Kronos Quartet – Michael Gordon: Campaign Songs

Campaign Songs (Cantaloupe Music)

Premiered online between October and November 2020, Campaign Songs is a collaboration with Kronos Quartet intended to galvanize voter turnout in the 2020 election. Recorded in isolation by each member of the Quartet, the eight short pieces that comprise Campaign Songs were accompanied by specially-made video works touching on racial, climate, and economic justice issues, among other topics.

The pieces, arranged by Michael Gordon, draw from the canon of American patriotic, political, and folk music, including Woodie Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” “God Bless America,” (a campaign song for both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his 1940 opponent Wendell Willkie), “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” (a campaign song for James A. Garfield), “America the Beautiful” and “The Star Spangled Banner.” Campaign Songs will be released on 7-inch vinyl.

Get a 7” LP from Cantaloupe Music

Kronos Quartet
David Harrington - violin
John Sherba - violin
Hank Dutt - viola
Sunny Yang - cello
Kronos Quartet appears courtesy of Kronos Performing Arts Association.

Produced by Adam Cuthbert, Michael Gordon and David Harrington
Recorded in isolation in September–October 2020
Mix Engineer: Adam Cuthbert
Project Supervisor: Nikolás McConnie-Saad