CONCERT CELEBRATING NEW RISE AGAIN SONGBOOK

featuring Peter Blood and Annie Patterson

joined by Charlie King, Bill Harley, and Magpie

Rise Up Singing [1] has Risen Again – a second coming and twice as welcome.  It is unique – a treasure – for any age group or any level of musical or vocal proficiency.  Get it for yourself, get it for friends and family.  Then everyone can gather and rise together, again and again and again.” - Peggy Seeger

A sing-along concert will be held in Concord, NH at the Concord Community Music School on October 10^th, 2015 at 7:00 PM.  The concert is being held to celebrate the release of a long-awaited companion book to the widely known & loved songbook, Rise Up Singing [1].  The concert will feature Annie Patterson & Peter Blood [2], the creators of Rise Up Singing and Rise Again [3], teaching and leading songs out of their new book, Rise Again.  They will be joined by Bill Harley [4], Charlie King [5], and Magpie [6] – all of whom have songs in this new collection.

This concert is a benefit for the American Friends Service Committee [7] and its work for social justice. This concert is sponsored by Concord Friends Meeting (Quakers) www.ConcordFriendsMeeting.org [8].

Following in the tradition of Pete Seeger, Patterson & Blood have been using group singing for many years to build community & promote peace & justice across North America and abroad. 30 years ago they approached Sing Out! [9], a folk song magazine founded by Seeger in 1950, asking them to publish a unique kind of songbook. The idea was to create a book with words, chords & sources (but no music) to 1200 well-known songs from a wide variety of genres for use by lay musicians & in group singing. Pete & Toshi Seeger persuaded Sing Out! to take on this project, and Pete’s manager helped secure the song licenses from major publishers. Over 200 musicians including Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Judy Collins, James Taylor, and Bruce Springsteen donated the use of their songs for the book.

That book, Rise Up Singing, came out in 1988 and quickly became an underground best seller, selling nearly a million copies by word of mouth. Studs Terkel (the author of Working [10]) called it “the best, most exhilarating and glorious history of the United States: a singing history. It is more than a lovely songbook - it is a play-work-fight-freedom hymnal.”  Seeger said “it is making a qualitative difference in music in America.”  Well-known musicians from Canadian folksinger Eric Anderson to English folk rocker Billy Bragg carry the book with them when they tour.  The book has helped to spur a renaissance of group singing, with hundreds of groups holding monthly or even weekly sing-alongs & song circles in churches, synagogues, libraries and pubs across North America.

In appreciation of his work on Rise Up Singing, Seeger asked Blood to edit his musical autobiography, Where Have All the Flowers Gone: A Singalong Memoir [11] (published in a new edition by W.W.Norton in 2008).  He continually urged Patterson & Blood to create a second similar book, often sending them names of songs missing from Rise Up Singing.  Now, 25 years later, Patterson & Blood have just completed a new companion songbook, called Rise Again, with words & chords to 1200 more songs. The book was released by Hal Leonard Music on Sept. 1^st.

In addition to containing lots of great songs written since 1985, the new book contains a much stronger array of songs from genres that were not heavily represented in Rise Up Singing, including whole chapters devoted to blues, old-timey & bluegrass, country, Broadway, early rock ‘n roll, “British Invasion”, Motown, alternative/indie artists, and “pub songs”.  Nonetheless, as with their original book, Patterson emphasizes that Rise Again “continues to include a rich variety of songs that inspire hope, teach us about social justice, and tell stories our history books leave out."

The new book, with a preface by Pete Seeger and forward by Billy Bragg, has already been greeted with acclaim. Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary) says “These are not songs written for the money, but songs written from the hearts of real people who want to tell their story, share their joy, their travail, their hopes and their dreams.”  Bonnie Raitt adds that Rise Up Singing continues to be such a treasure—helping us celebrate the joy and power of singing our own rich histories. With the addition of Rise Again, families can expand on this vital and fun way to keep the tradition alive.”

Tickets and information are available at https://www.riseupandsing.org/events/rise-again-concord [12] for $20 for adults, $10 for children.  Only 150 tickets are available so order early. For more information, contact Sara Smith 603-485-4231. See also www.riseupandsing.org [13].  Songbooks can be purchased in advance to pick up at the concert.  They can also be borrowed or bought, while supplies last, at the concert itself.