Songs for These Times

The nation (perhaps the world?!) is abuzz as President-Elect Barack Obama’s swearing in ceremony approaches. I worked in newspapers for several years before coming on board at Birmingham magazine, and on big news days I’m still overflowing with adrenaline.

And spotting Birmingham folks in the national spotlight gets me even more pumped, especially when it relates to news events or music.

I was just skimming my feeds reader for the latest music news and spotted a new entry from NPR’s All Songs Considered blog. The entry was titled “Songs for These Times.” You’ve probably noticed already that I’m big on playlists for all occasions, so I clicked through.

And the adrenaline immediately kicked up, because one of the songs is from Birmingham singer/songwriter Jon Black!

All Songs Considered asked songwriters to create songs to reflect the 2009 Inauguration Day’s place in history, and today posted six. Black’s song is titled “If We Hang On (Uncle Sam’s Song of Hope).” He told NPR, “I was feeding my musical appetite with Pete Seeger when I wrote this song. It’s amazing to hear recordings of Seeger’s concerts, and how it quickly turns from a guy with a guitar to an auditorium singing songs of hope and freedom. We are drawn to hope, and people want to sing harmony in a song of hope.”

Visit NPR’s All Songs Considered to hear the song, and check out Black’s most recent album, Goodbye Golden Age, on his website. Black has been mentioned in Birmingham magazine and on bhammag.com several times in the past year, as well; check out our City Stages 2008 blog and our September 2008 CD reviews.