Tracks by Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Jackson Browne & Bonnie Raitt also feature on folk music label’s 21st anniversary collection
Unreleased cover songs by Bruce Springsteen, Tom Morello, Donovan and Tim Robbins highlight the massive compilation celebrating the 21st anniversary of protest music label Appleseed Recordings.
In addition to Springsteen’s take on “We Shall Overcome,” Appleseed’s 21st Anniversary: Roots and Branches exclusively features the rocker’s rendition of the Pete Seeger folk classic “If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song).” Morello contributes his version of AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” while Donovan covers Joan Baez’s “Wild Mountain Thyme.”
John Wesley Harding, John Stewart, Jesse Winchester, Anne Hills and Tom Russell also contribute new music to the 57-song compilation, which also boasts previously released songs and archival recordings by Seeger, Baez, Jackson Browne & Bonnie Raitt and Roger McGuinn with Judy Collins.
Appleseed’s 21st Anniversary: Roots and Branches arrives October 19th; check out Appleseed’s website for more information.
“The CDs in this 21st anniversary set have been loosely organized by separate, but frequently overlapping, themes,” Appleseed founder Jim Musselman said in a statement. “They match my three goals in forming Appleseed Recordings – to provide an outlet for songs of social justice, both current and past; to release newly written songs of personal experience and emotion in modern times; and to keep alive the centuries of still-vital traditional songs from our country’s and our world’s history. To learn how to move forward, we can never forget the lessons, or songs, of the past.”
Appleseed also shared three exclusive recordings from the upcoming compilation, including Tom Russell’s rendition of Springsteen’s “Across the Border,” which Russell recorded on the border of Mexico and New Mexico. The late Jesse Winchester’s unfinished “Get it Right” was completed for the comp by longtime fans Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally, while John Wesley Harding updates his “Scared of Guns” with his daughter reciting NRA donation figures:
Appleseed’s 21st Anniversary: Roots and Branches Track List
DISC ONE – “Let the Truth Be Told”
1. Pete Seeger – Oh Sacred World
2. Bruce Springsteen – If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song) (exclusive new song)
3. Tom Morello – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (exclusive new song)
4. Tim Robbins – Well May the World Go (exclusive new song)
5. Joan Baez – I Wish the Wars Were All Over
6. Pete Seeger with Billy Bragg, Ani DiFranco, Steve Earle and Anne Hills – Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)
7. Tom Russell – Across the Border (exclusive new song)
8. Johnny Clegg – Love in the Time of Gaza
9. John Wesley Harding (w/ Corporal Quorum) – Scared of Guns (Amended) (exclusive new song)
10. Sweet Honey in the Rock – Second Line Blues
11. Anne Hills – Needle of Death (exclusive new song)
12. Natalie Merchant & Friends – There is No Good Reason
13. The Kennedys – Give Me Back My Country
14. Studs Terkel – Blessed Be the Nation
15. Tom Morello – This Land is Your Land
16. Bruce Springsteen – We Shall Overcome
17. Pete Seeger – Dr. King on Violence
You can listen to three of the tracks here: