The Black church is the foundation for much of modern music.
The institution churned out musical legends Whitney Houston, D’Angelo and Aretha Franklin. It’s where you learn how to “sang” from producing the fattest riffs and runs to the art of instrumentation.
It’s where the Brothers Footman received their formal training in music. Growing up in a strict no-secular music household forced the quartet to improvise. Together, they would sneak off and listen to Outkast’s “Aquemni” album on the way to the grocery store for Sunday dinners.
I sat down with brothers Dikembe, Gerald, Micah and Joshua Footman to learn more about their infectious harmonies and what rock ‘n’ roll means to them for the fifth episode of REVERB. The series, which kicked off in late 2025, is presented by I Made Rock N Roll, a GANGGANG initiative that celebrates the role of Black artists in shaping rock ‘n’ roll history.
The four brothers sing and play multiple instruments and have even coined their own musical genre — summa music — which blends jazz, country, rock, R&B, hip-hop and gospel.
“Summa music is exactly what it sounds like. Summa of this and summa of that. Everyone’s like ‘what genre are you?’ We’re not worried about what it is as it feels good,” Joshua said. “We see our (music) as a sort of gumbo where we put in what we like.”
They’re also known for their covers of songs like Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” and Maroon 5’s “Sunday Morning.”
Stay tuned for the last REVERB interview featuring punk rock band White Moms.
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Mirror Indy reporter Mesgana Waiss covers arts and culture. Contact her at 317-667-2643 or mesgana.waiss@mirrorindy.org.
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