Album Notes

Caryl Towner is a feminist singer/songwriter/activist who has been carrying her message through her music for 15 years. She is also a member of the folk trio Stone Soup. A native-born Californian, her vocal range is as broad as the day-jobs she has held - from driving freight trains through the mountains of Pennsylvania as a locomotive engineer to being an accountant in the film industry. Her 4-song CD with Stone Soup and friends is a compilation of her feminist and pro-choice anthems (so far), along with the incredible song by Mark Levy "Every Sperm Does Not Deserve A Name." Her pro-choice anthem "We Won't Go Back!" was recorded live while performed before 250,000 at the historic massive Rally To Save Womens' Lives in Washington, DC in 1995. Towner is producing a music video of this song to feature highly-visible artists and others willing to lend their celebrity to getting out the pro-choice message in these most dangerous of times to millions who might not otherwise hear it. Her protest song "Stand Up, Speak Out!" was written after a successful community organizing drive in upstate New York stopped a religious hospital merger that would have eliminated essential reproductive health services from area hospitals. As one of the organizers of this campaign (written up in Ms. Magazine, The New York Times, among others), Towner wrote this as the title song of a documentary video that tells the community's story and how it won (produced by the MergerWatch Project of Family Planning Advocates of New York). Her feminist anthem "Who Says (my thighs gotta be thin)?" speaks for itself. And then there is Mark Levy's brilliant "Every Sperm Does Not Deserve A Name," recorded live with Stone Soup at the Clearwater Walkabout Coffeehouse in Katonah, NY in March, 2001. Hats off to Mark!