New Music from Red Yarn & Friends and Father Goose

Red Yarn (Andy Furgeson) loves to make music with his friends. His compatriots are a pretty integrated bunch of folks and when they get together, it's a joyous sound. Inspired by Inauguration Day poetess Amanda Gorman (as well as Walt Whitman and a host of others), Andy wrote "I Hear America Singing." The song features 123 Andrés on guest vocals, with backing vocals provided by Kymberly Stewart, Little Miss Ann, Aaron Nigel Smith, Dean Jones (who also produced the track), his wife Jessie, and his son's first grade class at the Woodlawn Elementary School. 

Born in Texas but currently based in New York, visual artist Arielle Wilkins of Brothas N Sistas created the artwork for the lyric video (below). Dave Gulick of Ants Ants Ants provided motion graphics and animation. There's a strong message in these lyrics, about reaching across the aisle for common ground:

Today I heard some joyful music

I sure know some folks could use it

To heal the holes in their broken hearts

To be the soundtrack for a fresh start

Andy's got more music coming later this year, and a full CD expected possibly by year's end. All those credits are a mouthful, but the result is the following song about citizenship and community:

The ever-prolific Father Goose has returned with a summer song about friendship and positive emotions. "Spread Love" (instead of coronavirus, perhaps) features singer Danni Ai, a regular on the recent spate of Goose songs. FG spent his pandemic crafting a series of songs with his rotating touring crew, making music that could be viewed remotely, as the "King of the Family House Party" was sidelined from doing live show in performance spaces. "Spread Love" is a slow reggae tune, perfectly in tune with the recent heat wave. You can grab the song on Spotify. You can also view the video for "Spread Love" here: