Gail Swanson 
Featured in Maui News

Acclaimed Singer-Songwriter
Takes a Stand With “My Mama Marched”
Celebrates Her Mother’s Rebellious Spirit
With Inspiring New Single

Official Music Video Features Cameos
From Sheryl Crow and The Legendary Willie Nelson

Listen to “My Mama Marched”

Apple Music | Spotify

Maui, HI-based singer-songwriter Gail Swanson is celebrating her mother’s rebellious spirit with the deeply personal new single, “My Mama Marched,” available now at Apple Music and on Spotify. Produced by acclaimed musician/multi-disciplinary artist Micah Nelson (Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, Particle Kid), the track is joined by an inspiring official music video featuring cameo appearances from Sheryl Crow and the legendary Willie Nelson, streaming now at YouTube HERE.

 

“I’ve always wanted to write a song about my mom and have had lots of ideas over the years but none of them ever felt good enough to represent the most important person in my life,” says Gail Swanson. “I grew up in the Chicago area where my mom, Myra Ducharme, was a folk-singing social worker, activist, and feminist. She raised us on her own for years, working as a waitress while going to school for her Master of Social Work during the day. On the weekends she would take my sister and I to the marches and rallies when Martin Luther King Jr. was leading the civil rights movement. We were so young, my grandma was always very nervous about us getting hurt, but my mom really wanted to engrain into our souls how important it was to be there and take a stand.

“My mom was a real badass. Over the years, she helped abused women escape from life-and-death situations and fought hard for the ERA, equal housing and civil rights. My mom was the most supportive person to me in my life and this song is the perfect way to honor her.”

The official music video accompanying “My Mama Marched” was created by filmmakers Todd Soliday and Leah Warshawski (of the award-winning production company, Inflatable Film), with inventive animation by Micah Nelson and the invaluable support of Swanson’s close friend, Annie Nelson.

“I’m lucky to be friends with Todd Soliday and Leah Warshawski and I ran the idea of a video by them,” Swanson says. “We talked about the whole experience of protesting against the insane situation we are all in right now. They immediately got excited and fired off all kinds of creative ideas, they were in! My good friend Annie Nelson was one of my most pivotal and passionate collaborators on this project. We made signs at her house, took a pic of Willie for a cameo – Annie even made the actual “My Mama Marched” sign that we are using for the cover shot. It took a village to bring the song and video to life and I feel like it’s the most important and meaningful thing I’ve done in my musical career and in my life.”

 

Listen to “My Mama Marched”

Apple Music | Spotify

 

Gail Swanson has earned critical acclaim and a devoted following that includes an array of famous fans with her heartfelt brand of indie folk songcraft. Her ongoing musical journey brought her to Maui, HI more than four decades ago and there she began performing her songs and idiosyncratic covers as both a popular headliner as well as supporting such icons as Willie Nelson, the Doobie Brothers, Mellissa Etheridge, Lisa Loeb, Leon Russell, David Crosby, Jon Anderson and more. Swanson – who has also won over mainland audiences with shows across the continental US – first attracted attention with her distinctive renditions of such classic rock touchstones as Jethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath” and the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” (which drew featured high-profile placement in a number of TV projects). Having established herself with covers, Swanson pushed herself as a songwriter on a series of increasingly diverse releases. Recorded in both Maui and Nashville with a full backing band, 2002’s Living In A Movie earned the Hawaiian Academy of Recording Artists’ prestigious Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for “Best Rock Album” thanks in part to such original songs as “Half A Heart,” a tender duet with her dear friend Willie Nelson. Simple Truth followed in 2009 which saw Swanson once again sharing duet vocals with Nelson (on “The One That Got Away”) as well as collaborating with Hutch Hutchinson (long time bass player for Bonnie Raitt), and the Doobie Brothers’ Michael McDonald, John Mc Fee, and Pat Simmons, the latter of whom produced and contributed his indelible guitar sound to a number of tracks. Over her long career, Swanson has also asserted herself as a committed social activist, performing at local benefits and marches in support of causes near and dear to her heart. Now, with “My Mama Marched,” Gail Swanson takes a powerful stance with her most personal and outspoken song thus far, fueled by enduring love and passionate commitment.

