Music and politics have always been intertwined. The “Home of the Brave” people have produced a new music/politics video series and its first guest is Springsteen. You can watch it below. In its 10 minutes, Bruce says music itself is “an extension of freedom. It’s like, hey, we do plenty of music that’s just fun. But we want to make you think about what it means to be an American, and what your responsibility to your community, to your country, is.” Later, he describes himself as “a defender of democracy, of American values.”
Ken Casey, the frontman for Boston Hardcore band The Dropkick Murphys, co-hosts with Officer Michael Fanone (who was almost killed during the January 6 insurrection), and Sarah Longwell (publisher of The Bulwark). Future shows will host Joan Baez, rapper Chuck D and Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett.
According to a press release from “Home of the Brave,” its shows “will focus on the necessity of artists using their platforms to speak out, how ordinary people can fight back, and the devastating consequences of staying silent in our moment of rising authoritarianism.”
Bruce: “…particularly as someone who grew up in the ’60s, it’s been shocking, the lack of national momentum to stop what’s been happening. I’m not someone who necessarily believes every artist has to be political…People use culture and are culturally powerful in many ways. You can make an argument that Elvis, James Brown and Curtis Mayfield…changed the world as much as Woody Guthrie, just by what they exuded and what they performed. So I don’t think every artist needs to use his voice that way. But I think if you are inclined to, and if you are involved in the national life and community life of the place you come from … to know yourself, to know what it means to be an American, to live in America … I think your community involvement, your national involvement, is of great benefit to your own search for identity.”