Freethought Music
A Website for Atheist and Humanist Musicians, Composers, and Leaders
News and Announcements
Here you will find news items and announcements related to freethought music.
A Review of Dan Barker’s CD, Adrift on a Star. FFRF, 2012.
By Paul Heffron
This album, Adrift on a Star: Irreverent Songs by Dan Barker and Friends Shelley Segal, Joe Taylor, Susan Hofer is a major achievement in popular music by Dan and his many musical friends and associates. Unfortunately, this CD, which is rightly classified as Freethought Music, will probably not receive the acclaim it deserves in contemporary music because of that classification. Dan’s previous CDs (Friendly Neighborhood Atheist and Beware of Dogma (available at ffrf.org) were similar to this new CD. There were many creative and provocative songs composed and performed by Dan and much collaboration with other musicians, vocalists, and composers. The current album is a culmination of that trend, reaching a new height of excellence and an even broader range of freethought musical expression.
In this CD of 17 selections Dan Barker is found working with many other artists and composers. He is joined by two bands and jazz singer Susan Hofer. There are also recordings by the Australian singer-composer-guitarist Shelley Segal, who has been performing at national humanist and atheist conventions, and by Joe Taylor, a former Christian musician. There is a collaboration on a new song by Dan with Charles Strouse, the Broadway composer of Annie and Bye, Bye Birdie. There are lyrics and poetry by the Yip Harburg of “Over the Rainbow” fame put to music by Dan. A Gershwin standard and a little-known Cole Porter song with a freethought theme are included. There is also a profound poem by Philip Appleman set to music and sung by Dan.
The first selection in this album is “Poor Little Me,” with ironic lyrics by Dan. The Broadway composer Charles Strouse, honored at a FFRF convention, offered to compose music for lyrics of Dan’s making. From that came a song that sounds like a Broadway hit. It sets a very high standard for the rest of the album, and other selections rise to that standard. The songs (“Adrift on a Star” and “One Sweet Morning”) in which Dan supplies the music and rendition to the lyrics of Yip Harburg are quite moving and musically exquisite. Dan does a stunningly beautiful and foreboding accompaniment to the poem by Philip Appleman, “In a Dark Time.”
If I had to single out my first choice, it would be the last number on the CD, “It’s Only Natural,” which comes before the three bonus tracks. Dan took up the challenge of Richard Dawkins to combine science and art, to do a love song using the language of biology and evolution. The result was what I think should be regarded as another great standard of American popular music. I have played and sung this for musician friends and asked if they could identify it. They naturally assumed it was by one of the well known American composers of the standards and wondered how they had missed this one. This ballad, with its sophisticated chord structure, melody, and lyric, is the type that jazz pianists and vocalists love to render and improvise on. Susan Hofer and combo further demonstrate this in their version of the song in a bonus track. Watch for the punch line from Darwin toward the end of the song. It will bring a smile to your face.
New Freethought Music Online Radio Station
News Release from Paul Heffron
FreeThought Music is a new internet radio station that streams a wide selection of musical styles all of which promote freethought messages. It is available 24/7, so you can listen anywhere and anytime via your computer, tablet, or smart phone. To visit FreeThought Music go to:
http://www.live365.com/stations/freethoughtmedia
You can register for a free membership to Live365 in order to access the station, or you can sign up and pay for a VIP membership (free five-day trial). The benefit of the VIP membership is that you don’t get interrupted by commercials.
Steve Brecker, the creator of the station, has built a large and growing playlist. All musical styles are programmed including classical, jazz, country, rock, pop, folk and Broadway Musicals. Due to this broad music selection Steve realizes that some people may not like some of what they hear. However, he’s betting that most freethinkers are open-minded enough to stay tuned as they will find many selections they will enjoy. Most selections are by famous musicians, but songs by Dan Barker and the Freethought Band are also included.
Almost all of the music programmed on FreeThought Music is available for purchase via download or CD purchase through a link to Amazon.com. You simply click on the track listing in the Last Played window that you wish to purchase. Most of the music can also be purchased through Amazon via another site Steve created:
http://freethoughtmarketplace.com/
(Much of the above text is taken from a news release by Steve.)
Andy Shernoff Comes Out with New Freethought Songs
by Paul Heffron
The April, 2014 issue of Freethought Today, published by FFRF, carried an article about Andy Shernoff, the prominent songwriter, musician, and producer in contemporary music, who came out strong last year with freethought songs. The article included an interview and highlighted his 2013 solo EP “On the First Day Man Created God” with its song “Are You Ready to Rapture?” You can visit his website at andyshernoff.com and hear his songs on YouTube.
Tom Neilson On Tour in Minneapolis Does Freethought Songs
by Paul Heffron
Folksong composer, guitarist, and singer Tom Neilson performed his freethought song, “Atheist in the Foxhole” at his April concert in Minneapolis. The song came about when he performed for the Treasure Coast Humanists in Florida and the president of that AHA chapter, Joe Beck, asked him to write a song for atheist vets who face discrimination. The song is included in Neilson’s recent CD “It’s a Crime to Tell the Truth,” which may be purchased at cdbaby.com/Artist/TomNeilson. Listen to him at soundclick.com/tomneilson and visit his website at tomneilsonmusic.com.
Links Related to Freethought Music
Here is a link to the Corliss Lamont web site. Corliss Lamont was an early and influential Humanist leader who wrote the book The Philosophy of Humanism.
Click here to download a PDF sheet music file of a song written by Corliss Lamont titled Here and Now.
Bruce Gerencser Launches Songs of Sacrilege Website
Bruce Gerencser, a former Evangelical pastor who became a humanist/atheist, has a project called Songs of Sacrilege. In his words, “This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email containing the name of the song and a link to the video.” To visit his website for his series go to https://brucegerencser.net/sacrilege/ His latest addition to the series is Randy Newman’s The Great Debate.
Adrift On A Star
New CD by Dan Barker
Freethought Music Online
Andy Shernoff
Freethought Songs
Tom Neilson
On Tour
Links
Bruce Gerencser
Songs of Sacrilege
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Photos by Jerry Rauser