Shocking Omissions: Matana Roberts' Sublime And Triumphant 'River Run Thee'

This essay is one in a series celebrating deserving artists or albums not included on NPR Music's list of 150 Greatest Albums By Women.

Consider the forest. A single tree might not look like much: bark, branches, leaves. But underneath is a dense network of roots, curling in a life-giving mass. The newest twigs are connected to those roots, reaching to the heavens while always attached to the past. And those roots intertwine with their neighbors, weaving networks of unimaginable complexity, echoed when leafy fingers intersect in search of the light.' sublime 2015 album, . Ranging from mystic drone to explosive free jazz, Roberts digs into the dirt along the spiritual roots of American blues, jazz, rock and more on the album; she threads it through the pain, struggle, and beauty of African-American experience, of American experience and of her own experience. The result is something willfully messy but triumphant in its expression.