We Shall Overcome (Bernie Sanders album)

We Shall Overcome
BurlingTown cassette cover
Studio album by Bernie Sanders
Released	December 12, 1987
Recorded	November 1987
Studio	White Crow Audio (Burlington, Vermont)
Genre	Folk spoken word
Length	26:31 (Side A)
Label	BurlingTown
Producer	Todd Lockwood Douglas Jaffe
Bernie Sanders chronology
— We Shall Overcome (1987) —

We Shall Overcome is an album by American politician Bernie Sanders, recorded and released in 1987. The album combined folk music and spoken word, narrated by Sanders. He was the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, at the time of the album's release. The album was remastered and rereleased in 2014 and has gained wide exposure during Sanders' presidential campaign.^[1]

Background

In 1987, Burlington-based music producer Todd Lockwood was sipping coffee at Leunig's Bistro when he came up with the idea to approach the city's mayor, Bernie Sanders, to record a musical project at his studio, White Crow Audio.^[2] Lockwood wrote a letter to Mayor Sanders and a meeting was arranged at the mayor's office. Lockwood originally imagined the album as an audio portrait of Bernie Sanders, but Sanders saw it as an opportunity to tell a much larger story.

Sanders made a list of ten songs he would be willing to record, five of which made the cut for the album.^[3]

Once word of the project spread among the Vermont music community, musicians began lining up to be part of it. The studio sessions were reminiscent of the Michael Jackson - Lionel Richie recording, We Are The World.

Track listing

Side A
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Oh Freedom"	4:24
2.	"The Banks of Marble"	5:51
3.	"Where Have All the Flowers Gone"	5:48
4.	"This Land Is Your Land"	3:06
5.	"We Shall Overcome"	7:22

Side B
No.	Title	Length
6.	"A Conversation with Bernie Sanders"

Personnel

Credits are taken from liner notes of We Shall Overcome.^[4]

Band

• Andy Shapiro – piano
• Tom Berd – organ
• Don Sidney – electric guitar
• Mark Ransom – electric bass
• Jeff Salisbury – drums

Guest musicians

• Howard Mitchell – background vocals, chorus
• Ginny Peck – background vocals, chorus
• Emily Wadhams – background vocals, chorus
• David Weaver – background vocals, chorus
• Steve Rainville – background vocals
• Chris Bailey – chorus
• Nancy Beaven – chorus
• Marcia Brewster – chorus
• Dexter Brown – chorus
• Kathy Carbone – chorus
• Danny Coane – chorus
• Joanne "Little Joyce" Cooper – chorus
• David Daignault – chorus
• Frank Egan – chorus
• Dana Lavigne – chorus
• Tom Lyon – chorus
• Joe Moore – chorus
• Rick Norcross – chorus
• Michael Oakland – chorus
• Debbie Patton – chorus
• Pamela Polston – chorus
• KK Wilder – chorus

Narrative

• Bernie Sanders

Arrangements

• Don Sidney – musical
• Douglas Jaffe – harmony vocals

Technical personnel

• Chuck Eller – engineering
• Todd Lockwood – engineering, production
• Douglas Jaffe – production
• Adam Ayan – digital mastering
• Gateway Mastering – digital mastering

Artistic personnel

• Glenn Russell – photograph

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label	Ref.
United States	December 12, 1987	Cassette	BurlingTown	[5][6]
	December 1, 2014	CD	Todd R. Lockwood Works	[7]
Worldwide		Digital download

See also

• American folk music
• O'Malley's March, an American rock band fronted by fellow 2016 Democratic Party presidential candidate Martin O'Malley

References

1. Bethea, Charles (October 27, 2015). "What a Real Folk Singer Thinks About Bernie Sanders' Folk Album". Politico. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
2. Davis, Mark (September 17, 2014). "Bernie Sanders Recorded a Folk Album. No Punchline Required". Seven Days. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
3. Ledbetter, Stewart (November 26, 2014). "From The Archives: The Bernie Project". WPTZ. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
4. We Shall Overcome (Media notes). Bernie Sanders. Todd R. Lockwood Works. 2014. TRLW-101.
5. "Album: "We Shall Overcome" by Bernie Sanders and 30 Vermont Artists". Seven Days. December 10, 1987. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
6. Davis, Mark (September 17, 2014). "Bernie Sanders Recorded a Folk Album. No Punchline Required". Seven Days. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
7. Ledbetter, Stewart (November 27, 2014). "Sen. Bernie Sanders: Recording Artist". Burlington, VT: WPTZ. Retrieved November 16, 2015.

External links

• We Shall Overcome at Discogs (list of releases)