Aoife O’Donovan and Anaïs Mitchell “Over the Finish Line” – Democracy or Dictatorships. Hmm… what to do

On this new song from Aoife O’Donovan – featuring additional vocals from Anaïs Mitchell – the message couldn’t really be starker: “America’s bleeding / We’re watching her die / Fire and blood on the screens.”  It doesn’t need a genius – no, not even a stable genius – to work out what the lyrics refer to.  The subtext of the song is a plea, and an encouragement, to register and then actively participate in the upcoming vote because, O’Donovan implies, it will matter.

Aoife O’Donovan’s new solo album ‘All My Friends‘ is inspired by the evolving landscape of women’s rights in America over the past century. O’Donovan infuses the experiences of the Suffragettes, who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment and paved the way for their daughters, with her own experiences as a modern woman who wants to build a future for her own daughter. The project – O’Donovan’s first self-produced album – features a number of special guests including Anaïs Mitchell, Sierra Hull, Noam Pikelny, Alan Hampton, Griffin Goldsmith and more. Most of the songs on the album grew out of two commissions O’Donovan took on – from the Orlando Philharmonic where she now lives, and the FreshGrass Festival in her native Massachusetts.