VARIOUS ARTISTS: Sowing the Seeds - The 10th Anniversary

Various Artists

Sowing the Seeds - The 10th Anniversary

© 2007 Appleseed Recordings (611587110220)

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A treasure trove of contemporary, traditional and political folk music: Appleseed celebrates its first decade with a 2-CD, 37-track sampler including exclusive new recordings by Bruce Springsteen & Pete Seeger (their first-ever collaboration) and others.

tracks

1 Oh Sacred World - Pete Seeger
2 Ghost of Tom Joad - Pete Seeger & Bruce Springsteen (exclusive n
3 Waist Deep in the Big Muddy - Ani DiFranco (exclusive new track)
4 Universal Soldier - Donovan (exclusive new track)
5 White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land - Eric Andersen with Wycle
6 All My Children of the Sun - Tim Robbins
7 The Bravest - Tom Paxton
8 19 Miles to Baghdad - Lizzie West & The White Buffalo
9 Bring Them Home - Pete Seeger with Billy Bragg, Ani DiFranco, St
10 Walking Down Death Row - Pete Seeger (exclusive new track)
11 Guantanamera - Jackson Browne & Joan Baez
12 Heartland Express - Sharon Katz & The Peace Train
13 Indian Prayer - Tom Pacheco
14 There Goes the Mountain - Tom Paxton & Anne Hills
15 Sing About These Hard Times - Peggy Seeger
16 If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus - Kim and Reggie Harris wi
17 The Ross Perot (George Bush) Guide to Answering Embarrassing Que
18 The Emperor is Naked Today-o - Pete Seeger (exclusive new track)
19 Where Have All the Flowers Gone - Tommy Sands with Dolores Kean
20 Quite Early Morning - Pete Seeger (exclusive new track)
21 Music of Healing - Tommy Sands & Pete Seeger with Vedran Smailov
22 There is Hope - Aoife Clancy
23 Swimming to the Other Side - Pat Humphries
24 Turn! Turn! Turn! - Bruce Cockburn
25 Namaste - The Kennedys
26 Gina in the Kings Road - Al Stewart
27 Yin My Yang - Donovan
28 Baby, It's You - John Stewart
29 Leave Your Light On - Tim Eriksen
30 Try Me One More Time - David Bromberg
31 Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Ramblin' Jack Elliott
32 Dink's Song - Roger McGuinn with Pete Seeger & Josh White Jr.
33 You Can't Relive the Past - Eric Andersen with Lou Reed
34 Oh Had I a Golden Thread - Judy Collins
35 Sail On - Dick Gaughan
36 Somos El Barco (We Are the Boat) - Holly Near, Arlo Guthrie, Ron
37 Pete gets the last word - Pete Seeger (exclusive new track)

notes

Established in 1997 to “explore the roots and branches of folk and world music and sow the seeds of social justice through music,” Appleseed Recordings has lived up to its intentions. The independent, internationally distributed label has released 85 CDs so far that present new music by folk giants such as Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Donovan, David Bromberg, Al Stewart and Eric Andersen, ascendant talents like The Kennedys, Tim Eriksen, and Lizzie West, and has attracted guest artists Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Judy Collins, and many more.

"Sowing the Seeds – The 10th Anniversary" is Appleseed’s first sampler and captures many of the label’s highlights, as well as nine new tracks recorded specifically for this birthday celebration. The 2-CD set has been split into two “themed” discs of new and old songs by a veritable Who’s Who of socially aware musicians.

Disc 1, “And Justice for All,” features politically charged songs that were among the first to confront the Iraq War and the Bush Administration, as well as addressing economic hard times, the environment, and other sociopolitical issues. There are classics from our catalogue like Pete Seeger’s controversial update of his Vietnam-era “Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)” with guests Billy Bragg, Ani DiFranco, Steve Earle, and Anne Hills, 9/11 meditations “The Bravest” by Tom Paxton and “19 Miles to Baghdad” by Lizzie West (a recent “Democracy Now” radio/TV favorite), Jackson Browne & Joan Baez’s “Guantanamera,” and Paxton/Hills’ “There Goes the Mountain.” New songs here include the first collaboration between Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger on Springsteen’s haunting “Ghost of Tom Joad” (ironically following Bruce’s recent spate of Seeger-related CDs), Ani DiFranco’s blistering take on Seeger’s “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” Donovan’s re-recording of his 1965 hit, “Universal Soldier,” and four new Pete Seeger tracks, including the hilarious “Ross Perot (George Bush) Guide to Embarrassing Questions” and solemn “Walking Down Death Row.”

