Appropriately enough, Forged in Fire, the new song from Crys Matthews, was released on No Kings Day, the new national holiday they’re having over there across the Atlantic. The social justice warrior, proud Black woman, and lesbian Americana/folk/country singer-songwriter is also marking having signed with TRO Essex Music Group putting her alongside label-mates such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and, umm, Pink Floyd.
Speaking of Forged In Fire Matthews explains that it was “written just a few short months into a precarious interpretation of American democracy courtesy of the second Trump administration. The headlines that week were: U.S. Judge Blocks Trump’s Birthright Ban, Allows Class-Action Lawsuit to Proceed; Protesters Confront Feds in Camarillo, CA, as Agents Target Farmworkers; CPJ Calls for Release of Journalist Mario Guevara; Trump Admin Withdraws Head Start Services for Undocumented Children; CUNY Targets Pro-Palestinian Students and Staff in Latest Crackdown; and countless others about everything from tariffs to deadly floods in Texas. While this song was born out of the chaos of a particular week, almost a year later, in the wake of the turmoil this administration’s disdain for democracy has wrought in Minneapolis and in so many other American cities, Forged In Fire feels like a rallying cry from those who withstood similar conditions during the Civil Rights movement.”
