MLK 2011: This Land Is Your Land

I can’t get enough of Sharon Jones singing “This Land Is Your Land.” It resonated with my mood last week following the shootings in Tucson. When I first posted these clips, I sent them out to “self-righteous Don’t-Tread-on-Me types” who probably failed to grasp the message. So I am re-dedicating them to the spirit of today’s MLK observances. As Woody Guthrie wrote in the song, and as Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us through the example of his life’s struggle, there can be no liberty for one until there is liberty for all.

Here is an acoustic version recorded in France, April 2010. Can someone identify the guitarist for me? And a live version with the Dap Kings @Amoeba.  The sound man was having problems, but Sharon and the guys were smokin’! Also check out the studio track from her album, Naturally.

See also MLK 2008: The Legacy of Strange Fruit | MLK 2009: Marion Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial | MLK 2010: Redemption Songs From John Coltrane to Johnny Cash