LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Five years ago, the country was in the midst of a COVID lockdown, there were economic fears and a mass protest movement against police violence and racism.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
At that time, we asked musicians to write and perform an original song reflecting on the moment. And many artists took up that challenge, including Angelica Garcia, Indigo Girls and Kishi Bashi.
FADEL: Today, we're going to take a listen back to the 25 original works that came out of the MORNING EDITION Song Project.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
KETCH SECOR: These are troubling times, and we need new songs about our country to inspire unity.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRAY FOR AMERICA")
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW: (Singing) Lord, have mercy on America.
FADEL: That's Ketch Secor, the lead singer of Old Crow Medicine Show.
INSKEEP: His song for the project was "Pray For America." He wrote it after a tornado ripped through his hometown of Nashville. COVID followed after that. He lost work and saw family members get sick.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
SECOR: Great songs are there for all to enjoy and for all to see themselves in. So writing a song about COVID-19, if it's any good, it ought to be able to translate from a global pandemic to a cry for justice.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRAY FOR AMERICA")
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW: (Singing) Pray for America, our promised land.
FADEL: Madison Cunningham wrote about the grief she felt at having to cancel tour dates, but also the sense of renewal that came from having more time to write.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BROKEN HARVEST")
MADISON CUNNINGHAM: I'm window shopping for love, for fame, for anything that would take me.
In retrospect, it was a really sweet thing, too, where I was, like, getting to come back to square one, getting reacquainted with the reasons that I first came into music and the reason that I fell in love with it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BROKEN HARVEST")
CUNNINGHAM: (Singing) Take the kid out of me.
INSKEEP: Nur-D, the rapper, started weaving politics into his music after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd in 2020. The Minneapolis-based musician set up a group to provide medical attention to protesters.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONE STEP FORWARD")
NUR-D: (Rapping) Don't be calling it justice, because if we have to discuss this, that means that the scales are rusted. The trust is busted.
I've come to learn it's like, yo, trusting in my gut, being myself, even when it's not easy, is a superpower. And it's one that I've had to develop over the last year.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONE STEP FORWARD")
NUR-D: (Singing) All of my life, I've had to fight. I'm tired.
FADEL: For many, the first holiday season of the lockdown, it felt melancholy. Family and friends were forced to be apart. Adam Weiner of the rock band Low Cut Connie wrote us a song about holiday isolation.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHRISTMAS MAKES ME CRY")
LOW CUT CONNIE: (Singing) I can't tell you why Christmas makes me cry.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
ADAM WEINER: Here we are during a global pandemic, when everybody has experienced some form of grief. I thought that that idea that this is the time of year for sympathy and connectivity around us, it was important to highlight that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHRISTMAS MAKES ME CRY")
LOW CUT CONNIE: (Singing) And the evening is magic. But it's also so tragic. Sharing our sympathy...
INSKEEP: Closing our pandemic series was the composer pianist Vijay Iyer with a piece tapping into the anxiety of the time.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
VIJAY IYER: Not just about any one person getting sick but about, like, the indifference to it from the most powerful people on the planet. That was infuriating to me. So I guess, like, carrying all this confusion and loss and anxiety and rage all at the same time, that does a number on your body, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF VIJAY IYER'S "SUPERNATANT")
FADEL: So, lockdowns, they may be behind us. But this music still has the power to carry us forward because anxiety and concern seems like pretty constant.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIJAY IYER'S "SUPERNATANT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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