Singalong Concerts to Celebrate RISE AGAIN: A GROUP SINGING SONGBOOK

After more than a quarter of a century, the long wait is over! From the creators of the beloved songbook Rise Up Singing, comes its much-anticipated companion Rise Again: A Group Singing Songbook. In celebration, The Rise Again Tour will hold two festive singalong concerts on Saturday, October 3 at 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at Wesley Methodist Church, 98 N. Maple Street, Hadley, MA.

These concerts are benefits for the Carry It On Fund, a source of support for organizations and causes to which Pete and Toshi Seeger were deeply committed.

At all Rise Again Tour concerts, the creators of Rise Again, folk singers Annie Patterson & Peter Blood, will teach and lead songs from the new book. In Hadley, at the 3:00 p.m. family matinee they will be joined by The Nields, Sarah Pirtle, Kim & Reggie Harris, and Magpie. For the 7:00 p.m. evening concert, performers joining Patterson & Blood will include Emma's Revolution (Patricia Humphries and Sandy O), Kim & Reggie Harris, Charlie King, and Magpie.

Amherst residents, Annie Patterson & Peter Blood have, for many years, been advocates of group singing as a way to build community and promote peace and justice throughout the world. Thirty years ago they approached Sing Out!, a folk song magazine founded by Pete Seeger, about publishing a unique kind of songbook. The idea was to create a book with words, chords, and sources (but no music) to 1,200 well-known songs for use by lay musicians and in group singing. Pete and Toshi Seeger persuaded Sing Out! to take on this project, and Seeger's manager helped secure the song licenses from major publishers. Over 200 musicians, including Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Judy Collins, James Taylor, and Bruce Springsteen, donated the use of their songs for the book.

Rise Up Singing quickly became an underground best-seller, selling well over half a million copies by word of mouth. Pete Seeger, who played a central role in the development of the book, declared, "It is making a qualitative difference in music in America." Rise Up Singing has helped to spur a renaissance of group singing, with hundreds of groups holding monthly or even weekly singalongs and song circles in churches, synagogues, libraries and pubs across North America.

Following the publication of Rise Up Singing, Pete Seeger urged the creation of a second songbook with the same format as its predecessor but with even more inclusion of genres that were not heavily represented in the original book. Through the years, he regularly sent Annie Patterson and Peter Blood suggestions for songs to include in the second volume, lobbying for a balance of song genres and subjects, and for the songs to reflect a message of empowerment and positive change through community music making. Shortly before his death, Pete Seeger wrote the preface to Rise Again.

Every page of Rise Again: A Group Singing Songbook reflects the vision of Pete Seeger, who did not believe in artificial boundaries like "folk music"' and constantly encouraged Patterson and Blood to center their work on songs he referred to as "people's music"-- songs about real life experiences that real people enjoyed singing together. Rise Again: A Group Singing Songbook is a treasure trove of lyrics and chords to 1,200 well-loved songs spanning genres as diverse as British Invasion, blues, country, jazz, Motown, composed folk, traditional ballads, gospel, Broadway, early rock 'n' roll, alternative/indie artists, "pub songs" and much more.

Rise Again: A Group Singing Songbook may be purchased in advance of Rise Again Tour concerts from the Rise Up and Sing website and picked up at the concerts. Songbooks may also be borrowed or purchased at the concerts (while supplies last).

The Hadley Rise Again concerts are sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, Western Massachusetts and RUSH: Rise Up Singing in Harmony.

Check out the Rise Up and Sing website HERE

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