Vienna Carroll is a singer, storyteller/playwright, actor, historian and herbalist. Vienna Carroll’s rich soulful sound takes you back to her first music love, the Black church. Her passion and masterful storytelling light a fire in your soul. She tells forgotten stories of Black heroes and serves up those old songs through a modern lens to make: Afro Future Roots Music.
ORIGINS
Vienna learned music from the Black Ladies of her youth, including her father’s fearsome grandmother who played guitar to country singer Minnie Pearl on Saturday night radio but only proper Pentecostal chords in church on Sunday. When visiting her grandmother’s 125 acre Alabama farm, she joined in the Sunday church services an hour’s drive away down a dusty road, where singing was often accompanied only by the hand clapping and shouting of its fervent members. She later formalized her study of early African American music and culture at Yale University, where she received a BA in African American Studies. Her influences are Nina Simone, Ray Charles, Dinah Washington and the Black church.
PROJECTS
Afro Future Roots
Vienna and her string band The Folk recently performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in celebration of the ancestors of Seneca Village and The Met’s Seneca Village Afro Futurist Period Room. They debuted a reimagined Swing Low Sweet Chariot from their upcoming CD release Harlem: Afro Future Roots.
“A Winning Honesty…deep, unaltered, aimed directly at the listener.” – Jazz Lives
The CD is a special collection of early Black music shot through with today’s rhythms and grooves. Vienna’s stellar string band is: Keith Johnston (Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Jon Hendricks) on guitar; Stanley Banks (George Benson) on bass; Washboard XT/Newman Taylor Baker (Matthew Shipp, McCoy Tyner, Ebony Hillbillies) on washboard; with a guest appearance on the CD by Robert Stern (Gil Gutierrez) on violin.
Harlem Field Recordings
Vienna’s CD “Harlem Field Recordings” grew out of her project “Folk First: Black Roots Music” celebrating Black Roots music and its influence on the music of today. Vienna draws unexpected folkloric connections and notes specific historical moments in African American history. Produced by Keith Johnston. Featuring The Folk: Stanley Banks, Newman Taylor Baker/Washboard XT, Keith Johnston; and other guest artists.
“Carroll’s new album includes both politically-charged reinventions of classic blues and gospel themes as well as more traditional numbers and originals which sound like 19th century standards. It’s classic music as you’ve probably never heard it before” – delarue— New York Music Daily
SHALLOW BROWN: Thessalonia And The Free Sailor
Vienna’s play features the sea shanty Shallow Brown, a song by and about a Jamaican slave sold off to a Yankee ship owner, who is jumping ship to find a better life. The play shares the under-told story of the critical impact of Black sailors on the antebellum maritime economy and on the lives of the Black community and it highlights their activities in the Underground Railroad. Vienna presented an excerpt (and research journey) at the 39th Mystic Sea Music Festival Symposium in 2018 and debuted a full reading at the Langston Hughes House in Harlem in the Fall. She kicked off the first Langston Hughes Playwright Showcase to a packed house in May 2019. Vienna performed at the inaugural CT Sea Music Festival in June 2022 and headlined the Portsmouth Sea Music Festival in Sept 2022.
Artist in Residence – The Civil War Series
Vienna provided local context to Red Grooms’ Hudson River Museum Civil War exhibits by unearthing, researching and sharing a rare glimpse into the history of a Westchester African American community called the Hills, and its contribution to the Civil War effort. She and her art partner, Keith Johnston, created and performed original content at monthly family-friendly gallery shows for the 9-month tenure of the exhibit as well as programming for teachers, docents, seniors and school children. Their work was the major contributor to the Award for Excellence in Civil War Focused Public Programs received by the Hudson River Museum from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network.
Folk First: Black Roots Music
“Folk First” celebrates traditional Black music and first debuted at the Harlem Arts Festival in Marcus Garvey Park. Subsequent performances include the American Folk Art Museum and NYC’s Living Room, the Kickin’ Country Music Festival, the Newark Museum, The Cooperage, RiverCulture, libraries, schools and other venues. Vienna has worked with fiddle player Henrique Prince, founder of the Ebony Hillbillies, one of the last Black string bands in the US; Newman Taylor Baker; Stanley Banks; Keith Johnston; Charles Burnham; Hilliard Greene; Melanie Dyer; Nioka Workman; Leon Thomas and Olu Dara.
