Description

In honor of 21 years at the forefront of the folk protest tradition, Appleseed Recordings released a powerhouse triple album set exploring two decades of their most revolutionary work, featuring new recordings from Bruce Springsteen, Tom Morello, Donovan, Tim Robbins, John Wesley Harding, Tom Russell and more. Across 57 tracks total, each disc of Appleseed’s 21st Anniversary: Roots and Branches serves as a beacon of the label’s longstanding devotion to three philosophies: truth-telling, preserving our wisdom keepers both past and present, and keeping the legacy of roots music alive for future generations.

Although steeped in the history of traditional folk, roots, and world music, the themes on Roots and Branches ring especially true in our present moment. Tom Russell offers a searing new take on Bruce Springsteen’s “Across the Border,” recorded firsthand on the New Mexico/Mexico line; social worker Anne Hills takes a harrowing look into the heroin epidemic on “Needle of Death”; Tom Morello reimagines AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds” to name check “US Foreign Policy” and “fake news”; and John Wesley Harding’s own 12-year-old daughter appears on “Scared of Guns” to recite NRA donation figures, updating the original with crunchy guitars and the voice of a new generation. Additional contributors to this collection include Pete Seeger, Ani DiFranco, Joan Baez, Al Stewart, Billy Bragg, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and more. (See full track list below.)

“The CDs in this 21st-anniversary set have been loosely organized by separate, but frequently overlapping, themes,” says Appleseed founder Jim Musselman. “They match my three goals in forming Appleseed Recordings – to provide an outlet for songs of social justice, both current and past; to release newly written songs of personal experience and emotion in modern times; and to keep alive the centuries of still-vital traditional songs from our country’s and our world’s history. To learn how to move forward, we can never forget the lessons, or songs, of the past.”

We are proud that this collection includes the sixth exclusive song that Bruce Springsteen has released on the label. “Roots and Branches” also features the last recorded songs (previously unreleased) by Jesse Winchester and John Stewart.

Founded in 1997, Appleseed Recordings is the independent, internationally distributed label helmed by activist and attorney Jim Musselman. Devoted to releasing socially conscious contemporary, folk, and roots music, the label has earned Grammy Awards and the dedication of numerous musical legends, including 20 Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. Our releases have soundtracked the ups and downs of our modern history, covering themes both timely and timeless – from 9/11 and Northern Ireland’s fight for independence to strongly opposing the Iraq War and the eternal struggle for human and environmental rights – with a portion of profits from many releases going towards the progressive organizations that help Appleseed put their philosophy into action.

Check out profiles about this release in Rolling Stone & Billboard!

tracklist

Disc One: Let the Truth Be Told

1. Pete Seeger – Oh Sacred World
2. Bruce Springsteen – If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song) *
3. Tom Morello – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap *
4. Tim Robbins – Well May the World Go *
5. Joan Baez – I Wish the Wars Were All Over
6. Pete Seeger with Billy Bragg, Ani DiFranco, Steve Earle & Anne Hills –
   Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)
7. Tom Russell – Across the Border *
8. Johnny Clegg – Love in the Time of Gaza
9. John Wesley Harding (w/ Corporal Quorum) – Scared of Guns (Amended) *
10. Sweet Honey in the Rock – Second Line Blues
11. Anne Hills – Needle of Death *
12. Natalie Merchant & Friends – There is No Good Reason
13. The Kennedys – Give Me Back My Country
14. Studs Terkel – Blessed Be the Nation
15. Tom Morello – This Land is Your Land
16. Bruce Springsteen – We Shall Overcome
17. Pete Seeger – Dr. King on Violence

Disc Two: The Wisdom Keepers

1. Jesse Winchester – Get It Right One Day *
2. Donovan – Poorman’s Sunshine
3. Dick Gaughan – Land of the North Wind
4. Tom Paxton & Anne Hills – Follow that Road
5. Al Stewart – Katherine of Oregon
6. Jonathan Edwards – Surrounded
7. Jackson Browne & Bonnie Raitt – Kisses Sweeter than Wine
8. Angel Band – Jump Back in the Ditch
9. Eric Andersen – Gonna Go Crazy
10. Tom Rush – What I Know
11. Sweet Honey in the Rock – IDK, But I’m LOL
12. Lizzie West & the White Buffalo – Portrait of an Artist as a Young
    Woman (Thank You)
13. Joel Rafael Band with Jackson Browne, Jimmy LaFave and Arlo Guthrie – Stepstone
14. Tom Paxton – Looking for the Moon
15. Pete Seeger and Lorre Wyatt with Emmylou Harris – Somos El Barco/We Are
    the Boat
16. John Stewart – There is Love (Wedding Song) *
17. Jesse Winchester – Sham-a-Ling-Dong-Ding
18. Dick Gaughan – When I’m Gone

Disc Three: Keeping the Songs Alive

1. John Gorka – The Water is Wide
2. David Bromberg with Levon Helm – Bring it With You When You Come
3. Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – Roving Gambler
4. Tim Eriksen – Careless Love
5. Donovan – Wild Mountain Thyme *
6. Roger McGuinn with Judy Collins – John Riley
7. John Wesley Harding – Canadee-I-O
8. Bernice Johnson Reagon with Kim & Reggie Harris – Oh Mary, Don’t
   You Weep
9. Pete Seeger – Going Across the Mountain
10. Frank Proffitt – Tom Dooley
11. Guardabarranco – Asturias
12. Lila Downs – El Quinto Regimiento
13. Aoife Clancy – Are You Sleepin’, Maggie?
14. Alec Stone Sweet – Mrs. Poer, or, The Concerto
15. Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin – Sow ‘Em on the Mountain
16. Steve Young – Little Birdie
17. Mike Seeger and Peggy Seeger – Cindy
18. Sharon Katz & the Peace Train – Sanalwami
19. Danny Glover and Rev. Robert B. Jones, Sr. – Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning
20. Kim and Reggie Harris – Wade in the Water
21. John Stewart & Darwin’s Army – Bay of Mexico
22. Tommy Sands with Dolores Keane and Vedran Smailovic – Where Have All the Flowers Gone

* Exclusive New Recording