At the core of American music is a legacy of songs that yearn for freedom and redemption. This week’s American Routes presents a rich array of this music in its celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Here are two songs that convey the breath of that legacy, John Coltrane’s Alabama and Bob Marley’s Redemption Songs, sung here by the remarkable pairing of Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer.
See also MLK 2008: The Legacy of Strange Fruit; MLK 2009: Marion Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial
3 Comments
#1. Joost Burger 01.18.2010
This has been my favorite song for a while:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W08MS3ndUX0
#2. Mark Willis 01.18.2010
Thanks, Joost! Good to hear from you. Johnny Cash had a deep reservoir of redemption.
#3. Café Mouffe: John Coltrane at Antibes 1965 - a blind flaneur 01.22.2010
[...] I listened again to John Coltrane’s Alabama, I was moved by its prayerful tone. I heard the seeds of A Love Supreme in Coltrane’s soaring [...]
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