commanding officers of their respective units. the leaders, for sure. also known as "the two buckys", as they both had the same nickname and were very close friends (as the above article puts it, they "were roommates throughout flight school…[they were] roommates during training, but they would eventually become roommates in a POW camp as well.")

i like that you brought up leckie and sledge tho, bc while the bulk of the show is based around donald miller's book, it seems like they'll also be leaning on harry crosby's memoir- a wing and a prayer. he was a group navigator in the 418th. also, the smithsonian has a little scrapbook that you can read here.

i'm thinking that, yeah, the povs may change depending on the episode (given how it seems they want to follow the "band of brothers" playbook, to a point). there's definitely gonna be time devoted to the ground crew (lemmons was a mechanic in the ground crew and stayed in england for the duration of the war) and rosie rosenthal, especially (his crew was called "rosie's riveters"). then, there's the inclusion of black soldiers in the 332d fighter group, part of the tuskegee airmen (hence the casting of ncuti gatwa, branden cross, josiah cross, among others).

keep in mind that these are all just my guesstimations! i don't want to predict what's gonna happen, given that i still want to be surprised lol

and i'm happy you enjoy the blog! it's fun keeping it regularly updated (despite tumblr hiccups, like thinking i'm a spam bot apparently?? but i think it's been sorted out for now *fingers crossed*)

(also, i recommend everyone to go play around in this website, bc it's stuffed with all the 100th bg information you could ever want!)

[singeratlarge]

SUNDAY MUSIC VIDEO MATINEE “Tuskegee Prayer Band” by Robin Mackey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S919ZRJSKtk Robin was inspired to write this celebratory song after her close friend, Jessie M. Raymond, told Robin stories about growing up in Tuskegee AL and being part of a prayer band with her mother (shown at the end of the video). Prayer bands were a group of people that would walk from house to house on Friday nights to sing, pray for, and check in on the housebound in the community. They’d also visit people in prisons. It was a sacred service and a form of spiritual and social outreach. Prayer bands prevailed until the 1950s, but a tiny handful remain today. This song/video raises awareness of the African American tradition of prayer bands and sacred music which predates gospel, blues, and jazz (read more on Robin’s video notes).

The music track was superbly produced by “Irish soul man” and keyboardist Eomann Flynn (of The Commitments + sideman for other notables). The studio band was comprised of Bay Area A-listers from the musician pool of Fantastic Negrito and Narada Michael Walden. I made the video with Cottonbro Studio. Enjoy—feedback welcome https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S919ZRJSKtk

#robinmackey #prayerband #tuskegee #alabama #service #spirit #prayer #africanamerican #gospel #blues #jazz #eomannflynn #jacksonallen #shamilahivory #scottkeller #camperridge #angelinesaras #glidememorial #joelbehrman #danielcasares #johnnyjblair #cottonbrostudio

[singeratlarge]

SUNDAY MUSIC VIDEO MATINEE “Tuskegee Prayer Band” by Robin Mackey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S919ZRJSKtk Robin was inspired to write this celebratory song after her close friend, Jessie M. Raymond, told Robin stories about growing up in Tuskegee AL and being part of a prayer band with her mother (shown at the end of the video). Prayer bands were a group of people that would walk from house to house on Friday nights to sing, pray for, and check in on the housebound in the community. They’d also visit people in prisons. It was a sacred service and a form of spiritual and social outreach. Prayer bands prevailed until the 1950s, but a tiny handful remain today. This song/video raises awareness of the African American tradition of prayer bands and sacred music which predates gospel, blues, and jazz (read more on Robin’s video notes).

The music track was superbly produced by keyboardist Eomann Flynn (of The Commitments and sideman for many notables). The studio band was comprised of Bay Area A-listers from the musician pool of Fantastic Negrito and Narada Michael Walden. I made the video with Cottonbro Studio. Enjoy—feedback welcome https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S919ZRJSKtk

#robinmackey #prayerband #tuskegee #alabama #service #spirit #prayer #africanamerican #gospel #blues #jazz #eomannflynn #jacksonallen #shamilahivory #scottkeller #camperridge #angelinesaras #glidememorial #joelbehrman #danielcasares #johnnyjblair #cottonbrostudio