Opening Doors is a new music and interview series hosted by Alastair Moock and presented in collaboration with the Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church Anti-Racism Team. The series features 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 final guest in this first run of shows is Rissi Palmer. Rissi was recently featured in the New York Times as one of five artists who are “Black, female, and carving out their own path in country music.” She has performed at The White House, the Grand Ole Opry, on Oprah & Friends, and has shared the stage with Taylor Swift, The Eagles, and many more. She is also the host of “Color Me Country Radio,” a show on Apple Music Country that explores the intersection of race and country music with guests like Darius Rucker, The War and Treaty, Brittney Spencer, and Miko Marks. Rissi will donate half of the online proceeds of her show to the Color Me Country Artist Grant Fund.