• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • My account
  • My Cart

Delmark Records

A New Era for Delmark Records

Follow Us

On Social Media

TwitterYoutubeFacebookInstagram
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Jazz Releases
    • Blues Releases
    • All Releases
    • List of Artists
  • Live Music Calendar
  • News
    • Reviews
    • Interviews
    • Events
    • Awards
  • Record at Delmark
  • Art Gallery
    • Women of the Blues
    • Marcos Raya
    • 1969 Ann Arbor Blues Festival
    • Lewis Achenbach
  • About
    • About
    • Contact
Home | Delmark News Blog | Dave Specter’s “The Ballad of George Floyd” showcased at The Woody Guthrie Center new exhibit

Dave Specter’s “The Ballad of George Floyd” showcased at The Woody Guthrie Center new exhibit

May 27, 2021 Leave a Comment

Black Line

SONGS OF CONSCIENCE,
SOUNDS OF FREEDOM

Curated by the GRAMMY Museum® in Los Angeles, the exhibit examines the role music has played in informing and inspiring social consciousness throughout American history. Charting a path from spirituals that were sung by enslaved people in America and the labor movement struggles that Woody Guthrie wrote about in songs like “1913 Massacre,” to the mass movement of music and art that helped to stir action during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, to the continued fight for racial justice in America today, the exhibit spans time and genre to tell the stories of music’s role as a source of inspiration and an educator.

Dave Specter’s powerful and timely new song, “The Ballad of George Floyd” featuring Billy Branch on vocals and harmonica. Specter also sings and plays guitar on the track. With Brother John Kattke on keyboards and Danny Shaffer on acoustic guitar.

Dave Specter in front of Delmark Records

“I wrote the song a few days after George Floyd was murdered and the lyrics pretty much wrote themselves. George Floyd didn’t die in vain. He helped spark a worldwide movement for justice and change. I’m proud to collaborate with the great Chicago bluesman Billy Branch on this tune. We share the same vision and are inspired by the words of John Lewis: ‘If it hadn’t been for music, the civil rights movement would’ve been like a bird without wings.'” Dave Specter.

CLICK TO VISIT THE WOODY GUTHRIE CENTER SITE https://woodyguthriecenter.org/

Dave Specter & Billy Branch – The Ballad of George Floyd

Evan F. Moore wrote in the Chicago SunTimes:

“When Chicago bluesman Dave Specter watched the video of a Minneapolis police officer pressing his knee on the neck of George Floyd for eight minutes and 46 seconds, causing his death, he knew that the times — pandemic and all — called for more than the usual platitudes.

Specter did what he does best, but with a bit more grit and vigor: He wrote a protest anthem, “The Ballad of George Floyd.”

He’s a bluesman who got the blues watching police brutality.

“I was in shock — disbelief,” said Specter of the incident. “There’s a dark history in Chicago of police brutality. Think about the injustice that’s happened that we don’t even know about. Now with everyone having their phones, taking videos, we’re seeing it a lot more. And I know there’s terrible violence — terrible gang violence — but the overreach by law enforcement is very disconcerting, alarming and shocking.

“I’ve come to realize that channeling my thoughts and my expression through music is really an important part of who I am. And I think it’s a really good outlet for me to use my music to write and create, based on, unfortunately, the turmoil and troubles that are happening in this country. The events surrounding George Floyd’s death were so shocking to me that the song pretty much wrote itself.”

The musical association between Billy Branch & Dave Specter for the release of “The Ballad of George Floyd” has caused quite a spark. This poignant tune completed a triptych of social and political songs Dave Specter started over a year ago.

How Low Can One Man Go? with guest musician Jorma Kaukonen (of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna fame) and March Through the Darkness, featuring Brother John Kattke, came out on his bestselling album Blues from the Inside Out. This album has been released by Delmark on LP and CD as well as a downloadable digital format.

You can also see, sample, download, order CDs/LPs or streaming Dave Specter’s amazing discography on Delmark Records.

CLICK! https://delmark.com/genre/blues/

COMING THIS FALL: DAVE SPECTER DOUBLE ALBUM TO CELEBRATE HIS 30 YEARS ON DELMARK RECORDS

The new release will come out in the Fall of 2021. It represents Dave Specter’s musical journey. Dave appears surrounded by a constellation of featured artists including Otis Clay, Jimmy Johnson, Ronnie Earl, Lurrie Bell, Billy Branch, Willie Kent, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack McDuff, Lynwood Slim, Sharon Lewis, Jesse Fortune, Barkin’ Bill Smith, Steve Freund, Floyd McDaniel, Tad Robinson, Lenny Lynn & more. Dave Specter’s career has been intertwined with the deepest roots of Chicago blues and Delmark’s history. The artist is showcased as a guitar virtuoso, as a songwriter and, more recently, also as a singer. Currently, Specter is going through a very creative and rewarding phase. After his highly praised album “Blues From the Inside Out” got warm reviews and huge airplay around the world, his song “The Ballad of George Floyd” has been selected for the exhibit SONGS OF CONSCIENCE, SOUNDS OF FREEDOM at the Woody Guthrie Center, curated by the GRAMMY Museum. These two CDs constitute a definitive testimony on one of the blues masters of the present at the top of his artistry: Dave Specter.

Categories: Delmark News Blog

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel

Footer

Location & Info

4121 N. Rockwell St.
Chicago, IL 60618

(773) 539-5001

delmark@delmark.com

Shop by Category

Apparel Book Cassette Compact Disc Deluxe CD Download DVD LP Record New Release Reel-to-Reel Tape Single Visual Art

Payment Information

We accept PayPal and all major credit cards.

Transactions are performed via a SSL server to ensure your privacy.

Shopping Resources

  • Shipping Information
  • Refunds
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}