"Sowing’s" second disc, “Love Hope and Appleseed,” presents a somewhat broader selection of themes and styles. The CD features songs of optimism, perseverance and meditations on love. There’s folk-rock from both sides of the Atlantic, including Al Stewart’s “Gina on the Kings Road,” Donovan’s mystical “Yin My Yang,” The Kennedys’effervescent “Namaste” and John Stewart’s coulda-beeen-a-hit “Baby, It’s You.” There’s traditional acoustic folk from ex-Byrds leader and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member Roger McGuinn, with guest Pete Seeger, on “Dink’s Song,” the title track from David Bromberg’s massively popular new CD of solo folk-blues, “Try Me One More Time,” and Tim Eriksen’s spooky but uplifting “Leave Your Light On.” Other artists include Eric Andersen with guest Lou Reed on the chugging acoustic rocker “You Can’t Relive the Past,” Judy Collins, Pat Humphries (her classic “Swimming to the Other Side”), Dick Gaughan, Tommy Sands and Vedran Smailovic, and more.

ABOUT APPLESEED RECORDINGS:
Appleseed Recordings was founded in 1997 by consumer rights lawyer Jim Musselman and is based in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Among the label’s most respected releases are its three multi-artist tributes to Pete Seeger and new releases by legendary musicians Donovan, David Bromberg and Roger McGuinn. The company, which has earned five Grammy nominations, backs up its altruistic outlook by contributing a percentage of its profits to environmental, human rights, and other progressive organizations. The label’s next release, "Give US Your Poor," due in late September 2007, is a multi-artist CD, frequently pairing famous and currently or formerly homeless musicians, designed to raise funds and public awareness of the national homelessness crisis. "Of Sowing the Seeds," Musselman says, “In celebrating Appleseed’s tenth anniversary, we want to pay tribute to the politically active artists here – and to non-musical activists as well, who are unafraid to fight the good fight for social justice and positive change. Many of the musicians on this compilation were on the front lines of the major social movements of the last 50 years. We salute all who have challenged our skewed domestic and foreign policies and have championed peace, environmental preservation, civil rights, the women’s movement and other vital issues.”

reviews

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  • Sowing the Seeds
    author: Catriona Talbot

    What a treat! Ani diFranco's take on Waist Deep in the Big Muddy is incredibly powerful, but even more moving is The Ross Perot (George Bush) Guide to Answering Embarassing Questions sung by Pete Seeger and his grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger. Of course at his stage of life Pete's voice is beginning to waver (I'd listen to him for hours nontheless) but this collaboration between the great man and his grandson is inspired. Tao sounds just like Pete did as a young man, and the duo is like hearing Pete the elder sing with Pete the younger. It gives a great feeling of passing the torch. So many many great songs by so many great artists.

  • Sowing the Seeds
    author: Keith Rowley

    I heard the Seeger/Springsteen version of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" on Mike Harding's BBC Radio 2 Folk Music/Roots Show 3 weeks ago and it made me weep, so beautiful and stirring as it is. I immediately went to Appleseed Records'website and bought SOWING THE SEEDS. It was rattling through my letterbox in next to no time. What is there not to like? Music by people I've been listening to all my life: Paxton;Anderson;Collins;McGuinn;Browne; Baez;John Stewart;Gaughan;Cockburn and all of them still keeping the faith.This is a great album and wonderful value for money. I'm spreading the Appleseed word among all my friends and comrades in the British trade union movement and the Stop the War Campaign. If you love the music and hate the latest Amerikan War you need this album.

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