The Album Club is a community listening experience that brings people together through the power of music. Each week, we gather around a featured album connected to a larger cultural theme, creating space for conversation, reflection, discovery, and shared listening.
Week 1: LGBTQ history month – Blond by Frank Ocean
Listening: September 27 – October 3
Gathering: Saturday – OCTOBER 3 – 1pm
Week 2: Country music month – Cowboy Carter by Beyonce
Listening: October 4 – October 10
Gathering: Saturday – OCTOBER 10 – 1pm
Week 3: Domestic violence month – Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette
Listening: October 11 – October 17
Gathering: Saturday – OCTOBER 17 – 1pm
Week4: Global diversity awareness – Aura by Diljit Dosanjh
Listening: October 18 – October 24
Gathering: Saturday – OCTOBER 24 – 1pm
Week 5-6: Album Release party
Listening: October 25 – November 7
Gathering: Sunday – NOVEMBER 7 – 1pm
Discussion Prompts
What lyric from the album resonated with you this week?
What are your overall impressions of the album?
What tracks would you like to discuss in depth?
Can you connect this album to a historical moment, either personal or universal?
How did this album influence/fit into/stand out from music of the time?
What did this album teach you?
Rather than requiring musical expertise, Album Club invites everyone to come as they are, listen deeply, and bring their own perspective. Together, we explore the stories behind the music, the historical and cultural moments that shaped it, the artists who created it, and the ways an album can connect to our own lives.
Our featured albums explore themes including LGBTQ+ history, country music, domestic violence awareness, and global diversity, with each week offering a different lens through which to experience music.
The series concludes with an Album Release Party, where participants become the curators. Each person creates a personal 5–10 song album representing a meaningful period or chapter of their life and shares one song and the story behind it with the group.
Come for the music. Stay for the conversation. Leave with a new soundtrack, or a new way of hearing an old one.
Jondra Harmon is a musician, educator, and mezzo-soprano whose work centers Black vocal traditions, Bel Canto and Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) pedagogy, and the music of the African diaspora. She has performed with the American Spiritual Ensemble and appeared in productions with Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Houston Grand Opera. Since 2012, Harmon has taught in higher education while maintaining an active career as a performer, engaging audiences through concert, classroom, and community-based work.
Harmon’s current project is the band, Big Mama and the Collective. This ensemble of musicians and educators performs American music of the early twentieth century, highlighting the work of Black and Queer Women whose voices became the blueprint for the popular music genres that we enjoy today.
In 2026, Harmon founded Nurwood, a communal BIPOC and Queer artistic space in Freeville, New York, dedicated to community-centered cultural expression and creative practice. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education with concentrations in voice and bassoon, as well as a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Peabody Conservatory. Harmon is currently a doctoral candidate in Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
When Jondra isn’t touting the importance of breath support and pharyngeal resonance, you may find her riding her bicycle, playing the ukulele, or camping out under the stars.
Instagram: Creating_nurwood
Facebook: Big Mama and the Collective