Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0611587110220
Label: Appleseed Recordings
Manufacturer: Appleseed Recordings
MPN: 1102
Number Of Discs: 2
Publisher: Appleseed Recordings
Release Date: 2007-09-11
Studio: Appleseed Recordings

Appleseed Recordings celebrates its first decade with a 2-CD, 37-track sampler including exclusive new recordings by Bruce Springsteen & Pete Seeger (their first-ever collaboration), Ani DiFranco, Donovan and more.

Established in 1997 to "explore the roots and branches of folk and world music and sow the seeds of social justice through music," the independent label has released 85 CDs so far that present new music by folk giants such as Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Donovan, David Bromberg, Al Stewart and Eric Andersen, ascendant talents like The Kennedys, Tim Eriksen, and Lizzie West, and has attracted guest artists Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Judy Collins, and many more.

"Sowing the Seeds - The 10th Anniversary" is Appleseed's first sampler and captures many of the label's highlights, as well as nine new tracks recorded specifically for this birthday celebration. The 2-CD set is split into two "themed" discs of new and old songs by a veritable Who's Who of socially aware musicians.

Disc 1, "And Justice for All," features politically charged songs that were among the first to confront the Iraq War and the Bush Administration, as well as addressing economic hard times, the environment, and other sociopolitical issues. There are classics from our catalogue like Pete Seeger's "Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)" with guests Billy Bragg, Ani DiFranco, and Steve Earle, 9/11 meditations by Tom Paxton and Lizzie West ("19 Miles to Baghdad," a recent "Democracy Now" radio/TV favorite), and a Latin-flavored Jackson Browne & Joan Baez duet. New songs here include the first collaboration between Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger on Springsteen's haunting "Ghost of Tom Joad," Ani DiFranco's blistering take on Seeger's "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy," Donovan's re-recording of his 1965 hit, "Universal Soldier," and four new Pete Seeger tracks, including the hilarious "Ross Perot (George Bush) Guide to Embarrassing Questions."

Sowing's second disc, "Love Hope and Appleseed," presents a somewhat broader selection of themes and styles. The CD features songs of optimism, perseverance and meditations on love. There's folk-rock from both sides of the Atlantic by Al Stewart, Donovan, The Kennedys, and John Stewart. There's traditional acoustic folk from ex-Byrds leader and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member Roger McGuinn, David Bromberg, and Tim Eriksen. Other artists include Eric Andersen with guest Lou Reed, Judy Collins, Pat Humphries (her classic "Swimming to the Other Side"), and more.
From small seeds, the 10-year-old label has harvested an abundant orchard of folk music, as this anniversary anthology attests. With Pete Seeger providing the spoken-word invocation and benediction that frame the two-disc set, while serving as the collection's patron saint throughout, it mixes highlights from the Appleseed catalog with new tracks featuring fellow travelers Bruce Springsteen (in duet with Seeger on "Ghost of Tom Joad" and Ani DiFranco (on Seeger's "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy"). The music not only revives folk tradition but renews it, as the pairing of Eric Andersen with Lou Reed on "You Can't Relive the Past" sounds recognizably like the work of both. The compilers pay as much attention to sequencing as to selection of material, with the first disc more often demanding justice, while the second one offers hope. With a roster that now includes veterans such as Donovan and Tom Paxton as well as relative newcomers like the Kennedys and Lizzie West, the anthology traces the legacy of folk tradition while offering indications of where the music's going. Here's wishing for many happy returns (and future anthologies). --Don McLeese