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Dear Friends in Music,

I am happy to be headed out on tour with a string of shows in Kansas, Missouri, and then on to Florida.

It is a gift to be able to do what I do in the world, and it would not be possible without the stalwart support of so many amazing people all over North America and beyond who volunteer to make the Folk scene function. And the subset of all of you fine people who make my concerts possible. Thank you.

It is a good time to be gathering with community, singing together, and reminding ourselves that there is hope and goodness in the world. There are kind people. And there is reason to believe that transformational work will, eventually, lead to less insanity and gentler times.

I released two singles this week to Radio. I am still working on making those songs available to all of you. Stay tuned for an additional announcement soon-ish.

The songs are, It’s Not For Sale and I Lie.

I wrote these songs in 2019 and 2018 respectively, and then recorded them in the fall of 2019. But I reserved them for the concert stage, as I hoped the times that inspired them were in the rear view mirror. I am disappointed to say that they are more relevant than ever. So they went out to Radio this week, and I will work on options for both downloads and perhaps physical discs for those who still prefer. I am personally, a sucker for the analogue item one can hold in their hands. But that’s me.

Please send a note to your favorite DJs and let them know to look for this release through Art Menius Radio Promotions and/or AirPlay Direct. DJs will know what that means.

Also, please note the guest essay below by Ricardo Levins Morales. He is an extraordinary artist who lives and works in Minneapolis. He is also a man of diverse ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds. And he is a friend.

I usually include an essay of my own. But Ricardo’s newsletter this week was so powerful, and so on point, I asked permission to reprint, with links to his website. Some of you know Ricardo’s work as a stunning artist within many social justice and Civil Rights movements. Some will recognize his style from some of the album covers he graciously created for me (Rise As One, The Candle & The Flame, and The Forgotten). But in my life, Ricardo is also a liberation leader in the truest sense. His thinking on Racism is frequently among the clearest that I encounter. And his writings and public presentations always call me into my most compassionate and committed self. So, I wanted to share some of his ideas with you.

I look forward to seeing many of you in the coming months at concerts in KS, MO, FL, MN, MA, NY, NC, SC, D.C., VA, WV, OH, IN, PA, VT, and WA. The tour schedule is updated frequently, so please do check out the website: https://joejencks.com/calendar/ .

Thanks for supporting live music and the people who make it.

In Gratitude & Song,

~ Joe

The cover of the upcoming double single (x 2 songs) by Joe Jencks. Artwork by Tony Wedick.

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Guest Essay from Ricardo Levins Morales

RLM Arts - Black History Month ~ Coprigjht 2026 - Ricardo Levins Morales

Dear friend, ally, or co-conspirator,

I left work at 6 yesterday, stepping into a cold Minnesota night. The air on my walk home was a crisp zero degrees Fahrenheit. Wisps of cloud flowed in front of a bright, waxing moon. That moon sees it all. Oceans rise and fall, continents break apart, drift, and recombine. Little human empires, drunk on delusions of their own permanence blink in and out of existence like fireflies on a summer night.

We're in one of those flashes now. Here on the streets of Minneapolis, and the towns across the state, the fragility of empires is on display in the roving bands of ICE agents in star wars battle gear, kidnapping, beating, and disappearing people to meet their impossible quotas. Minnesota is the focal point but the campaign is national (global, if you think about it).

The regime is making a show of softening its approach, but it's just “optics.” Those optics have to do with “US citizens” (read white folks) getting executed in public. That's triggering push-back from even the regime's allies. National media keeps mis-presenting the struggle here as a reaction to those killings. That's a false and dangerous narrative. It redirects attention from the reason Renee and Alex were in the streets to begin with – and the strength of that movement. It was, and is, about defending immigrant neighbors from a campaign of ethnic cleansing .

The reason so few uplift the names of Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres, Keith Porter Jr, Geraldo Lunas Campos, or the other lives cut short by ICE, is racism. The reason they haven't heard of them (and repeatedly heard about them) is media racism. When 50,000 people braved -10 degree temperatures on January 23, the chants were all about defending immigrants, calling out racism, and demanding ICE Out. We honor our martyrs, for sure, but we are not confused about why we're fighting. The filaments of this entire resistance, after all, emanate from George Floyd Square.

There's a historical echo in the killing of white allies. During Freedom Summer, the 1964 Mississippi voting rights campaign, white volunteers were forbidden from going out alone because they faced a higher risk of being killed. Black folks were to be beaten and terrorized into submission, but whites in support of Black liberation was an existential threat to the system.

This battle is strategic to the plan for a fascist takeover. (Make no mistake, they have no intention of leaving office.) There's a difficulty, though. To take hold, a fascist coup “ideally” would ride in on a cresting wave of mass support. Otherwise it's stability would remain in question. But the wave isn't there. ICE's reckless brutality, a teetering economy, a sledge-hammer foreign policy, and dismantled services have led to plummeting approval rates.

Unity in the streets produced division in the suites. The refusal of the resistance to crumble is amplifying stresses within the regime. As far as all those people stepping up for the first time... Let us welcome them. Whatever their tipping point was, it offers a chance to help them expand their field of vision so that it is not the abuses of the empire, but the empire itself, that comes into view. It's called a teachable moment.

Be well and be powerful,
~ Ricardo

https://www.rlmartstudio.com/