The Solidarity Sing Along, a one-hour singing protest that has been held at the Wisconsin capitol every weekday since March 11th, 2011, has announced the release of the album “This is What Democracy Sounds Like”.
CD’s will be available soon, but the album is now available for download on iTunes or at cdbaby.com. The entire album can be purchased for $10.00, or you can purchase individual tracks for 99 cents each.
All proceeds after expenses will go toward the recall efforts in Wisconsin. Six Republican officeholders are facing recall elections on June 5th, including Governor Scott Walker.
The album includes a few tracks recorded "live" at the Wisconsin capitol and many recorded in a professional studio just for the album, but all the musicians and singers on the album are real Wisconsin protesters, including me, who have participated in many of the daily Solidarity Sing Along events. My favorites on the album are Union Maid and the "gospel version" of Solidarity Forever, but after over 350 sing-alongs, each song has taken on special significance, and each track makes me cry when I hear the people I've been singing with nearly every day since last year.
It was a whole lot of fun creating the album. I hope you will consider purchasing at least one track. Every little bit helps as we move closer to June 5th, now referred to by many Wisconsinites as Cinco Goodbye-o.
Even if you don’t buy (which I hope you will), listen to some of the previews. While it’s not quite the same as being in the rotunda or in the shadow of Lady Forward, the album gives a pretty good flavor of what we’ve been doing for the past year.