New Bruce Springsteen CD Inspired by Recordings on Indie Label Appleseed

Press release
Source: Mark Pucci Media

Nine years ago, Jim Musselman, president and founder of the idealistic, independent Appleseed Recordings label, asked Bruce Springsteen to record a track for a tribute CD to Pete Seeger, folk music's icon of musical unity, social activism and personal integrity.

That small seed sprouted a Springsteen version of the Seeger-adapted Civil Rights anthem "We Shall Overcome" for Appleseed's award-winning 1998 2-CD set, Where Have All the Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger, Vol. 1, and eventually blossomed into the recording of Springsteen's forthcoming 21st album, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, to be released by Sony on April 25, 2006.

Due to scheduling conflicts, Springsteen originally had to decline participation in the first of Appleseed's three CD collections celebrating Pete and his repertoire through exclusive renditions of Seeger-related songs by Jackson Browne & Bonnie Raitt (the Grammy-nominated duet "Kisses Sweeter than Wine"), former Byrds leader Roger McGuinn, Steve Earle, Ani DiFranco, Billy Bragg, Indigo Girls, Richie Havens, and other members of the folk pantheon.

But the persistent Musselman finally received the green light from Springsteen's management in 1997 and submitted a handful of Seeger-written or -performed songs for Bruce to consider recording. Those early sessions yielded "We Shall Overcome," donated to the Where Have All the Flowers Gone compilation, and other tracks that also appear on the upcoming Seeger Sessions CD.

Musselman was gratified by the news that Springsteen had augmented his 1997 recordings of Seeger-oriented material with songs cut in additional live-in-the-studio sessions in 2005 and 2006 to create We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. "Appleseed was started partly to keep folk songs alive, and Bruce has done that with this album," says Musselman.

As Springsteen explains in his new CD's liner notes, "Growing up a rock 'n' roll kid, I didn't know a lot about Pete's music or the depth of his influence. So [after Musselman's request for a Seeger-related recording] I headed to the record store and came back with an armful of Pete Seeger records. Over the next few days of listening, the wealth of songs, their richness and power changed what I thought I knew about ‘folk music.' Hearing this music and our initial '97 recording session for Pete's record sent me off, casually at first, on a quest...It was a way back to the informality, the freeness and the eclecticism of my earliest music and then some."

Virtually all of the 15 songs that appear on Springsteen's CD/DVD "dual disc" release, which includes 30 minutes of "making of" footage, are drawn from the traditional side of Seeger's repertoire. Among the songs on Springsteen's CD, recorded with a large, and largely acoustic, ensemble, are such folk standards as "John Henry," "Erie Canal," "Oh Mary, Don't You Weep," "Buffalo Gals," and "Shenandoah." The Seeger Sessions will be released just a week before the 87th birthday of the CD's indomitable namesake.

"Now Bruce will carry these songs on to another generation and give them greater exposure," says Musselman. "I have the deepest respect for Bruce Springsteen as a musician and a human being. He has always made an effort to understand the roots and history of music, be it Gary "U.S." Bonds or Roy Orbison or Pete Seeger. I am proud that this CD by Bruce was inspired by our original Pete Seeger tribute."

When he started the Seeger tribute project, which grew to include 2001's If I Had a Song and 2003's 2-CD Seeds, a Grammy finalist in the Best Traditional Folk Category, Musselman's intention was "to bring Pete's music to a younger audience who may not have grown up with his music," he explains. "All that has sprung up since that time, including songs being used for hope and healing, and now Bruce's CD, makes us all so proud at Appleseed."

Starting two days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US, Springsteen's version of "We Shall Overcome" was broadcast on NBC's nightly newscast as the soundtrack for a video montage of the horror and heroism of that infamous day. The two-minute montage became a theme for recovery from the shocking, horrific events of September 11 and was broadcast frequently on the NBC Nightly News and was also heard on NBC's "Dateline" and CNBC's "News with Brian Williams." During the September 17 broadcast of the video on NBC's Nightly News, anchor Tom Brokaw called Springsteen's recording "an important anthem of hope for these troubled times." In subsequent days, Springsteen's "We Shall Overcome" was played during a Mets-Braves game at Shea Stadium, the first sports event in New York City held after the attacks, and was played between innings at baseball games at Yankee Stadium.

Springsteen's rendition of "We Shall Overcome" was also played for consolation by those who lost family and friends in the April 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

Appleseed Recordings was founded in 1996 by attorney, social activist, music producer, organizer, and writer Jim Musselman. Working with Ralph Nader, Musselman was very instrumental in getting air bags into cars and also worked closely with Michael Moore on the campaign against General Motors and Roger Smith.

The West Chester, Pa.-based Appleseed label has released about 80 CDs dedicated to exploring the roots and branches of folk and world music and exploring the seeds of social justice through music. Some of the artists on the label, which donates a percentage of its profits to environmental, human rights and other progressive organizations, include Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Donovan, Roger McGuinn, Christine Lavin, Holly Near, Eric Andersen, and many others.

The forthcoming May 2006 Appleseed release, Luna Roja, by bilingual American/ Latina singer-songwriter, Grammy nominated actress ("LA Law"), and author Michele Domínguez Greene, includes an extremely relevant version of Springsteen's "Across the Border," the bittersweet yearning of an Mexican worker leaving his home and family, and several Greene originals sung in Spanish that also address America's fickle lure to hopeful immigrants.

Along with a steady stream of releases by established and rising young musicians, Appleseed's next major project is an upcoming CD, tentatively titled Feels Like Home, that pairs well-known musicians with homeless singers, songwriters and musicians on songs addressing the national crisis of homelessness and destitution. "Give Us Your Poor: Homelessness & the U.S." is the umbrella title for the project, which will also include a documentary film, that is being created by the "Give Us Your Poor" national public awareness initiative based at UMass Boston in collaboration with Appleseed and the Berklee School of Music Internship Program. Major artists involved with the project include Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, blues guitarist Ronnie Earl, singer-songwriter-guitarist Susan Tedeschi, John Mellencamp, actor Danny Glover and others with an interest in the plight of the homeless.

For more information on Appleseed Recordings, contact Alan Edwards: (e-mail) Joevinyl@aol.com; (ph/fax) 215-628-4562; (website) www.appleseedrec.com.