♪ Man: If music can be a bridge to bring people into the same space, and they can bliss out dancing together on a Sunday night in Durham, North Carolina, or Johnson City, Tennessee, or in Richmond, Kentucky, then we're doing a good thing.

And if people from different walks of life can come into the same spaces and break bread and move their legs and laugh and cry and think, I think we're going in a good direction.

♪ Dulé Hill: Art is powerful.

♪ Hill: We're here in North Carolina, journeying across this country to meet an artist by the name of Joe Troop.

Joe is a bluegrass artist who blends global musical traditions to challenge racism and xenophobia.

I love the idea of that because we may all speak different languages, we may all have different ideologies, but the music moves us all the same.

[Car locks, horn honks] [Chuckling] Hey, hey, what's happening, Joe?

How's everything, man?

Very nice to meet you.

Joe Troop: Doing well.

Thanks for coming all the way to North Carolina.

Hill: Oh, glad to be here.

How did you get exposed to bluegrass?

Troop: My older brother Josh, he saw a restaurant on the side of the road, and it said, "Live music tonight-- Doc Watson and Friends."

♪ Troop: I was just completely mesmerized and transfixed.

I sat literally right in front of Doc Watson, who's a legend.

[Cheering, applause, and whistling] Ever since that moment, wanted to play stringed instruments and sing, and it was kind of like my launching pad into musical traditions around the world.

[Banjo and synthesizer playing] ♪ I grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

I'm from the Appalachian region, but the Appalachian region is not for the faint of heart.

♪ Bluegrass is associated with this region of the country and with some of the nastier elements of the society.

♪ As a kid, I was always attracted to Latin American culture.

Some of my best friends were from Central and South America.

♪ People in my family and in my surrounding would very openly say racist things.

Hill: Mm-hmm.

Troop: I heard a whole litany of--of expressions and, uh, incongruencies with reality 'cause my friends weren't that.

I felt like I was born into a messy situation.

There's a lot of hatred and a lot of misunderstanding.

♪ ♪ Being a queer teenager was hugely formative and enlightening.

Despite all the hardship, it gave me some tools to be able to empathize with other people.

I realized that a lot of the myths of my society were just dead wrong.

I wanted to see what else was out there.

♪ I spent 14 years outside of the United States, and everywhere I've gone, music has been the conduit for engaging with people.

I mean, I ended up teaching banjo in Argentina, teaching a whole lot of different people what I know about the instrument.

Hill: And then you say, "Let's form a band."

Troop: It was pretty obvious that the next step had to be, "OK. Now let's play Latin American folk on bluegrass instruments-- Che Apalache."

♪ We would take a salsa or tango and just play it on my instruments and do Latin American folk... Hill: Right.

Troop: on the banjo, for example.

Hill: So you picked up the roots of the music from here... Troop: Yeah.

Hill: but you have let it expand beyond here.

Troop: Right, and it meant something to a lot of people.

♪ Maria ♪ ♪ Maria del agua ♪ ♪ Maria del cielo ♪ ♪ Qué linda, Maria ♪ Troop, voice-over: We started exploring Latin American folk music with bluegrass instrumentation.

I thought that might have a future in the United States and might be some good medicine for people here because it challenges the notion of what a bluegrass band is.

♪ Corazón ♪ ♪ Yo ba ba oh ba ba ♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey!

♪ I feel like art can be so much better of a way to say things than asking bluegrass audiences to consider a different perspective.

The music resonates with them... Hill: Right.

Troop: but then the message challenges them; for example, denouncing the border wall as a crime against humanity.

♪ There's all kinds of talk about buildin' the wall ♪ ♪ Down along the southern border ♪ Che Apalache: ♪ 'Bout building a wall between me and you ♪ Troop: ♪ Oh, and if such nonsense should come true ♪ ♪ Then we'll have to... ♪ Che Apalache: ♪ Knock it down ♪ Troop: Art can deliver where words can't.

Hill: Cannot.

Troop: Yeah.

♪ Of a land where freedom ♪ Che Apalache: ♪ Rings ♪ Troop, voice-over: In March of 2020, Che Apalache was in our fourth week of, like, an 11-week tour, and that band was no longer able to tour because the pandemic decimated our operation.

