Freedom Highway

About Freedom Highway

Freedom Highway follows the long tradition of music as an expression of struggle and solidarity. In all movements for justice, from the enslaved struggling for emancipation, to the employed struggling against exploitation, songs emerge as a means of building strength in the face of power. Each week we follow these songs across borders of race, class, gender and geography with an hour of politically potent music and conversation exploring connections between these histories and the present day.

Publisher

Nick Panken

Category

music · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

16 Mar 2022

Latest episode

22 Jun 2022

Latest episodes

14 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   22 Jun 2022

   Neither Just Nor Wise

   A playlist of politically meaningful songs from throughout the past 70 years Black Power | The Peace | Black Power | 1975 All Is One | Mighty Sparrow | Calypso A La King | 1970 To The White People Of America | New York Ensemble | Songs of Slavery and Emancipation | 2022 We Will Overcome | “Texas” Bill Strength | 1952 It’s Outrageous | Larry Estridge | Broadside Ballads, Vol. 7 | 1973 Already Guilty | Free Radicals, Swatara Olushola | White Power Outage, Vol. 1 | 2020 Profilin | The Frightners, Preet Patel | Always | 2022 Effects of Slavery | Macka B | Global Messenger | 2000 H2OGate Blues | Gil Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson | Winter In America | 1972 Politicians In My Eyes | Death | …For The Whole World To See | 2009 (1975) Preacher and the Slave | Socialists | 2012-2019 | 2021

2. 

   15 Jun 2022

   Strike Sweet Freedom’s Song

   Songs Of Slavery and Emancipation is a multimedia project presenting recently discovered songs composed by enslaved people and explicitly calling for resistance to slavery. The book, CD and documentary film come out Friday June 17, and we hear from Mat Callahan who spearheaded the project. He tells about the origins of these songs, the process of researching them and the significance of publishing them now in some cases for the first time in centuries. Recognition March of the Independence of Hayti | Songs of Slavery and Emancipation | 2022 March On | Songs of Slavery and Emancipation | 2022 The Negro’s Complaint | Songs of Slavery and Emancipation | 2022 Nat Turner | Songs of Slavery and Emancipation | 2022 Children, We All Shall Be Free | Songs of Slavery and Emancipation | 2022 Hymn of Freedom | Songs of Slavery and Emancipation | 2022 Uncle Gabriel The Negro General | Songs of Slavery and Emancipation | 2022 Song of the “Aliened American” | Songs of Slavery and Emancipation | 2022 The Band of Thieves | Songs of Slavery and Emancipation | 2022

3. 

   1 Jun 2022

   The Poor Shall Wear The Crown

   A playlist of politically meaningful songs performed mostly a cappella by vocal ensembles. The Workers Song | The Longest Johns, Seth Lakeman | Smoke & Oakum | 2022 The Song of the Lower Classes | Martin Carthy | Out of the Cut | 1982 Poverty Knock | Chumbawamba | English Rebel Songs 1381-1984 | 2003 We Do The Work | John Fromer | We Do The Work | 2000 I’m Gon’ Stand!!! | Sweet Honey In The Rock | Breaths | 1988 Rich Man’s House | Resistance Revival Chorus | This Joy | 2020 Which Side Are You On? | Windborne | Recollections | Revolutions | 2020 Freedom Is A Constant Struggle | Barbara Dane and the Chambers Brothers | Barbara Dane and the Chambers Brothers | 1966 Had, Took, Misled | Bernice Johnson Reagon | Give Your Hands to Struggle | 1975 Digger’s Song | The Horses Of The Gods | We Wish You Health | 2020 Cable Street | The Young’uns | Strangers | 2017

4. 

   26 May 2022

   This Kind of Thing Still Lives Today

   For his 81st birthday, we listen to politically meaningful songs written by Bob Dylan, as performed by other artists. Blowin’ In The Wind | Bettina Jonic | The Bitter Mirror: Songs By Bob Dylan & Bertolt Brech | 1975 The Death of Emmett Till | Isaac Taylor | Peace In The Valley | 2018 Only A Pawn In Their Game | Barbara Dane | Hot Jazz, Cool Blues & Hard-Hitting Songs | 2018 The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll | Les Shelleys | Les Shelleys | 2010 The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll | Charlie Ballentine | Life is Brief: The Music of Bob Dylan | 2018 License to Kill | Richie Havens The Times They Are A Changin’ | Nina Simone | To Love Somebody | 1969 With God On Our Side | The Neville Brothers | Yellow Moon | 1989 Masters of War | The Flying Pickets | Lost Boys | 1984 Masters of War | Bill Frisell | Further East/Further West | 2005

5. 

   19 May 2022

   Much Concerned But Not Involved

   A playlist of politically meaningful songs, including several from Stevie Wonder who turned 72 last week. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free | Mavis Staples, Levon Helm | Carry Me Home | 2022 You Haven’t Done Nothin’ | Stevie Wonder | Fulfillingness’ First Finale | 1974 Black Man | Stevie Wonder | Songs in the Key of Life | 1976 It’s Wrong (Apartheid) | Stevie Wonder | In Square Circle | 1985 Pastime Paradise | Stevie Wonder | Songs in the Key of Life | 1976 Can’t Put It In The Hands of Fate | Stevie Wonder, Rapsody, Cordae, CHIKA, Busta Rhymes | 2020 The Preacher and the Slave | Utah Phillips | Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian Folkways | 2006 Preacher and the Slave | Socialists | 2012-2019 | 2021 I Pity The Country | Leanne Betasamosake Simpson | Theory of Ice | 2021 List of Demands (Reparations) | The Kills | 2018

6. 

   12 May 2022

   Class War, Last War

   We listen to a playlist of songs exploring themes of freedom and class war. "There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning." - Warren Buffett Who’s Free | Super Sounds Namba | 1981 Rich Get Richer | The O’Jays | Survival | 1975 None Of Us Are Free | Solomon Burke, Blind Boys of Alabama | Don’t Give Up On Me | 2002 The Capitalist Blues | Leyla McCalla | The Capitalist Blues | 2019 Bourgeois Blues | The Last Internationale | New York, I Do Mind Dying | 2013 The Guillotine | The Coup | Sorry To Bother You | 2012 Class War | The Dils | 198 Seconds Of The Dils | 1977 Do They Owe Us A Living? | Crass | The Feeding of the 5000 | 1978 Do They Owe Us A Living? | Croy and the Boys | Of Course They Do | 2020 Class War | Ty Segall | Fudge Sandwich | 2018 I Hate The Rich | The Dils | 1977 Class War - How Much | She Drew The Gun | Behave Myself | 2021

7. 

   5 May 2022

   It Has Always Been Around

   Rakel Stammer joins to discuss the egregious breach of freedom that would be the outlawing of an individuals choice whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term, in the wake of the newly leaked Supreme Court document indicating an imminent decision as such. In between conversation we listen to several songs emerging from the long fight for bodily autonomy in the form of access to abortion in the 20th century. La Femme Fatale | Digable Planets | Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time And Space) | 1993 Abortion is illegal (The Ballad of Paragraph 218) | Sylvia Anders, D. Justus Noll | There’s Nothing Quite Like Money | 2000 Abort The System | Poison Girls | Songs of Praise | 1985 Abortion Song | New Haven Women’s Liberation Rock Band | Mountain Moving Day | 1972 Back Alley Surgery | Malvina Reynolds | Mama Lion | 1980

8. 

   27 Apr 2022

   I Wonder About This Freedom

   To mark his centennial we spend the hour listening to the politically engaged music of Charles Mingus, the seminal jazz composer and bass player born April 22, 1922. Never shy to express his convictions, Mingus would often speak to contemporary political issues including war and racism, with commentary in song titles as well as recitations or lyrics within his songs. Original Faubus Fables | Charles Mingus | Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus | 1960 Don’t Let It Happen Here | Charles Mingus | Music Written For Monterey 1965 (Not Heard... Played in its Entirety, at UCLA) | 1966 It Was A Lonely Day in Selma, Alabama - Freedom | Mingus Big Band | Blues & Politics | 1999 Freedom - Pt.1 | Charles Mingus | The Complete Town Hall Concert | 1962 Oh Lord Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me | Charles Mingus | Oh Yeah | 1962

9. 