 

“I just want to spread the word to people about how important it is right now to stand up and march and resist the things that are unacceptable,” says Gail Swanson. “To exercise our constitutional rights while we still have a constitution. Everything is so upside down right now, and the only thing that makes sense is to stand up and speak out.”

 

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In case you missed it, read on Maui News, HERE

 

As a child, Gail Swanson accompanied her mother to civil rights marches. She recently released a new recording “My Mama Marched” that is available online and at streaming sites. Courtesy photo

When Maui musician Gail Swanson was growing up in Chicago, she would often accompany her mother on protest marches.

“On the weekends she would take my sister and I to the marches when Martin Luther King Jr. was leading the civil rights movement,” Swanson recalled. “My mom really believed that we should see it and be there.”

 

Those memories and the urgency of this time prompted her to pay tribute to her mother by composing and recording the empowering bluesy rocking song “My Mama Marched.”

Teaming with Maui filmmakers Todd Soliday and Leah Warshawski, she released a powerful video for the song, which includes cameo appearances by Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson and animation by Micah Nelson.

“My mom was the coolest,” she said. “The biggest names in our house were Martin Luther King, Pete Seeger and Gandhi. We grew up on folk music, and she fought for civil rights. She fought for equal housing in the town I lived in outside Chicago, and worked with abused women, helping them escape dire situations. Then she worked with kids in drug court, and she used to do animal therapy. She had llamas, and she literally brought a llama into the courtroom.”

Wishing to honor her mother, Swanson wrote the song and contacted Micah Nelson to produce it.

“When I sent him the song in the beginning, it was just guitar and vocal,” she said. “He turned it into this really cool, almost Ani DiFranco kind of thing. He did the first mixes on a plane because he was on tour with Neil Young.”

Micah Nelson also became involved in adding animation with the video for “My Mama Marched.”

“He does these incredible animations,” Swanson explained. “I said, ‘We’re going to do this video,’ and I’m thinking, ‘The world’s spinning backwards. Is there any way you could do a world spinning backward and a little alien or something?’ And next thing you know, he sent me two different animations, and it was just so cool to put that in the video.”

Annie Nelson also played a pivotal role in the project.

“Annie is the biggest supporter,” Swanson said. “She’s amazing. She helped with the signs (in the video) and she made the sign that I use the most with Ukraine’s colors. And she took a picture of Willie for a cameo.”

Willie Nelson’s wife also helped secure Sheryl Crow’s participation in the video.

“She played the song for Sheryl, and she really liked it,” Swanson said. “Then I asked, there’s footage of Sheryl when she was donating her Tesla for public radio funds at a peak of Elon (Musk) craziness. Sheryl speaks up about stuff, so she was like, ‘No problem.’”

Friends with filmmakers Soliday and Warshawski, who have made music videos for Steve Grimes, Swanson asked for their help.

“They were just so excited and immediately had great ideas and were so passionate about making it happen,” she said. “They got licenses for the footage from the ’60s, and came up with really good ideas, and said, ‘We should do a sign-making party and film you guys all at the local march.’”

Blending contemporary protest footage with archival material, the video features film and photos of civil rights marches, Martin Luther King Jr. speaking, the 1963 March on Washington, school integration and equal rights protests.

“I just want to spread the word to people about how important it is right now to stand up and march and resist the things that are unacceptable,” said Swanson. “Everything is so upside down right now, and the only thing that makes sense is to stand up and speak out.”

Securing national publicity through L.A.-based Shock Ink agency, she hopes that it inspires people to march and stand up for what they believe in.

“We need everybody to take to the streets and exercise their rights,” she said. “I’m honoring my mom, and I just want it out in the world.”

Recently playing “My Mama Marched” to an enthusiastic response at the Ocean Organic Farm, she was joined on stage by Micah Nelson.

“He started playing guitar, and I was like, ‘Oh, man, you just made it better again,’” she said. “I never realized it could be a really cool jam song.”

In March, she will travel to Texas to perform on Willie Nelson’s land at the legendary Luck Reunion festival, where she will likely play the song. “There are little venues, and I might play in the chapel or the saloon,” she said. “I asked Micah. He said yes if he’s not playing somewhere else because there’s five or six stages. You just kind of play it by ear and go with the flow.”

Swanson’s “My Mama Marched” is available at www.mymamamarched.com and all streaming sites. She will perform Feb. 20 at the Ocean Organic Farm.