Smart, truth-telling, fun acoustic folk with powerful songwriting on progressive themes, vocals you're compelled to sing along with, a stack of instruments including hot fiddle and hambone, and a gamut from goosebumps to belly laughs.

12 MP3 Songs in this album (52:01) !
Related styles: FOLK: Progressive Folk, FOLK: Political



Details:
About this recording:
What We Do: Good-Time Songs Of Hope And Change
Songs to wake your head, break your heart, shake your hips: fiddle guitar accordion hambone piano congas feet a cappella and MORE. A party in a 100 post-consumer package. (June 2009 release)


What We Do: Good-Time Songs Of Hope And Change is a collection of twelve original songs. It's a blend of progressive politics and acoustic folk. The songs are a snapshot of life & themes in the vibrant Minnesota peace culture at the turn of the century (this one). The CD includes favorites from the duo's concert repertoire, including the Basta, Close to Home, Good Good Thing, and the title track. The recording captures the core of the duo's engaging sound: strong vocals, sweet fiddle, steady guitar and big energy. For this recording, they're joined by a tossed salad of local musicians, sprinkling in percussion, bass, accordion, hambone, and lots more vocals.

Musician Bios in a nutshell:
Linda Breitag is a singer/songwriter, fiddler, visual artist, and folklorist. She was recently named a Master Fiddler by the Minnesota State Arts Board. Linda is a certified leader of InterPlay, a practice which reunites body and soul through improvisation in movement, music, and story-telling

Bret Hesla spends his time getting ordinary people together to sing. The songs, original and traditional, are about progressive issues and community life. Bret is a singers' songwriter, not a "singer songwriter."

Musician Bios--Read more:

Linda Breitag is a singer/songwriter, fiddler, visual artist, and folklorist with an M.A. in ethnomusicology. Her musical past runs the gamut from the St. Olaf Choir to a Cajun/Zydeco band based in Quebec City. These days she is most interested in composing call-response-type songs that get people to move their bodies -- in church! Linda also writes songs about life as a person who strives to understand and remain hopeful. She was recently named a Master Fiddler by the Minnesota State Arts Board, and has a CD and cassette called Feet to the Fire, featuring fiddle tunes and original songs. Linda is a certified leader of InterPlay, a practice which reunites body and soul through improvisation in movement, music, and story-telling,with the goal of experiencing grace, fun, and community. Besides Bread for the Journey, Linda performs in schools and folk venues, and in churches and conferences around the country with her husband, composer Ray Makeever. She's also a stepdancer and fledgling body percussionist. Linda is a member of the Community of St. Martin in Minneapolis. Her current life path centers on intense daily sessions with her spiritual director, Sophia, twelve years old.


Bret Hesla spends his time getting ordinary people together to sing. With guitar and banjo, he has spent much of the past 25 years collecting, writing and performing music on issues of peace, justice and sustainable living.
Bret weaves music into everyday community life. Bret has worked for over 10 years with St. Paul-based Advocating Change Together, using songleading and collective songwriting to advance civil rights and self-advocacy for people with developmental disabilities. He is a founding member of the nationally acclaimed music group Bread for the Journey, a Minneapolis-based group specializing in teaching songs of faith, hope, justice and inclusion from progressive Christian communities around the world. In 2005, Hesla and some friends launched a quarterly singing party series that rotates among several homes in south Minneapolis (big fun, big voices, small rooms, great treats)--singing traditional songs for group singing--May carols, rounds, younameit. â¨â¨Bret is a singers' songwriter, not a "singer songwriter." He writes songs meant to be sung by groups big and small (churches, schools, camps, community choirs, neighborhood parties). The melodies are singable by average voices--and memorable. The lyrics reflect a commitment to community, peace, care of the earth, social justice and fishing. The keepers (which are many) are widely used (especially in schools and churches) and appear in numerous publications and recordings.