Shown in a 2013 Concert on the Quad at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, Corey Harris ’91 brings his distinctive brand of roots music back to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ on Sept. 24. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Heading to New England for concerts that include a , singer-songwriter Corey Harris ’91 checked in with a reporter in advance of a show at Portsmouth’s Music Hall.

Music writer Christopher Hislop queried Harris about his musical range, which encompasses such Africa Diaspora genres as blues, reggae, and jazz. As Harris represents so many styles in his sound, Hislop wondered, “how does ‘life’ find its way into your storytelling?”

Harris replied, “I express the reality of my past, present, and future as an African living in the Western Hemisphere. Life finds its way intro one’s music in the same way that it is in one’s everyday words and actions.”

Harris launched his musical career not long after graduating from ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, starting out with a tight focus on the blues that’s still at the heart of his music. He has some 15 recordings in his catalog, and in 2003 was the central figure in the opening episode of a multi-part Martin Scorsese documentary about the blues.

Harris, whose musical career brings him back to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ every few years, received an honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the college in 2007. That same year, he was honored with a MacArthur “genius grant.”

But perhaps more germane to his ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ appearance Sunday is the fact that, as a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ graduate, Harris received a Watson Fellowship to study pidgin English in Cameroon, following up on his senior thesis topic. Sunday’s concert honors the 50 years that the Watson Foundation has offered fellowships to students at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and other select colleges and universities.

The concert is co-sponsored by the offices of the Dean of the Faculty and of College Advancement, and the departments of psychology and of French and francophone studies.

Portland-based blues musician Samuel James. Photograph by Jon Reece.

Enjoy the blues of acclaimed Maine singer-songwriter Samuel James at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College’s new outdoor music series, Concerts on the Quad.

Samuel James will perform solo at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 1, on ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ Historic Quad, at College Street and Campus Avenue. Admission to the series is free, and audience members are encouraged to bring picnics and chairs or blankets.

Taking the place of the college’s Midsummer Lakeside Concerts, the new series continues ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ long and popular tradition of presenting outdoor music for the whole family. For more information, please call 207-786-6400.

The series concludes for the summer on Aug. 15 with Francine Reed and her band.

Winner of the R&B, soul and blues category in the Portland Phoenix’s 2012 Best Music Awards, James was described by the French edition of Rolling Stone magazine as a “guardian of lightning.” He has also been called “part Bill Withers, part Tom Waits, part James Brown, part Leo Kottke and part P.T. Barnum.” .

A deeply soulful singer, virtuoso instrumentalist and captivating storyteller, James has spent recent years touring North America and Europe. He comes from a line of performers dating back to the 1890s, including dancers, storytellers, a session jazz pianist and porch-stomping guitar thumpers. His songwriting encompasses themes from the heavenly flights and evil depths of love to tales of true and bizarre folk heroes.

James played Guitar Man in the Penobscot Theatre Company’s 2010 production of Spunk, the Maine premiere of a critically acclaimed play adapted from stories by Zora Neale Hurston.

He has released three recordings conceived as a trilogy, all on the Northern Blues label. Of his debut, 2008’s Songs Famed for Sorrow and Joy, Allmusic Guide wrote, “In an era when popular music is becoming increasingly perfect-sounding, and robotic, [James] provides a much needed alternative.”

For Rosa, Maeve and Noreen followed in 2009. Completing the trilogy is 2012’s And for the Dark Road Ahead, praised for transposing a mid-20th-century country-blues aesthetic into the high-tech present.

James has performed at music festivals from New Mexico to Ottawa to Poland, and at venues including San Francisco’s Biscuits & Blues, Montreal’s Club Soda, the Green Note in London and Johnny D’s in Somerville, Mass.

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Corey Harris performs in 2008 at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College, where he is a member of the class of 1991. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College.

Enjoy three distinctly different approaches to that quintessential American music, the blues, as ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College presents its new outdoor music series, Concerts on the Quad.

Concerts on the Quad performances take place at 6:30 on three summer Thursdays on ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ Historic Quad, at College Street and Campus Avenue. Admission to the series is free, and audience members are encouraged to bring picnics and chairs or blankets.

Blues, gospel and jazz singer Francine Reed returns to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Aug. 15.

Taking the place of the college’s Midsummer Lakeside Concerts, the new series continues ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ long and popular tradition of presenting outdoor music for the whole family. For more information, please call 207-786-6400.

Here are the Concerts on the Quad performers:

• Corey Harris, a singer-songwriter featured in the Martin Scorsese blues documentary Feel Like Going Home, opens the series with a solo show on July 18.
• A Portland bluesman praised as a “guardian of lightning,” Samuel James offers a solo performance on Aug. 1.
• In her third visit to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, veteran blues, gospel and jazz singer Francine Reed performs with her band on Aug. 15.