WTF? Andrew Bird, Devendra Banhart and Others To Perform On Janet Reno Comp
From edpettersen.com
Former U.S. Attorney General JANET RENO appeared at the Grammy Awards in February with grammy-nomnated producer DAVID MACIAS to announce THE SONG OF AMERICA, a series of recordings that will tell the history of our country, from 1620 through the present, through music. Inspired by RENO and due out in 2006 on MACIAS’ own Emergent label, THE SONG OF AMERICA will feature fifty recordings of popular and historical songs by a variety of well-known artists. MACIAS joined RENO for the announcement of THE SONG OF AMERICA following his acceptance of the 2005 Best Traditional Folk Album for his co-production of Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster.
RENO originally conceived of THE SONG OF AMERICA with her niece’s husband, songwriter/producer ED PETTERSEN as a way for Americans to reconnect to their musical and cultural heritage. RENO ‚Äì the country’s first female Attorney General ‚Äì saw the potential to bring history alive for students. RENO’s inspiration was to tell the story of America through its songs. Surprised to find that a comprehensive historical musical narrative did not exist as Reno envisioned it, PETTERSEN developed the concept as a compilation that would donate profits to folk music education which garnered RENO’s enthusiastic support. Last year, RENO and PETTERSEN selected Nashville’s Emergent Music as the label for the project and were delighted with their choice when Emergent’s Beautiful Dreamer took home the 2005 Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. MACIAS will co-produce THE SONG OF AMERICA with PETTERSEN and Split Rock Records.
From Pitchfork:
due September 18 via Split Rock Records/31 Tigers– now spans 50 songs and three discs. In addition to Banhart’s cover of Malvina Reynolds’ “Little Boxes”, Song of America also includes Andrew Bird’s take on early 20th century jam “How You Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm” and Danielson’s version of another early radio classic, “Happy Days Are Here Again”.
Track list after the jump
Earl Bullhead – “Lakota Dream Song”
Julie Lee – “Once More Our God Vouchesafe To Shine”
Blind Boys of Alabama – “Let Us Break Bread Together”
John Wesley Harding – “God Save the King”
Elizabeth Foster – “Young Ladies in Town”
Malcolm Holcombe – “The Old Woman Taught Wisdom”
Ed Pettersen – “The Liberty Song”
Harper Simon – “Yankee Doodle”
The Wilders – “Jefferson & Liberty”
Steven Kowalczyk-Santoro – “Hail Columbia”
Take 6 – “Star Spangled Banner”
Beth Nielsen Chapman – “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”
Freedy Johnston – “Peg and Awl”
BR549 – “Sweet Betsy From Pike”
Will Hill and Jehnean Day Washington – “Trail of Tears”
Minton Sparks and Pat Flynn – “Declaration of Sentiments”
Fisk Jubilee Singers – “Go Down Moses”
Mavericks [ft. Thad Cockrell] – “Dixie’s Land”
Marah – “John Brown’s Body”
Joanna Smith – “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
Janis Ian – “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye”
Tim O’Brien – “Thousands Are Sailing to Amerikay”
Otis Gibbs – “The Farmer Is the Man”
Joni Harms – “Home on the Range”
Jake Shimabukuro – “Stars & Stripes Forever”
Jen Chapin – “Over There”
Andrew Bird – “How You Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm”
Karen Parks – “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
Danielson – “Happy Days Are Here Again”
Andy Bey – “Brother Can You Spare a Dime?”
Jim Lauderdale – “Seven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat”
Old Crow Medicine Show – “Deportee”
Suzy Bogguss – “Rosie the Riveter”
Folk Family Robinson (Black Crowes with Stan Robinson) – “Reuben James”
Elizabeth Cook and the Grascals – “The Great Atomic Power”
Devendra Banhart – “Little Boxes”
The Del McCoury Band – “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
Kim Richey – “Get Together”
The Dynamites / Charles Walker – “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud”
Ben Taylor – “Ohio”
Anthony David – “What’s Going On”
Martha Wainwright – “I Am Woman”
Matthew Ryan – “Youngstown”
Bettye LaVette – “Streets of Philadelphia”
Gary Heffern / Chris Eckman – “Wave”
Shortee – “The Message”
Judith Edelman / Neilson Hubbard – “Sleep, My Child (Schlof Mayn Kind)”
The Wrights – “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning”
John Mellencamp – “This Land Is Your Land”