   21 Apr 2022

   Many Thousand Gone

   Coming off last week's episode where we heard Paul Robeson's first commercial recording from 1947 of the song No More Auction Block, we trace the evolution of this song from it's likely 19th century composition by black workers held in slavery, to it's many interpretations in the mid and late 20th century, as well as it's melodic offspring in the form of well known songs We Shall Overcome and Blowin' In The Wind. No More Auction Block | Paul Robeson | 1952 No More Auction Block For Me | Odetta | At Carnegie Hall | 1960 No More Auction Block For Me - William Riley, 1943 | Helen Creighton | Sankofa Songs, A Legacy of Roots and Rhythm: African Nova Scotian Songs From The Collection Of Dr. Helen Creighton | 2019 No More Auction Block For Me | Alan Mills | O’ Canada: A History in Song | 1956 No More Auction Block For Me | Sweet Honey In The Rock | Songs of the Civil War | 1991 No More Auction Block | Pete Seeger | America’s Favorite Ballads - Vol. IV | 1961 No More Auction Block - Live at the Gaslight Cafe, New York, NY - October, 1962 | Bob Dylan | The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3 | 1991 Blowin’ In The Wind | Bob Dylan | The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan | 1963 We Shall Overcome | Sing Out! Hootenanny | 1963 (recorded between 1950-1955) We Will Overcome | Texas Bill Strength | 1952 No More, No More | Richie Havens | Live at the Cellar Door and at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium | 1972

10. 

    14 Apr 2022

    Alive As You or Me

    Paul Robeson was a widely celebrated singer (among many other vocations) and a fiercely outspoken revolutionary. Born April 9, 1898 in Princeton, NJ, the son of a formerly enslaved man, Robeson understood the connections between racial discrimination and labor exploitation. His commitment to using his public life in the struggle against racism and capitalism brought significant personal consequences, facing violence from the KKK, political persecution from the House Un-American Activities Committee, and the revocation of his passport for a number of years. We learn about his sustained commitment in the face of resistance, in between recordings of his extraordinary voice. No More Auction Block | Paul Robeson | 1947 Spring Song | Paul Robeson | 1941 The Peat-Bog Soldiers | Paul Robeson | 1942 Joe Hill | Paul Robeson | 1942 My Thirty Thousand | Billy Bragg, Wilco | Mermaid Avenue Vol. III | 2012 Scandalize My Name | Paul Robeson | 1959

11. 

    7 Apr 2022

    Til We're Dealing With The Fact

    In 1973 Lavender Country crowdsourced funding to make the first known openly gay country music album. Now nearly 50 years later Lavender Country is bringing their brand new follow-up record on tour, with a nearby show Friday April 9 at the Egremont Barn (http://www.theegremontbarn.com/events/2022/4/8/the-round-up-featuring-lavender-country-paisley-fields-and-more). We listen to selections from an interview with Lavender Country founder Patrick Haggerty originally aired in 2018, where he speaks about using music to communicate connections between the struggle for gay liberation and wider revolutionary movements. Cryin’ These Cocksucking Tears | Lavender Country | Lavender Country | 1973 Waltzing Will Trilogy | Lavender Country | Lavender Country | 1973 Straight White Patterns | Lavender Country | Lavender Country | 1973 Clara Frazer, Clara Frazer | Lavender Country | Blackberry Rose | 2022 Workers - Get Ready | Progressive Labor Party | Power To The Working Class | 1971 Roll The Union On | The Song Swappers | Talking Union and Other Union Songs | 1941 There Is Power In A Union | Billy Bragg | Talking With The Taxman About Poetry | 1986 Roll The Union On | John Handcox

12. 

