“Save the Monarch”: New Video from John Hall featuring Dar Williams

Nashville, TN – Acclaimed singer-songwriter, environmental activist and former U.S. Congressman John Hall announced today the release of a new video for his song “Save the Monarch,” which features renowned folk music artist Dar Williams. The four-and-a half minute long video is available on Hall’s website and YouTube (https://youtu.be/Q3y2L4jyyJo)

“Save the Monarch” appears on Hall’s latest album, Reclaiming My Time, which was released in May 2021. Hall’s sixth solo record, in addition to the 18 albums he released with the pop-rock band Orleans, Reclaiming My Time broke the Top 20 on the Americana Country Charts and was widely praised upon release. (The album’s title is a phrase used on the floor of Congress when a member wants to resume speaking after an interruption.) 

“When I wrote ‘Save the Monarch’ I envisioned it as a hymn for endangered species, a sincere prayer that we answer the call to be good stewards of the earth,” said Hall. “The urgency of needing to protect life on our planet has been an enduring theme in my work, and I was absolutely thrilled when Dar (Williams), a neighbor of mine when I lived in New York’s Hudson Valley, agreed to sing the song with me. Dar is such an extraordinary artist and writer, as well as an engaged environmentalist. She certainly helps lift the song and gives it greater resonance.”

Hall and Williams swapping vocals on “Save the Monarch” is certainly apt, as they served for several years together on the board of directors of the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, an environmental and education nonprofit co-founded in 1969 by folk music icon and activist Pete Seeger. 

The video for “Save the Monarch” was directed, filmed and edited by Rob Arthur, who has directed videos for the Doobie Brothers, Dave Mason and Peter Frampton as well. A veteran keyboardist, Arthur has spent the past two decades serving as the bandleader for Peter Frampton. 

Hall plays all of the instruments on “Save the Monarch” except for drums, which are handled by Peter O’Brien, Hall’s former bandmate in Orleans. Reclaiming My Time is notable for the many musical artists who joined Hall in the studio, including John Cowan (New Grass Revival, Doobie Brothers), Andrea Zonn (James Taylor, Vince Gill), Jay Collins (Dukes of September, Allmans), Sean Paddock (Kenny Chesney) and pedal steel guitar player Dan Dugmore. Steve Wariner co-wrote and sang a duet with Hall on “Another Sunset.”

Hall is known mostly for his work with Orleans; the band’s hits “Still the One” and “Dance with Me,” which he co-wrote with former wife Johanna Hall, continue to be streamed over 100,000 times apiece daily. Last year, Orleans released a Christmas album called New Star Shining, and in 2022 the band will be celebrating its 50th anniversary.

In 1979, Hall launched Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Graham Nash, which culminated in the famed “No Nukes” concerts, which featured the above-mentioned musical artists, as well as Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, the Doobie Brothers and Carly Simon. 

Hall was elected in 2006 and 2008 to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he fought for environmental issues and veterans’ disability rights. In 2016, his memoir Still the One: A Rock’n’Roll Journey to Congress and Back was published.

 

 

NYS Music In Motion - John Hall Interview

Set up a reminder to listen to an interview with John Hall from @TheBandOrleans by @NYStateMusic. The interview broadcasts on the 5th of November. https://youtu.be/C4yKUQiNsMc via @YouTube

RECLAIMING MY TIME, New Album by John Hall, Due May 28 on Sunset Blvd.

"Reclaiming My Time” is John Hall’s sixth solo record, in addition to the 18 albums he recorded with his band Orleans. The title is a phrase used in Congress (where Hall spent 4 years) after being interrupted. It’s also an allusion to the music he might have written and played during ten years in elective office.

Supporting musicians include John Cowan(New Grass Revival, The Doobie Brothers), Andrea Zonn (James Taylor, Vince Gill), Sean Paddock (Kenny Chesney), Steve Wariner, Jay Collins (Dukes of September, Allmans), songwriting partner John Paul Daniel and steel guitar legend Dan Dugmore. Dar Williams and Wariner sing duets with John, the latter on a song they wrote together, “Another Sunset.”

