“Things like the age and race of our kids just doesn’t matter,” Shewta Gamble, public relations director for ABP, said.
The mission of ABP is to preserve and promote blues history by teaching children from all over the Tuscaloosa community about the genre by partnering with local blues musicians. ABP brings in professionals to teach blues guitar, vocals, harmonica and percussion, offering different levels of difficulty as students progress.
ABP provides an outlet for the kids to get off the streets and into the music room.
“The kids are fantastic when they play live,” Alex Lecroy, a senior in majoring in advertising and a former ABP intern, said. “It’s worth seeing.”
The impact ABP extends beyond the walls of their Northport location. The project began “Blues School” at Arcadia Elementary School, an after-school program for students to learn to play in a community setting.
