Hear music from overlooked or forgotten Black artists in a new project, Rising Sun Music, created by NPR Music host Lara Downes. She is perhaps best known as host of the web series Amplify with Lara Downes, or by her work as a classical pianist. Her latest project was inspired by exploration of her own mixed-race heritage as a trailblazing interpreter of diverse American traditions, and building on the legacies of history, family and collective memory. She produced the new series in collaboration with Grammy award-winning producer Adam Abeshouse.

Rising Sun Music features music by Black composers spanning 200 years and reflecting a stunning array of musical voices that redefine the American canon. Downes plans to release a mini album every month.

In honor of Women's History Month, her first release, "Phenomenal Women," focuses on some overlooked and under-appreciated bodies of work by women composers and performers.

She describes this month's release in promotional materials:

This collection celebrates the women who have gone first. The women who have stood their ground. Who have broken through, blazed trails, changed the game, staked a claim… The women without whom I wouldn’t be me, doing what I do. These composers saw plenty of trouble, and they knew that sometimes in life you have to pack your bags and start all over again. The composer Florence Price took her children north out of Arkansas to a better life in Chicago. And then she left a bad marriage and raised those children by herself, at the same time writing powerful, beautiful music that defined the creative energy of the Chicago Black Renaissance. Hazel Scott - brilliant pianist, composer, singer, actress, legendary beauty - left for Paris during the McCarthy era so she could stay true to her ideals and activism….

These women made plenty of trouble. Strong opinions, scandalous love stories, bold choices…. They made noise. They made waves. And they made phenomenal music.

This month's mini album features the following performances: 

phenomenal women album

Hazel Scott: Peace of Mind
- Lara Downes, piano

Florence Price: BARCAROLLE
- Lara Downes, piano

Margaret Bonds: What Lips My Lips Have Kissed
- Lara Downes, piano & Nicole Cabell, soprano

NORA HOLT: Nora’s Dance
- Lara Downes, piano

You can hear music from "Phenomenal Women," on This Just In on Saturday, March 20, starting at 8 p.m..