Wounded Dove: Alaskans Sing of War and Peace

[unhappycamper]

Want some seriously kick-ass music?

http://cdbaby.com/cd/woundeddove could be your ticket. . .

The links at the left play only the first few minutes of any song. Check out "Bring Me Home" by Bubba Cook.



WOUNDED DOVE: ALASKANS SING OF WAR AND PEACE

Wounded Dove is a project of Veterans For Peace, Chapter 100 in Juneau, Alaska. All net proceeds from the sale of this CD will benefit the activities of our chapter. We are a nonprofit organization of military veterans working for peace and justice through nonviolence. You can learn more about us at our website: www.vfpjuneau.org

My name is Ed Hein. I’m the producer of Wounded Dove. Let me tell you about it.

The idea was to bring together Alaskan singers, songwriters, and musicians to see what they have to say about war and peace today. Each artist donated a song and performance to the project. I was amazed at what they came up with. Collectively the lyrics to these 18 songs cover a wide range of what needs to be said about the Iraq War, the Bush Administration, the state of our country, and war & peace in general. And the music covers a variety of genres – folk, blues, rock, gospel, and a cappella.

With only one exception, these musicians are not full-time professionals. Most have day jobs, such as in commercial fishing, state or federal government, or other work, but they are known to Alaskans for their musical performances, especially at the annual Alaska Folk Festival in Juneau. The fellow who brought most of these artists together is Pat Henry, himself a veteran of every festival since its inception in 1975.

Pat recorded the majority of the Wounded Dove songs in his kitchen, or I should say in his wife Jeanie’s kitchen, on Starr Hill in downtown Juneau. It has been the site of innumerable jams and good music-making over many years, and it’s a revered place among the members of the Alaska folk music community. Pat also did the mixing of the songs he recorded and those that the artists recorded elsewhere and submitted to us. Finally, he mastered the disc, which we had manufactured at Disc Makers in Pennsauken, NJ.

The CD design is by Sarah Asper-Smith, a talented young graphic artist at Lucid Reverie in Juneau. For the cover she adapted the artwork of local artist Jim Fowler, whose dove on an American flag design was created as a poster to mark the third anniversary of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

You will find four covers on Wounded Dove, but all the other songs are originals by Alaskans, and some were written specifically for this CD. The covers are: Loudon Wainwright III’s “Pretty Good Day”; Steve Earle’s “Rich Man’s War”; Eric Bogle’s “No Man’s Land”; and Derroll Adams’s “Portland Town.” We contacted the first three of these songwriters and they agreed to waive any recording fees as a donation to Veterans For Peace. Derroll Adams could not be contacted, as he passed away in 2000.

Wounded Dove begins with “Scared,” written by Fairbanks artist Will Putman in February 2003, just a few weeks before the current Iraq War began. If you listen closely to the lyrics, you can tell that the war hadn’t started yet but was imminent. Will’s performance reminds me of Barry McGuire’s 1965 rendition of “Eve of Destruction,” an influence that Will explicitly mentions in his lyrics. I love the lines: “how are we in this mess?/If pressed, I guess, I gotta confess/I drive the car that burns the gas/I help to buy the weapons of mass/destruction and death and flames and war/sit on the couch and wonder what it’s for.”

I put “Scared” first on the CD because it captures an important fact about America since November 11, 2001: we are afraid. Will wonders how we might have responded to 9/11 and what we might have accomplished toward world peace if we weren’t so scared. Besides writing the great lyrics, Will laid down multi-tracks with his vocals, guitar, fiddle and harmonica. He is joined by Robin Dale Ford on bass and Pat Fitzgerald on drums.

Mike Truax chose to perform “Pretty Good Day,” a song that’s very popular with Juneau audiences. Loudon Wainwright III wrote the song in 1999 during the war in Bosnia. Mike updated the lyrics slightly. Mike said the thing that got to him about this song is the ending, when it becomes clear that the narrator of the story was only dreaming that it was a “Pretty Good Day,” and that he woke up and had to face the reality of the war.

