Mary Chapin

American folk singer and songwriter Joan Baez has performed publicly for fifty years, releasing more than thirty albums. Usually considered a folk singer, her music has ranged from rock and pop to country and gospel, and she has always been a passionate activist in favour of nonviolence, civil and human rights, and the environment.

American folk singer and songwriter Joan Baez has performed publicly for fifty years, releasing more than thirty albums. Usually considered a folk singer, her music has ranged from rock and pop to country and gospel, and she has always been a passionate activist in favour of nonviolence, civil and human rights, and the environment.

Six decades after becoming a regular on the coffee house scene that was emerging around Club 47 in Cambridge, MA, Joan Baez determined that “2018 will be my last year of formal extended touring.

Songbird is a beautiful new double-CD compilation of sublime songs from some of the world's finest female singers/songwriters. A broad and contemporary collection that blends 40 great voices from the past four decades with the new generation of award-winning singers currently gracing our charts and radio waves, it includes such luminous talents as Katie Melua, Diana Krall and Hayley Westenra.

Pure… Singer/Songwriter is a brave album that showcases strong song writing, sometimes by avoiding the artists most prominent work in lieu of a lesser known piece. Simon & Garfunkel, John Denver, Lou Reed, Bob Marley, Van Morrison, George Michael and Bruce Hornsby are all represented by one of their better known tracks. However, Bowie, Hall & Oates, Alicia Keys, Nillson and even Sarah Bareilles are represented but obscure tracks. As well as the well known artists this compilation also goes back to includes lesser known artists from the 60s and 70s such as Colin Blunstone, Laura Nyro and Phoebe Snow.

Ancient Wars
In a week it will once again be Remembrance Day, November 11th, 11:00am. For two short minutes we will be asked to put down our tools and pay a silent homage to those who fought for our freedoms. Most of us do not remember the sacrifices our fathers and their father made and how brave they must have been. I know my father joined at the age of 17 and spent 2 years as a tail gunner on a RAF Lancaster. I also know that all but one of my uncles served in various services and that 2 remained in Europe forever. My grandfathers both served in the 1st World War and my mother’s father lost 2 of his brothers at Vimy Ridge. My own father served for 25 years in the Canadian Air Force and for 4 long years worked as a bomb disposal expert on the Maginot Line. In many ways he never came back from the war.

To put it in perspective, over 15 million people were either killed in the 1st war and over 62 million died in the 2nd war. Germany lost over 10 percent of its entire population, Poland over 16 percent and Russia over 13 percent . In Vietnam, 58,000 US Soldier, 552 Australians, 1,000 ROK and 1.3 million North & South Vietnam soldiers were killed. Another 2 to 4 million civilians were also killed.

To remember my father, grandfathers and all those others who fought so bravely I have assembled a large collection of music that commemorates Ancient wars, the world wars, Vietnam and the future wars. This is not done to glorify war but to remember the brave men and women who stand watch each and every day so we can be free.

I have also included John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields” and some of the history behind how the poppy became the symbol of remembrance, along with one other poem.