New!

From Si Kahn and Jeni & Billy

Creative Community Organizing	Courage	Longing for Heaven
February, 2010	February, 2010	April, 2010

Real People's Music is smiling from ear to ear at the excellence of new releases by Si Kahn and Jeni & Billy. Si's Creative Community Organizing, A Guide for Rabble-Rousers; Activists and Quiet Lovers of Justice (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler) is a moving statement on Standing For Justice, the theme of his Farewell to Grassroots Leadership Tour January-May 1, 2010. Courage (Strictly Country Music) is a CD with 16 new songs about the quiet heroism of everyday people, superbly produced and accompanied by Jens Kruger and featuring harmonies and liner notes by Kathy Mattea. (Media pre-release copies are available from rpmjosh@aol.com. Copies for personal enjoyment may be ordered from www.sikahn.com).

Jeni & Billy's Longing for Heaven brilliantly blends songs rooted in Southwest Virginia Appalachian traditions with and songs from those traditions. Religious feelings that support people living hard lives and the practice of religion that hurts individuals co-exist. My favorite in the social gospel heritage is "Cecil Robert's Hand" which praises the President of the United Mine Workers (see below for a picture), Dr. Martin Luther King and Jesus Christ. Love songs for friends and foes as Pete Seeger once titled a fine LP and a fine end from pre-inflation days are likewise fine renditions. Media copies are available from rpmjosh@aol.com in April. Copies for personal enjoyment will be available in April from http://jeniandbilly.com/products.html). If you can't wait, just bring a piece of fabric to a Jeni & Billy concert and you will get a three song EP as part of the Great Fabric Exchange.

Cecil Roberts, United Mine Workers President, with Jeni & Billy at the Dedication of the Harlan, KY Memorial to miners killed in unsafe mines, August, 2009.

Jeni & Bill gave a special performance for President Cecil Roberts' second term Inauguration at the United Mine Workers of America gathering in Morgantown, KY on October 7, a stunning endorsement of their songs and photos miners' lives songs found on Jewel Ridge Coal.

Peggy Seeger is winding up her US residency with a great West Coast-Alaska tour. Excellent availability for much of March - April 2010, just prior to moving back to the UK.

Winter 2010 issue of Occasional is posted! You can find it at the newsletter page. This issue includes two separate inserts for Si Kahn's work, Courage, and Creative Community Organizing, which you can download separately from the newsletter page.

Laura Fuentes y Calicanto enjoyed Walt Michael's Common Ground on the Hill's Traditions Week in 2008, at least as much as Pedro's and her happy students. Laura's Diary is a rare review of folk music and learning form the performer's point of view. Laura is a wonderful folk music camp team.