The album’s opening track, “I Think of You,” was written with Songwriters' Hall of Fame member Sharon Vaughn. “Now More Than Ever” reunites for the first time in twenty-five years the songwriting team of John and Johanna Hall, who penned the Orleans hits “Still The One” and “Dance With Me.” Recorded in New York’s Hudson Valley and Nashville, TN, Reclaiming My Time spans Hall’s usual range of love songs, blues, topical tunes and rockin’ good time music. Hall’s trademark acoustic and electric guitar playing--that graced records by Jackson Browne, Little Feat and Bonnie Raitt--ties it all together.

The first single and video, “Alone Too Long” was written for a friend who lost his wife and was wondering when it was okay to start dating again. As the pandemic year ground on, it became a commentary on isolation and loneliness. 

The whole project was started well before any lockdown, but then relied on home recording and remote mixing and mastering. Now we are all reclaiming the time and lives that were shut down for over a year. “Reclaiming My Time” celebrates that.

John Hall has written songs for Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner, and James Taylor. He’s played guitar on tours and records for Little Feat, Taj Mahal, Jackson Browne, and Seals and Crofts. His music and environmental activism led him to 10 years in elective office, and co-founding MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy). Now, back to music full time, he writes songs and performs solo and with Orleans, the group he co-founded in the 1970s. Their biggest hits “Still the One” and "Dance With Me" continue to garner hundereds of thousands of streams per week, and to appear in mass media from commercials to movies and even political campaigns. The former is also in the title of John’s memoir, “Still The One: A Rock’n’Roll Journey To Congress and Back.”        

 John Hall's "Alone Too Long" Music Video

Track listing

1)  I Think of You  (co-write w/ Sharon Vaughn)

2)  Alone Too Long  (co-write w/ John Paul Daniel and Tad Richards)

3)  Mystic Blue  (co-write w/ John Paul Daniel)

4)  Lessons (co-write with Jonell Mosser and Johanna Hall)

5)  Islamorada  (pronounced: “I-la-mo-ra-da”

6)  Somebody  (co-write with John Paul Daniel)

7)  Another Sunset (w/ Steve Wariner)  (co-write w/ Steve)

8)  Now More than Ever  (co-write with Johanna Hall)

9)  Save the Monarch (w/ Dar Williams)

10)  All Up and Down From Here   (co-write w/ John Paul Daniel)

11)  World on Fire   (co-write with John Paul Daniel and Tad Richards)

12)  Future Ex-Wife  (co-write with John Paul Daniel)

13)  Welcome Home

John Hall's Memoirs: STILL THE ONE: MY ROCK'n"ROLL JOURNAL FROM CONGRESS AND BACK

John Hall's memoir, STILL THE ONE: MY ROCK'N'ROLL JOURNEY FROM CONGRESS AND BACK is available in hardcover and Kindle.

The Kindle version is now on sale on the Amazon.com Kindle store for $4.99. The direct link is: https://www.amazon.com/Still-One-RocknRoll-Journey-Congress-ebook/dp/B01K8AA0E2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1471017275&sr=1-1&keywords=john+hall

The book is also available for mail order, as a personalized autographed book, right now via email and phone from Oblong Books & Music. Here is the link: http://www.oblongbooks.com/still-one-paperback-signed-john-hall. The phone number is 845-876-0500.

John Hall is doing an in-store at Oblong Books, in Rhinebeck, on the 22nd of September at 6 pm. This is the store's website,http://www.oblongbooks.com.

More in-stores to be announced to local media and on John’s Facebook page at 'www.facebook.com/JohnHall.memoir/?fref=ts

Best known as the founder of the band Orleans, with hits including “Still The One,” and “Dance With Me,” John co-wrote Janis Joplin’s “Half Moon,” Steve Wariner's #1 country hit "You Can Dream of Me," and also “Power,” which became the theme of the NO NUKES concerts in the 1970s. John has collaborated in the studio or on the stage with Little Feat, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash, Chet Atkins, Carly Simon… 

His environmental concerns led him into community activism, which got him on the road into politics, first serving in the Ulster County, New York legislature, then as trustee and president of the Saugerties school board.  Hall won a seat in Congress in 2006, and returned to music in 2011 with Orleans.  

