Mayday!

George Mann and Si Kahn Release “Mayday!”

The world we live in was very different in April 2024, when George Mann and Si Kahn released Labor Day: A Tribute To Hardworking People Everywhere, their joint album celebrating Si’s 80th birthday. Today, a darker, less democratic, more dangerous country and world call for a different kind of album, one with “Songs to Keep Our Hearts Strong and Steady for the Fight!”

That’s the subtitle of their new album Mayday! Again powerfully produced by George, and appropriately to be released in an election year, it’s a collection of ten never before heard songs by Si and George, plus new versions of three Si Kahn classics. In this passionate work of people-centered art, they ridicule and embarrass the opposition (“Anyone Can Be President,” “Ask the Penguin, Ask the Seal,”); thank our everyday heroes of today and generations past (“Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is,” “One Voice”); honor immigrants, including their own forebears (“Stranger In This Land”); and send out a clarion call for community and resistance (“In the Heart of the Country,” “Care for All”). A cry from deep within for a kinder, gentler, more just world, Mayday! is certainly an album for all times, but especially an album for “our” time.

The album’s songs were produced and arranged by George at Electric Wilburland Studios, in the old church near Ithaca, New York, with Will Russell at the recording helm. The album features ten of Si’s songs, including four with Si singing lead vocals, and three songs that Si and George wrote together for this album. There is an urgency to these songs, some of which are decades old, but all of which feel current in these times.

Bios

A former union organizer based in New York, George Mann is a songwriter and producer who interprets labor and peoples’ history in his concerts. He has produced albums featuring such folk music legends as Pete Seeger, Utah Phillips, and Tom Paxton, and tours of the US and Australia to honor The Almanac Singers (2013) and Joe Hill (2015). George brings his experience as a union organizer and educator to his concerts– stories and songs about historic events and the struggle for a better life. He has recorded and produced two albums of Si Kahn’s songs, and Si says, “George brings my songs to life.” As part of his tours of the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia, and North America in 2027 and 2028, George will be offering a special program of Si’s songs, to be presented as either a main stage or workshop event at festivals and other venues.

Si Kahn is in his 61st year as a civil rights, union and community organizer, musician, and author. He has simultaneously had successful careers as a musical theater composer, lyricist, and book writer, and as an internationally recognized songwriter, recording and performing artist. His musical body of work includes 18 albums of his original songs for adults; nine CDs of his songs recorded by other artists; a CD of songs for children, Good Times and Bedtimes; a collection of labor and civil rights songs recorded with Pete Seeger and Jane Sapp; and the songs and/or scripts for seven musicals. His songs have been recorded by Peggy Seeger, Kathy Mattea, Ronnie Gilbert, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, John McCutcheon, Amethyst Kiah, Billy Bragg, Dick Gaughan, Andy Irvine, Hazel Dickens, the Dublin City Ramblers, Dolores Keane, Michael Jonathon & Odetta, and over 100 other artists.

Lyrics, notes on the songs, musician and recording credits, and digital download options are available at www.georgemannmusic.com and www.sikahn.com.

The world we live in was very different in April, 2024, when George Mann and Si Kahn released Labor Day: A Tribute To Hardworking People Everywhere, their joint album celebrating Si’s 80th birthday. Today, a darker, less democratic, more dangerous country, and world call for a different kind of album, one with “Songs to Keep Our Hearts Strong and Steady for the Fight!”
That’s the subtitle of their new album Mayday! Again powerfully produced by George, and appropriately to be released on the Fourth of July, it’s a collection of ten never before heard songs by Si and George, plus new versions of three Si Kahn classics. In this passionate work of people-centered art, they ridicule and embarrass the opposition (“Anyone Can Be President,” “Ask the Penguin, Ask the Seal,”); thank our everyday heroes of today and generations past (“Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is,” “One Voice”); honor immigrants, including their own forebears (“Stranger In This Land”); and send out a clarion call for community and resistance (“In the Heart of the Country,” “Care for All”). A cry from deep within for a kinder, gentler, more just world, Mayday! is an album not just for our time, but for all times.