I was searching around and trying to find my North Star.

There he walked in.

Ha ha!

♪ Troop: A friend tipped me off that there was a brilliant Venezuelan musician living in Raleigh and working construction.

When I saw some videos of Larry, I couldn't believe my eyes.

♪ Troop: Oh, yeah.

You haven't met Larry yet.

Hill: No.

I haven't.

Troop: Oh, wow.

Hola.

Hill: Ha ha!

[People clamoring] Hill: Great.

Troop: Hey, gang!

Hill: Heh heh!

Hey, how you doing?

Bellorin: Good, man.

Nice to meet you.

Hill: Dulé.

Very nice to meet you.

Very nice to meet you.

Yeah.

Woman: It's very nice to meet you, too.

Hill: Oh, same here.

Cipriani: I'm Athais, Larry's wife.

Hill: Athais?

Dulé.

Very nice to meet you, too.

Cipriani: A pleasure to have you here.

Hill: Glad to be here.

This is cool.

Bellorin: Do you like North Carolina?

Hill: I mean, so far.

I mean, it's lush.

It's beautiful.

It's--I mean, the-- I see that, the food going right there.

This is right up my alley, you see?

[All laugh] ♪ Hill: What is--this right here?

Bellorin: This is cachapa.

Hill: OK. Troop: Yeah, we even have a song about it.

Hill: You know, I was just-- that's my song.

Like, that's the song that I-- that really connected to me.

Troop: Oh, yeah?

Hill: Oh, yeah.

You all get down on that song.

Larry & Joe: ♪ Miren la cara alegre que tiene ♪ ♪ Cachapa, la comió ♪ Audience: ♪ La comió ♪ Hill: This is the impetus.

This is the inspiration for the song.

Yeah.

Troop: He talks about the cachapa so much, I had to write a song about it for him.

Cipriani: Uh-huh.

Right, right.

Bellorin: Come on.

Hill: Hmm?

Bellorin: Little more.

Hill: Ha ha ha!

Bellorin: Mucho hungry, man.

Hill: Ha ha ha!

I shouldn't have taken such a big bite.

Cipriani: Ha ha ha!

♪ [Cheering and applause] Troop: ¡La comió!

[Sizzling] Hill: You play so much beyond the harp.

You sing.

How many instruments do you-- Bellorin: Yo toco alrededor de 26, 27 instrumentos.

Cipriani: Ha ha ha!

It's a joke, sounds like a joke.

Hill: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He just said it so casually, you know?

"Eh, you know, uh..." Ha ha ha!

Troop: So what do you think about música llanera?

[Cheering and applause] You like it?

It's the plains music shared between Colombia and Venezuela, and Larry is a master, and we love incorporating the 5-string banjo into that tradition.

♪ Bellorin: Yo soy de Venezuela.

Nací en un pueblo que se llama Punta de Mata.

Porque vengo de una familia humilde.

Nosotros somos agricultores de nacimiento.

♪ Bellorin: Cuando tenía 4 años, mi abuelita ponía en el tocadisco música ranchera, música mexicana.

Entonces había un cantante de moda en aquel entonces.

Pedrito Fernández.

Guau, me encantaba cómo cantaba.

♪ La de la mochila azul ♪ Fernandez: ♪ La de ojitos dormilones ♪ Bellorin: Entonces, allí yo creo que ya comenzaba a tener ese gusto y ese amor por la música.

Hill: And you played music in Venezuela.

What were some of the challenges that were going on at home that brought you here?

Bellorin: Aquí me trajo la situación económica.

del país.

Cuando salí de Venezuela, ya tenía una carrera de 25 años como músico.

Entre ellos, dar... ser profesor y músico profesional, como artista, cuatrista... Cipriani: I was a teacher, a musician.

Bellorin: Teníamos una escuela de música y, con el cambio de la desestabilización económica, comenzamos a dejar de tener alumnos.

Cipriani: We decided to close that school because we were not receiving more students.

Bellorin: En el momento que Chávez asume y comienzan las oportunidades a depender de una identidad política.

TV narrator: To his followers, he is Venezuela's hope.

To his critics, he is, at worst, a dictator.