    30 Mar 2022

    No Freedom Without Peace

    We begin with Gil Scott-Heron's musical reference to President Eisenhower's 1961 warning about the formation of a military industrial complex, then we go back and explore the history and ongoing relevance of wartime era songs of the past, in particular the first commercially successful anti-war song, I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier, from 1915. Work For Peace | Gil Scott-Heron | 2001 Madison Avenue | Gil Scott-Heron | Secrets | 1978 I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier | Morton Harvey | 1915 Let Us All Speak Our Minds | Elizabeth Knight | Songs of the Suffragettes | 1958 I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier | John Kirkpatrick | Tunes From The Trenches | 2015 I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier | Rana Choir | 2018 Stay Down Here Where You Belong | Tiny Tim | God Bless Tiny Tim | 1968 Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition | Eli Radish Band | I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier | 1969 Over There | Eli Radish Band | I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier | 1969 When Johnny Comes Marching Home | Eli Radish Band | I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier | 1969 instagram.com/freedomhighwaywkny (https://www.instagram.com/freedomhighwaywkny/) facebook.com/freedomhighwaywkny  (https://www.facebook.com/freedomhighwaywkny) radiokingston.org/broadcast/freedom-highway (https://radiokingston.org/en/broadcast/freedom-highway)

13. 

    24 Mar 2022

    Trouble You Can't Hide

    Following up last week's four year anniversary show, we hear more songs from more artists who we have previously featured in depth on Freedom Highway for their commitment to voicing radical political perspectives through music, and their impactful contribution to this longstanding and ongoing practice. Worker's Song | Dick Gaughan | Handful Of Earth | 1981 The Flood And The Storm | Woody Guthrie | Ballads of Sacco & Vanzetti | 1960 With God On Our Side | Bob Dylan, Joan Baez | The Bootleg Series Vol. 6 Concert at Philharmonic Hall 1964 | 2004 Living With War | Neil Young | Living With War | 2006 War | Bob Marley & The Wailers | Rastaman Vibrations | 1976 We Shall Not Be Moved | Barbara Dane | 1970 They’ll Never Keep Us Down | Hazel Dickens | 1981 How Long Have You Been Blind | Floyd Red Crow Westerman | The Land Is Your Mother | 1984 Nazi | Chumbawamba | Showbusiness (Live) | 1995

14. 

    16 Mar 2022

    People You Know It's True

    For the four year anniversary show, we listen to an eclectic playlist of songs from some of the luminaries of Freedom Highway - politically engaged artists who we've previously devoted full hourlong episodes to throughout the past four years of broadcasting. When Will We Be Paid | The Staple Singers | We’ll Get Over | 1970 Whitey On The Moon | Gil Scott-Heron | Small Talk At 125th and Lenox | 1970 Freedom Death Dance | Eugene McDaniels | Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse | 1971 Revolution (Pts 1 & 2) | Nina Simone | To Love Somebody | 1969 My Country ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying | Buffy Sainte-Marie | Little Wheel Spin and Spin | 1966 Joe Hill | Paul Robeson | 1936 Casey Jones | Pete Seeger, The Song Swappers | Talking Union and Other Union Songs | 1955 There Is Power In A Union | Billy Bragg | Talking With The Taxman About Poetry | 1986 No Country’s Law | Roy Bailey | Sit Down And Sing | 2005 Overtime | Malvina Reynolds | Malvina Reynolds | 2007 More Time | Linton Kwesi Johnson | More Time | 1999 I Ain’t Marching Anymore | Phil Ochs | I Ain’t Marching Anymore | 1965 All past episodes can be found at: radiokingston.org/broadcast/freedom-highway (radiokingston.org/broadcast/freedom-highway) instagram.com/freedomhighwaywkny (https://www.instagram.com/freedomhighwaywkny/) facebook.com/freedomhighwaywkny (https://www.facebook.com/freedomhighwaywkny)

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.