“Natalee Holloway” is a new song by Buddy Tabor. He has written many songs, and has recorded four or five CDs, but he wrote this one especially for Wounded Dove. It is Buddy’s take on Fox TV and his complaint that they over-focus on stories like the abduction of Natalee Holloway in Aruba, but fail to televise the flag-draped coffins and other realities of the war. Buddy is angry that TV news is complicit in the lies of the Bush Administration about what we are doing to the people of Iraq and how we are misusing and abusing our own American soldiers.

Collette Costa is a real personality in Juneau, who brings her humor to morning radio and her popular waterfront diner. She has a fine singing voice, as displayed here on “No Man’s Land.” Written 30 years ago by Australian Eric Bogle (also known for “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda”), his brilliant lyrics are a powerful indictment of war. The narrator of this song sits in a World War I cemetery in France, singing to the ghost of a young man buried there 90 years ago now: “Do all those who lie here know why they died?/Did you really believe them when they told you “the Cause”?/Did you really believe that this war would end wars?/Well, the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame/The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain./For Willie McBride, it all happened again, and again, and again, and again, and again.” Collette’s otherwise a cappella performance is accompanied by Andrea Mogil on a haunting alto flute.

The smooth sound you hear in “War Machine” is by Burl Sheldon and friends from Haines, Alaska, in the northern part of the Southeast Panhandle. Burl does the vocals and guitars, with Eric Holle on banjo and Lindy Jones on upright bass. Burl co-wrote this song with his wife, Nancy Berland, and gives her the greater share of the credit. These are intelligent lyrics, well thought out, such as “Jesus and Mohammed, in your name/good and evil act the same” or, from the chorus, “We’ve got smart bombs and foolish leaders.” Not stupid – foolish. I think that nails it.

Tony Tengs reminds us all that words and wishes alone won’t end wars. In “One Thing I Know,” he calls us to act: “Peace is a good idea, it’s the best one yet/but you’re never gonna find it in you TV set/Never mind those wishes upon some star/Dreams without action won’t get us far.” Tony collaborated with Albert McDonnell on this song, as well as on “How Excellent and Civilized Are We” (see below). Tony works on the Alaska ferries every other week, while Albert commercial fishes for salmon and owns/operates the Skatebottom Sound recording studio in Juneau. On “One Thing I Know,” Pat Henry joins in nicely on mandolin.

The title for “Peace Is Not A Four-Letter Word” came to me during one of our chapter’s weekly vigils for the victims of the Iraq War. As people came by and gave us the finger or shouted names and curses at us, I thought, “What’s the problem here? Is there something wrong with the word ‘Peace’?” There was so much anger in their faces and voices. I guess the idea of having peace scares some people. For them, I think, peace means not fighting back and being vulnerable to the terrorists – as if invading Iraq and occupying it indefinitely will make us safer.

It’s ugly what we Americans will do when we are driven by fear, not only the violence and cruelty we will visit on others, but the freedoms and values we are willing to give up to feel safe. So I wrote, “The home of the brave is now stricken with fear/We’ve lost half our freedoms in just a few years/We’re scaring the hell out of all of our friends/And making new enemies, where will it end?” I’m not a performer, so I made a tape of myself singing the song in my best shower-room voice, and gave it to a real singer – Jane Roodenburg. A couple of weeks later she showed up at Jeanie’s kitchen and recorded this track pretty much as I had envisioned it, only better. Jane sings and plays rhythm guitar. Pat Henry deserves some of the writing credit on this song because his improvised mandolin part really filled out and improved the melody. My thanks to both of them for bringing my song to life.

Terry Hoskinson was reading the lyrics to Steve Earle’s “Rich Man’s War” and realized for the first time what a great song it is. She persuaded her husband Frederick to record it with her and their 14-year old daughter, Glenn, under the name Know When To Quit. Frederick plays autoharp, while Terry plays guitar and sings vocals, with Glenn joining in on harmony. As the title suggests, the song reminds us that rich men concoct wars and violence for poor men to carry out. War always has an economic basis. To see what is driving war, we must ask who profits and who pays?

