Acclaimed Singer-Songwriter Gail Swanson Takes a Stand with "My Mama Marched," Official and Live Video Now Available
Published
Acclaimed Singer-Songwriter Gail Swanson
Takes a Stand with “My Mama Marched”
Inspiring New Single
Celebrates Her Mother’s Rebellious Spirit,
With Official Music Video Features Cameos
From Sheryl Crow and The Legendary Willie Nelson
Celebrates Her Mother’s Rebellious Spirit,
With Official Music Video Features Cameos
From Sheryl Crow and The Legendary Willie Nelson
From Sheryl Crow and The Legendary Willie Nelson
Performances of the Anthem
At 2026’s Luck Reunion
and Maui’s Official “No Dictators” Rally
Ignite Audiences to Fight for Freedom and Justice
and Maui’s Official “No Dictators” Rally
Ignite Audiences to Fight for Freedom and Justice
Additional Performances Annouced
For April, May, and June
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.
In March Swanson performed at the annual Luck Reunion in Austin, TX as well as at the official No Dictators protest in Maui, HI. A highlight at both appearances was her performance of “My Mama Marched,”
Her hour-long set at Luck featured Micah Nelson accompanied Swanson for “My Mama March.” During the song Swanson Nelson jammed on a guitar solo, and Swanson soared on her flute solo. The song concluded with the invigorated audience singing along.
Her hour-long set at Luck featured Micah Nelson accompanying Swanson for “My Mama March.” During the song, Nelson jammed on a guitar solo, and Swanson soared on her flute solo. The song concluded with the invigorated audience singing along.
On March 28, Swanson took the stage at Maui’s official “No Dictators” rally that made a nearly-three-mile march from the Queen Ka’ahumanu Center to the Maui Mall, and looping back. Among thousands of community members that joined in the march and rally, Swanson launched into “My Mama March.” Those gathered in Maui helped bring the statewide total to 25,000 people that stood together to fight for freedom and justice.
New shows for Swanson have just been announced. She will be performing “My Mama Marched,” and more original music from her previously release albums, Simple Truth, Living in a Movie, and Standing on the Bridge, at Ocean Vodka in Kula, HI from 5:00 to 7:00pm on April 10, May 8, and June 12. An additional performance will take place on April 25 at Devine Wine Bar in Kihei from 3:30 to 4:45pm.
“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.”
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.
|