Singin Wid A Sword In Ma Han
Vienna wrote and starred in Singin Wid A Sword In Ma Han, a musical docudrama about a family escaping slavery, directed by Keith Johnston, which features rare spirituals and won the International NYC Fringe Festival’s Audience Favorite Award. Singin’s other venues include the Goodrich Underground Railroad Museum, a residency at Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Newark Museum, Medgar Evers College CUNY and the West Harlem Library Series. She also produced a CD of spirituals from the play where she was accompanied by Newman Taylor Baker; and performed selections at the Schomburg’s Emancipation Proclamation event.
Juneteenth Underground Railroad Festival
Vienna conceived of and produced the First Annual NYC Underground Railroad Festival Juneteenth Celebration. With the assistance of the Brooklyn Borough President’s office, she partnered with The Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, a nationally certified Underground Railroad site; the Brooklyn Historical Society; the Weeksville Heritage Society; and the American Theatre of Harlem. The sold-out Festival was recorded and broadcast by WBGO-FM, the tri-state area’s premier jazz station.
Jazz
Vienna Carroll Jazz delivers an eclectic mix of jazz standards, blues, and jazzy versions of country & western, pop and other favorite songs. She recently released a digital Valentine’s CD Love to You with Bruce Edwards (Sun Ra) on guitar. She performs at public venues and private events throughout NYC, accompanied by Edwards or Michael Howell (Dizzy Gillespie).
Theater
Vienna was a lead actor in Macarthur Genius artist recipient Tavares Strahan’s Awakening. Vienna received accolades for her performance in the critically acclaimed 3/Fifths. She has appeared in theater, the video series “Black Folk Don’t,” and in television, commercials and film.
Herbalist
Vienna has led “Let’s Make Dandelion Wine” and other herbal walks in NYC parks; and taught aromatherapy and herbal classes at the NY Open Center, across NYC and throughout the tri-state area over many years. Vienna’s Natural Beauty now carries ‘We Freed Ourselves’ merchandise and occasional organic and all-natural body care products.
GRANTS/RESIDENCIES/AWARDS
Hambidge Residency, GA
Ucross Residency, WY
Wilmington Black Storytelling Residency (m)
New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA)
Virginia Center for Creative Arts Artist Residency, VA(m)
Garner-Glaser Foundation grants (m)
New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) – Artist Fellow in Music/Sound
Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone grant
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council grant (m)
Artist in Residence, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers
Greater Hudson Heritage Network Award for Excellence in Civil War Focused Public Programs
Ragdale Artist Residency, IL
West Harlem Development Corporation
Theatermania Audience Favorite Award, NYC International Fringe Festival
Harlem Art Alliance grants (m)
The Field Artist Residency, Berkshires
Brooklyn Arts Council grant
Puffin Foundation grants (m)
m=multiple
VENUES
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New Zealand International Tour
Pinkster Festivals, NYC
Langston Hughes House, Harlem NYC
Goodridge Freedom House and Underground Railroad Museum, PA
1st NYC Underground Railroad Festival
Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem
Fiddlers Fest, NY
The Cooper Union, NYC
Hofstra University, NY
University of Houston Bayou Theater, TX
Trinity College, CT
Medgar Evers College Theater, CUNY
Columbia University Folk Fest
American Folk Art Museum
Newark Museum
Hudson River Museum
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
West Harlem NYC Public Libraries
Mt Vernon Public Library
Harlem Stage
Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival, NH
CT Sea Music Festival
39th Mystic Sea Music Festival
Summer on the Hudson – Mamapalooza
Big Eyed Blues Festival
Kickin Country Music Festival
Roots & Ruckus Fest
Folk Alliance International Conference
The Living Room
Jalopy Theater
Gowanus Dredgers
Turners Falls RiverCulture
The Cooperage Project
The Players Theater
Actors Playhouse
Oheb Shalom Congregation
Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church
Brooklyn Ethical Society
Dance New Amsterdam