John is looking forward to taking the book on the road where he’ll tell stories, play songs, sign books, and talk with fans and anyone interested in crossing from a "normal" career to politics.  

John’s optimism comes through in stories from his life in the musical and political worlds in STILL THE ONE: A ROCK’n’ROLL JOURNEY TO CONGRESS AND BACK.    

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www.facebook.com/JohnHall.memoir
www.johnhallmusic.com

please spread the word: It's good to talk with your federal representatives

This is your mouth on open--Use it!

I want to start by writing that I think most of my Facebook friends are smarter than many people who work in TV news. I am seeing that many news folks are sensationalizing unfacts or how people react at Town Halls. We need to spend time getting to the source for news stories, the web has a lot of information related to most of the news stories. We can actually go to sites like http://thomas.loc.gov/ to read pending legislation, works that are still in committee, and also get the voting record of the folks in DC. After that, we can contact our legislators (thomas.loc also has leads to each legislator at every State.)

I spoke with aides at Eliot Engel's (my congressman) and Kirsten Gillibrand's (one of my senators) offices. Both stated that the Public Option is still in both bills. The Senator's office stated that a lot of work still needs to be done in creating the first bill for insurance reform, including regulation for the insurance agencies. The companies don't want that regulation because they want to make more money. But aren't you sick of spending money to companies who act entitled to everything, but don't value their customers?

My younger brother is a Republican, who worked in Washington, DC in the '80s. He continues to follow current events. He will publicly state the bad customer service practices of insurance companies, and knows they have to be reigned in and regulated. His wife, who works in hospice, also knows that freedomworks is not doing right by the American people by stating the government is going to help Granny die. There is no Death panel for anybody in any of these bills before Congress.

After you chat with your representatives, have them answer your questions, and give insight to what's in these bills, which are still being worked on. Then I urge you to talk with friends and family in different parts of the country. URGE them to call their federal representatives with questions. Urge your friends to urge your federal representatives include the public options for health care. I'm a New Yorker--we have our health care taken care of through a sliding scale. We can have check ups, and pay what we can afford whenever we have cash on hand. It works, and most New Yorkers are very supportive of this. This health care system is one of the reasons that New York City is an extremely productive community.

But there are folks all over this country who are not lucky enough to have the benefits that New Yorkers have. I want the same compassion for them.

Understand that when people are not flooding their hard-earned money to life Insurance company executives' extravagances, they will have more money to spend. It's also okay for a little bit of "sin" tax on sweets and sodas--we know that's extra.

We also should not construe "socialism" with investing in our needs or helping our neighbor. As I see it, more recent than how our country was founded was the way our country was built. If someone's house burnt down, our great grandparents would have helped them rebuild their house. And what the heck, if you consider paying taxes to help the poor people to be socialism, then get to know a poor person-- be social; you'll want to help them after you get to know them. Believe it or not, some of my best friends and I are financially-challenged. But boy are we smart, resourceful, and we can teach the richest person something about budgeting!

The poor people paid their share of taxes to help America hurt other countries. Let's have them get helped because everyone is productive in this country.

Something I realized is the amount of service that many poor people give to the very well-to-do. From waiters and shop workers who sell cigars to auto mechanics, and contractors, even publicists--people are very much of service to rich people. They are only paid a certain amount of money for their work. Making sure everyone gets health care will allow the rich to continue paying whatever they currently pay, while the people who service them will keep their health, and also keep money flowing. That's capitalism, and actually very close to what Adam Smith had intended.

Please think about what the news is saying, and get some answers from your representatives. And remember, Health Care Reform--part one, Insurance Reform is going to take some time to get into a passable amendment, and then take into effect. A lot of our elected officials have not given up on it. Keep after these folks the same way you would go after a job or something else that would benefit you.

Location for Congress bill: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:H.R.3200:
(note: that Congress.gov will be undergoing maintenance on Sunday, August 30, and will be back online at 7 PM)