Welcome to the official blog of The Jelly Roll Factory (soon to be e.V.), a new non-profit organization focused on supporting the production of new music while promoting the use and enjoyment of older music, specifically early jazz and blues that has entered the public domain. I'll get into the specifics of our mission in a later post. Right now I just want to introduce myself as the new blog editor and say a few words about what we'll be trying to do here. My name is Peter Lawson. I'm a musicologist, writer, singer and English teacher, originally from Tennessee but now permanently based in Hamburg. With this blog, I'm interested in exploring questions of all sorts relating to the preoccupations of our organization. This includes historical or interpretive investigations of early jazz and blues songs, reports on issues relating to copyright law and the public domain, testimonials about personal experiences performing music on the street or within a local scene and much more. If you have any suggestions, comments, or submissions, I invite you to write to me at jellyrollfactory@gmail.com.

Until next time,

Peter