Chastity Brown Shares 'Golden' Today For Juneteenth

Tennessee-born, Minneapolis-based artist Chastity Brown is releasing her new single, "Golden," today in honor of Juneteenth. Brown, who's supported such artists as Ani DiFranco, The Indigo Girls and poet/activist Andrea Gibson while touring for her acclaimed Red House debut, SILHOUETTE OF SIRENS, has been sheltering at her home in the South Minneapolis neighborhood recently impacted by the protests. The Bluegrass Situation writes, "Brown explained that she began writing it when her nephew was beaten by four white cops while walking home in Harlem, mere weeks before George Floyd died in her adopted hometown." She was inspired to finish and record "Golden" after Floyd's murder and its aftermath as Minneapolis [and later the world] reacted.

Brown is sharing the lyric video for "Golden" today with The Bluegrass Situation's Black Voices Juneteenth article: "New Movement Music: A Black American Soundtrack of Struggle and Protest."

Listen below!

"This collective trauma that black, indigenous, immigrant, and queer/trans folk feel is real," Chastity says. "It's every goddamn day. Yet, we still thrive and flourish in our natural beauty; we still have swag and songs for days. We still have wild and wondrous imaginations like we are all the children of Octavia [Butler]. I went into my garage studio on June 2nd at noon and came out at 8 pm having written and recorded the entire song on my iPad. It felt electric. It felt like a griot was singing the whole tune in my ear. And I was just trying to keep up. This is for me, my people, and the UPRISING to defund police here in Minneapolis and thereby set a new standard for how communities want to be protected."