Before ska, rocksteady, reggae, or dub, there was mento. The Jamaican musical style grew from an encounter between African and European traditions, and its banjos, guitars, hand percussion, and rumba boxes accompanied dancing, drinking, storytelling, and songs about life’s daily irritations. But 70 years after its heyday, mento’s place in Caribbean popular music has now become marginal, as the global prominence of styles that came after mento has tended to make the earlier genre seem like merely a prelude.

June McDoom ’s debut album, Follow the Light, is a revivification of mento as well as a memento of her family history. Her grandfather, Colin Smith, was a professional mento musician who played banjo and built rumba boxes. As a child, McDoom absorbed the music when she saw him perform at family parties; at the same time, she was developing a musical consciousness of her own through listening to folk music, with Simon & Garfunkel among her early favorites.…