Return to Home

Return to Home

 Return to Sound and Society

This wonderful compilation of songs is the third release by Musicians United to Sustain the Environment (M.U.S.E.) done in partnership with the Rachel Carson Council to celebrate the life of Rachel Carson. Carson, through her landmark book, Silent Spring, inspired the modern day environmental movement by raising consciousness about the effects of pesticides and chemicals on the world around us. The CD booklet has lots of information about Rachel Carson and her work. The profits from the sale of this and other M.U.S.E. recordings goes toward non-profit efforts to protect our environment.

These are the artists and the songs featured           on "Songs for the Earth"

1. Pete Seeger - My Dirty Stream

2. Walkin' Jim Stoltz - Song for Rachel

3. Steve Schuch - Where Will We Go?

4. Kat Eggleston - Go to the Water

5. Bill Oliver - Queen Invicta

6. Tom Vincent - Ballad of the Osprey

7. Betty and the Baby Boomers - Back Bay

8. Casey Neill - Hallowed be thy Ground

9. Dean Stevens - Salmon River

10. Cindy Kallet - Roll to the River

11. Tom Paxton - When it's Gone, it's Gone

12. Magpie - Rachel

13. Tish Hinojosa - Something in the Rain

14. Gordon Bok - Herring Croon

15. Emma's Revolution - Silent Spring

16. Bob Zentz - Far Horizon

17. Josh White Jr. - Gentle Warrior

18. A speech by Rachel Carson herself

Keeping the Faith

    Sunday, April 22 is Earth Day. I remember attending the first Earth Day gathering in Seattle so many years ago. Jacques Cousteau spoke and John Denver sang “The Calypso”. Tom Paxton’s song “Whose Garden Was This?” was presented with a video of garbage barges hauling mountains of toxic wastes out to the Atlantic from the harbor at New York with Lady Liberty turning a blind eye. Environmental Science buildings were going up at Universities around the country and lawyers had a whole new field to specialize in. 

    I admit to becoming somewhat jaded over the years about the environmental movement. Maybe it was finding out that all that recycling we go to the trouble of organizing for the weekly pickup ends up in landfills, or maybe it was Michael Chricton’s recent novel “State of Fear” (but you really have to read his afterword at the end of the book to get the whole story).

    But in spite of all that I’ve been contributing to a number of conservation groups and signing more petitions than ever before. My faith was restored recently when XMRadio 15 “The Village” presented a re-broadcast of a program featuring “Songs of the Earth – A Tribute to Rachel Carson”. Musicians Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino (together known as Magpie) along with veteran village songwriter Tom Paxton sat down with program director Robert Aubry Davis and told the stories behind each of the songs featured on the 2005 release “Songs of the Earth”. 

    Greg and Terry helped round up the 18 songs for the CD and provided a lot of insight into the songs and the songwriters behind each one. I was particularly excited to discover that my old songwriting friend Tom Vincent has not fallen off the face of the earth at all, as his beautiful “Ballad of the Osprey” was a recent composition which made it onto the CD. (In fact, they even mentioned that Tom had recently moved back to Seattle from his native eastern shore. I’ll have to put out my ‘feelers’ for him.) Another featured songwriter known to many out here on the left coast is Walkin Jim Stoltz. His “Song for Rachel” is an up-tempo tribute not only to Rachel Carson’s great work, but even managed to work in the names of a dozen or so other leading environmentalists. 

    Like Jim Stoltz, many of the songwriters featured on the album are active workers in the field, or teachers, who are well-known in environmental circles, but just happen to be excellent musicians as well. One of the things I appreciated about these songs is how they educate you in addition to just being great songs. Tom Vincent’s “Ballad of the Osprey” for example explains very clearly how insecticides moved through the food chain to very nearly eliminate the Osprey. Then it goes on to tell the tale of how the Osprey was ultimately saved and is coming back to “fly again”. But the whole time you’re listening to this beautiful song and reveling in the poetic imagery, you don’t even realize you’re actually learning something. Painless teaching! Look for this CD – it’s a great compilation. Below are links to Earth Songs for more environmentally conscious music and the Cool Our Planet web site so you can find out more about all of the above and the wonderful MUSE Campaign. Enjoy!      - Tim McKamey

http://www.planetaryexploration.net/patriot/earth_songs.html

http://www.coolourplanet.org/muse/

http://www.magpiemusic.com/

Return to Home

Return to Sound and Society