In “The Ballad of King George,” Curt Terrall points out the foibles and failures of our President and Commander-in-Chief. The diehards who still think George W. can make no mistakes will call this Bush-bashing, as if criticizing the man responsible for the mess in Iraq is merely partisan sniping or unfair personal attack, or worse, unpatriotic. Curt covers a lot of ground with his biting lyrics, but his sharpest point is found in the irony of his chorus: “Lets give more food to the overfed, so they can feed the hungry/More cash to the filthy rich, so they can help the poor/Let’s give more power to the President, to keep us safe and free/Let’s send more guns and bombs all around the world, to plant the seeds of democracy.” Curt finishes this song with an homage to Country Joe MacDonald & The Fish by updating the famous refrain from the 1968 hit, “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag.” Curt’s song is a worthy successor in the same satirical vein.

Pat Henry also focuses on irony with “Bread,” based on a real incident from the War in Afghanistan in late 2001 that he read in the newspaper. After the U.S. dropped countless bombs and wreaked havoc on Afghanistan, some of our “leaders” began to worry that we might be causing widespread famine as winter approached. So our troops dropped tons of bread off the back of cargo planes. Unfortunately, one load landed on an Afghan man and killed him. Ain’t it amazing how the U.S. plays good cop-bad cop, first raining down destruction, then offering humanitarian aid? We tear down countries at taxpayers’ expense, then build them up again (or pretend to) at more taxpayers’ expense. It’s a great game that funnels billions to our arms makers, and billions more to corporate insiders like Halliburton and Bechtel. It’s hard to end war when there’s so much money to be made.

“Portland Town” is Derroll Adams’s simple but powerful anti-war song. Written in 1953 during the Korean War, it has been recorded by several artists, including most notably by Joan Baez. Adams was a folksinger, songwriter and highly regarded banjo player, but is unknown to many Americans. He was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1925 and began collaborating and touring with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott in the 1950s. Adams spent his final three decades in Europe and was a great influence on the British singer Donovan. He died in 2000 at age 74 in Antwerp, Belgium.

MudLark’s version of “Portland Town” expands the original lyrics somewhat. The instrumentation (banjo, guitar and string bass) has the haunting feel of Appalachia. The musical force builds, the lyrics become darker, and the voices more dissonant as the song progresses. MudLark is based in Davis, California. The Alaska connection is Juneau native Katie Henry, a skilled banjo player and singer. Ray Frank, on guitar, begins the vocals, followed by Katie, and Laura Sandage with bass and harmonies.

“How Excellent and Civilized Are We” by The Preserves is the second contribution to Wounded Dove by Tony Tengs and Albert McDonnell. This lively piece is paced by Eric Holle on banjo, Mike Bucy on trombone, and Clay Good on drums. The lead singer is stage veteran Roz Brown, with Tony and Albert backing up on vocals and joining in on guitar and bass, respectively. The song is hard to categorize. It is something like a cross between Gilbert & Sullivan and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. It has an air of the former British Empire carrying its great white burden, but there’s no mistaking that this is a theme song for the new American Empire. The Preserves have been playing in Juneau in one form or another for at least the past ten years. This configuration is a particularly talented one.

Riley Woodford originally recorded the rockin’ blues piece “Same Old, Same Old” for his own album, “Applehood &Mother Pie," under the title “Same Old Side of a Brand New Leaf.” The electric energy and driving rhythm of the song never lets up. Riley’s sparse lyrics capture the irony and insanity of war in the Middle East: “There’s a man in a big black truck who doesn’t have a clue/There’s a man without a country with nothing left to lose/Children in a city who died without a sob/And a boy in a bomber just doing his job.” Sean Tracey opens with a harmonica solo, joined quickly by Riley on acoustic slide guitar and vocals, then Clay Good on drums with a military beat. Steve Nelson fills out the sound on Hammond B3 organ, Albert McDonnell brings in the bass, and Collette Costa harmonizes with Riley’s vocals. Albert got it all down at his Skatebottom Sound recording studio in Juneau.

The Memphis-based duo Lahna Deering and the Reverend Neil Down originally met in Skagway, Alaska, a little town 90 miles northwest of Juneau that was the historic jumping-off point for the Klondike gold rush in the late 1890’s. I caught them in late spring 2006 at the Paradise Cafe, a great lunch-time joint on the Juneau waterfront owned and operated by Lahna’s mother, Joan Deering. When I invited D&D to be part of the Wounded Dove CD, they were immediately enthusiastic. They offered to remake the Rev’s 2001 song “Prophets of Doom” from their first CD, “Coupe deVilla.” They recorded this new rock version at Sun Studios, backed up by bassist John C. Stubblefield of the band Lucero, and Memphis-Nashville drummer Kurt Ruleman. The Rev’s lead guitar sets the pace with a burst of electric melody, while Lahna’s full-throated vocals demonstrate a mature singing style. The lyrics protest against the rash of doomsday predictions that have become prevalent again in the past several years. I see “Prophets of Doom” as a hopeful song in these fearful times.

Martha Scott Stey, of Juneau, wrote “Ashes and Dreams” in the late spring of 2006 specifically for the Wounded Dove CD. It’s a haunting song that mourns what we’ve lost since 9/11, and calls us to pick up the pieces and rebuild a better America. Martha’s classic American voice and guitar are backed up by her husband Jim Stey’s melancholy fiddle.

Stewart “Flash” Ely divides his time between Juneau and the tiny Southeast Alaska hamlet of Pelican, where he works as a commercial fisherman. He’s a likeable chap with plenty of songs and an infectious friendliness. He recorded several songs for Wounded Dove before we finally settled on the traditional Irish folk tune, “Arthur McBride.” The song dates back to the mid-19th Century. Its street-wise lyrics recount the tale of two Irishmen who would not be fooled into joining the British Army. It’s an anti-recruitment song delivered with Stewart’s smooth singing style, soft guitar, and wry humor. Seems that not much has changed about the ways recruiters try to entice young people to join the military.

Laura Sandage recorded her own CD called “Bloom” in 2003. From that CD we borrowed her a cappella song “Do You Want Peace?” Laura sings lead vocals; harmony is provided by George Haver, Cheryl Covert, and MudLark members Ray Frank and Katie Henry. The song is the most personal number on Wounded Dove. It asks each of us to choose between peace and violence in our own lives. Laura’s lyrics remind us that peace or war begins in each of our hearts. More recently, Laura has written a choral arrangement of “Do You Want Peace?” for soprano, alto, tenor and bass, with piano. It is available at a nominal price for any groups that want to perform it. For more information, email her at [e-mail].

“Bring Me Home” by Bubba Cook is the song that inspired me to produce Wounded Dove. In March 2006, Bubba showed up at one of our Veterans For Peace meetings in Juneau and announced he had just written a song he wanted to play for us. None of us knew he had any musical talent, and we were blown away by the song. One of our members who’d lost a son in the military got choked up and had to leave the room. I knew right away that this song was something special. It tells the story of a soldier in Iraq who has been disillusioned by what he has seen and done, and wonders why he is still there.

Bubba performed it outdoors in six inches of snow during our rally on the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, March 19, 2006. The 300 people in attendance gave him a rousing reception. Then in August Bubba performed it for a crowd of 500 at the Veterans For Peace National Convention in Seattle and got a standing ovation. As his name might suggest, Bubba is a native of Texas. His rich Southern voice and fine guitar pickin’ are supplemented by his harmonica, which is mounted on a chest holder `a la Bob Dylan. Bubba served in the Navy during the Gulf War, and eventually migrated to Alaska, where he now works for the World Wildlife Fund. “Bring Me Home” is his first recorded song.

[Bandit]

1. Cool...

I know most of those folks pretty well and they are definitely worth listening to. A big :thumbsup:

[Booster]

2. I haven't had a chance to listen to all the songs, but I did listen to

"Bring Me Home" and it is really beautiful. I am going to get this CD because I like the idea behind it.