On Sunday, March 28 at 8pm, Melrose-based singer-songwriter Alastair Moock launches a new music and interview series, Opening Doors: Race, Conversation, and Song, in collaboration with the Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church Anti-Racism Team. The series will feature top national and largely BIPOC talent playing music and discussing issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion––within the music industry and beyond. Guest musicians will be paid a guarantee by the church and, additionally, will split online donations with an advocacy/charity organization of their choice. Shows stream live on Facebook and YouTube. More info at https://moockmusic.com/openingdoors.

Host Alastair Moock is a Boston Music Awards-nominated singer-songwriter, a 2013 Grammy nominee for children’s music, and a well-travelled performer, speaker, and educator for all ages. Moock also a frequent contributor to NPR’s Cognoscenti blog, where his most recent piece speaks to a year of re-examination around allyship, advocacy, and his decision to decline a second Grammy nomination. Moock was inspired to create Opening Doors by his new collaborative education program with performer Reggie Harris around race, music, and history. The fruitful conversations he and Reggie have had with kids through the program made Moock think there was room for similar exploration in in the adult realm.

The Opening Doors series kicks off on March 28 with Boston luminary and national folk music legend, Vance Gilbert. Vance, who has travelled the world and shared stages with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Shawn Colvin, Arlo Guthrie, and George Carlin (150+ shows), is a performer who defies stereotype: “I’m Black, I sing, I play an acoustic guitar, and I don’t play the blues,” he says. Dirty Linen describes him simply as “among the quintessential musical poets.” When they’re not performing, Vance and Moock are known to haunt Boston-area tennis courts together, lumbering around and frightening other players. Vance will donate half of the online proceeds of his show to Food Link, a food security organization on Boston’s North Shore.