Bellorin: Si no tenías una identidad a favor de él o de ellos, tú no ibas a lograr nada.

Eso fue lo que pasó.

Cipriani: I used to work in PDVSA.

It was the most important oil company in Venezuela.

If I wanted to be there in the industry, I had to go for Chavez, and I didn't want it because, for me, it's not democracy.

That's dictatorship.

One day, one of the managers was saying, "You can't be here because you are not for Chavez," and then he called some people from the army around, and they took me out.

At that moment, we realized that we had to leave.

Bellorin: Nunca imaginé salir de mi país.

Era feliz en Venezuela.

Amo mi país.

Pero me tocó salir.

Eran dos sentimientos encontrados.

El primero era dejar mi carrera musical y saber que me iba a enfrentar a algo que no sabía hacer.

Ya, llegar acá, cambiar la vida para trabajar en construcción.

Mira, en muchos momentos, venía muy cansado.

No quería saber nada de la música.

No quería saber nada de instrumentos.

E, incluso, hubo un momento en el que tuve un accidente, donde una máquina cayó sobre esta mano.

Me la quebró.

Por acá entró un pedazo de metal, salió por acá.

Y comenzaron a dormirse mis manos.

Ya no quería tocar.

Cipriani: He was very, very brave to start working construction and doing what he was doing.

I know he did it for us, and I remember-- I'm sorry.

♪ [Banjo and upright bass playing "Hermano Migrante"] ♪ Troop: ♪ En mi tierra natal ♪ Both: ♪ Andando por la sierra ♪ Hill: What was it like when you met Joe and then you got this now opportunity to start playing music?

Bellorin: Yo estaba en pleno día de trabajo.

Cipriani: And suddenly, he received a call, and that was Joe.

Bellorin: "Mi nombre es Joe".

Cipriani: "My name is Joe."

Bellorin: "Soy músico".

Cipriani: "I am a musician, and he said, "Well, I'm going to play in Durham on December 2021."

Bellorin: "¿Quieres participar conmigo?"

Cipriani: "Do you want to participate?

Would you like to be part of it?"

Troop: ♪ Gritan: "¡Calla, migrante!

♪ Both: ♪ ¡Esperanza no hay!"

♪ ♪ "Do your work without papers?

♪ ♪ Keep us fed and go die" ♪ Troop: We all got together, I was like, "All right, 'Hermano migrante'".

And I just remember him being like, "That's a good song."

We had instant alchemy.

We were finishing each other's musical sentences.

Bellorin: Lo nuestro fue amor musical a primera vista.

Troop: ♪ Sociedad descarada ♪ Both: ♪ Ni le entra a la mente ♪ Troop: The audience was deeply moved and gave us an immediate standing ovation.

We felt it.

They felt it.

That gives you reason to be.

Bellorin: ♪ La la ay la ♪ Troop: ♪ Ay ay ay ay ♪ Troop: Immigration reform is a very important subject for this duo, given that Larry himself is an asylum seeker, who had to hang up a 25-year career in music to migrate to North Carolina and fend for his family by the only means he could, which was working in construction, so he sustained a lot of injuries and went through a lot of hardship and sadness because he could no longer live off of music.

He did persevere, however, and, as of January of this year, both of us are living off of this duo, so he's back to music.

[Cheering and applause] Here's "Fiesta en Elorza".

Let's boogie down.

♪ Bellorin: Here we go!

♪ Both: ♪ 19 de marzo, un 19 de marzo ♪ ♪ Para un baile me invitaron ♪ Hill: Here in Appalachia, I've met artists facing some of the greatest adversities that life can throw at you.

What I found is that, instead of succumbing to the trauma, they've chosen to work through it, transmuting their pain into art, and through that, they're creating incredibly moving and intimate music that's breaking boundaries and shaping a new future.

Larry & Joe: ♪ Se despidieron mis ojos ♪ ♪ Se despidieron mis ojos de ese lindo panorama ♪ ♪ [Cheering and applause] Hill: Thanks for watching.

For more of "The Express Way" with me, Dulé Hill, you can tune in to the full-length series on the PBS app or your local PBS station.

Check out the link in the description to watch a full episode and find out more about the show.