Artist News Releases

Folk and roots community collaborate on protest song collection

By | Published on Tuesday 30 June 2015

Land Of Hope & Fury

Sixteen folk and roots artists have contributed tracks to a new compilation of contemporary protest songs inspired by the recent General Election. Well, more by the utter despair some (many?) in the music community felt once the results were in.

The record has been organised by Jamie and Stevie Freeman, who run the folk, country and Americana championing Union Music Store, and they explain: “We woke up on May 8th to election results that left tens of millions of people feeling disenfranchised and without a voice. Rather than wait quietly for another five years before we got to have our say, we decided to return to the proud musical tradition of the protest song. Our votes might have counted for nothing, but we could still make our voices heard”.

They go on: “We contacted our many friends in the roots music world and asked them to contribute something to a compilation of contemporary protest songs, and the results were an incredibly diverse range of musical, emotional and political styles. ‘Land Of Hope & Fury’ was born. Sixteen artists in total donated songs with nine of them written specifically for the album. This coming together of people, all acting out of a simple desire to make the world a better place, has been the single most encouraging aspect of this project, It is the proof that Margaret Thatcher’s suggestion that ‘there’s no such thing as society’ is as wrong today as ever it was”.

The album will go on sale on 10 Jul in aid of political activist group 38 Degrees. More info at the Union Music Store.

And a tracklisting…

1. Luke Jackson – Forgotten Voices
2. Mark Chadwick (Levellers) – No Change
3. Emily Barker – Doing The Best I Can
4. Moulettes – Lullaby
5. Lucy Ward – Bigger Than That
6. The Jamie Freeman Agreement – Homes For Heroes
7. The Self help Group – Funeral Drum
8. The Dreaming Spires – Follow The Money
9. Mountain Firework Company – Filthy Lucre
10. Phil Jones (Hatful Of Rain) – New Homes
11. OHooley & Tidow – The Hum
12. Will Varley – The Sound Of The Markets Crashing
13. Chris TT – A-Z
14. Plumhall – Never Forget My Name
15. Grace Petrie – If There’s A Fire In Your Heart
16. Danni Nicholls – A Little Redemption



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