Work-Bites Music Review: ‘Solidarity Songs’ Just When We Need ‘em
The album release party for Tim Sheard and the Mighty Music Co.’s “Solidarity Songs” is coming on June 15, at Highbury Pub, in Brooklyn.
By Joe Maniscalco
Songs have always been integral to working class struggle and the broader labor movement overall. Think of your favorite anthems from Odetta, Phil Ochs, Woody Guthrie, or Bob Dylan and their amazing ability to instantly invoke the spirit of solidarity in anybody listening.
Hard Ball Press publisher Tim Sheard has been thinking a lot about solidarity over the past few years since the Covid-19 pandemic. As a retired nurse, the pandemic hit Tim hard because it hit so many of his friends and colleagues still on the front lines so hard.
That empathy and understanding of what nurses and other healthcare workers went through during Covid, and what they continue to face today, is most directly reflected in “Nurse’s Lullaby”— Track 13 off of Solidarity Songs—the newly-released album from Mighty Rivers Music Co., Tim’s music collective comprised of musicians Sabrina Rudden, Tracy Michelle, Brian Mason, Chris Price, Mason Emmert, Brad Appell, Eric Hart, and Luke Simons.
Tim is enjoying a hot biscuit and tea at his favorite neighborhood bake shop in Brooklyn when he pockets his cell phone and starts talking about what “solidarity” actually means to him.
“The ward is still/No one walking/No more tests to get through/Lights are low/No one talking/Just a patient and nurse to care for you,” he starts singing low and gentle. “May no one die ’til tomorrow/No doctor paged/No alarms, too/Leave the family with no sorrow/Just a patient and nurse to care for you.”
“Solidarity,” Tim points out, has long been the watchword on the picket line and sit-down strikes across the country because it means power and leverage against the bosses. “But,” he says as he sips a little more tea, “what I'm suggesting is that in the past it was common for labor unions to promote solidarity outside of the union and in the community.”
For Tim, past-president of the Metro NY Labor Communications Council, solidarity isn’t just a slogan or a strategy—it’s “the basic principle for a society where people care about each other and they share what they have.”
“It's the exact opposite of the MAGA approach, which is, ‘I want to take what I can get, and if you don't like it, I'll kill you for it,’” he says. “Solidarity is the fundamental way of living that we need to get back to—and we need to encourage more and more people to demand that this is how we live.”
Tim sits back in his chair and thinks about this some more as the bake shop continues to buzz around him.
“A lot of unions were behind Martin Luther King, Jr. pressing for civil rights and voting rights in the 1950s and 60s,” he says. “And today, a lot of unions are very strong in advocating for the rights of immigrants. That's another kind of solidarity in addition to solidarity in the workplace. My songs are about solidarity in the workplace—in the community—in the country—in the world. And that's the kind of solidarity that I think we need if we're going to make this a humane place to live in.”
“All of us are travelers walking through this world of pain,” Rudin sings on “New Eyes” —the second track off of Solidarity Songs. “We can lift our burden knowing that we’re all the same.” It epitomizes Tim’s philosophy as aptly as any track on the album.
He starts singing the verse again softly before saying, “There's a reason why we sing in church and the reason why we go to musicals—because when we hear these songs all together—when we're together and we hear them—we feel a powerful connection.”
“And even when you're alone, listening to a song—you know that other people are listening to it, too,” Tim adds. “Like on the radio, you feel that connection with other people. These songs help people get over that kind of malaise…that kind of sadness that comes from getting dispirited and discouraged that we all feel sometimes. These songs help bring us back to feeling optimistic—to feeling like a better world is possible.”
The album release part for Solidarity Songs—featuring live performances from the Mighty Rivers Music Co. collective—will take place on June 15, at Highbury Pub, 1002 Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn. The live concert event starts at 7 p.m.
It’s hard to choose from your babies—and NABTU (North America’s Building Trades Unions) is really dropping the ball if it doesn’t quickly adopt “Tradeswomen Build It For You” as an official union anthem—but Tim says his favorite track off Solidarity Songs is the one he wrote for his son.
“He’s a musician in New Orleans and the song is called “Music Is Your Calling,” he explains. “I like the song because it's very simple and it just speaks to the kind of person he is—someone who loves music, and who makes music, and who has a generous heart.”