Welcome back, everyone – we’re starting the year in tracks with something of a statement of intent – Mindy Murray is lead singer with the River Drivers and also has a solo spot as a folk singer who addresses unpalatable truths, and points out the value of those who are outside of the billionaire (now shooting for trillionaire) oligarchy overlord class taking the decision to band together in an act of solidarity to demand a better, more equitable, distribution of wealth. Which brings us to ‘Striking at Kings‘, which is Mindy Murray’s song about the 1938 strike by farmworkers at King’s Farm in Morrisville, PA. At the core is a pay dispute – a not wanting your pay to be arbitrarily cut type dispute: “One hot summer night, coming back from the fields / To the dusty grey bunkhouse, where King’s plan was revealed / He was cutting their wages, down to seventeen / Seventeen cents an hour, but they still held the power / They are striking at Kings / They are striking at Kings, They’re striking at Kings / There’s only one way to get their fair pay / They are striking at King’s.”
The song was released on the 2nd of January, in time for the 5th anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, as the song says: “And ninety years later, the poor are still poor. And those wannabe kings, they just take more and more.”
The song features Mindy Murray on vocals, guitar, and bass, with Kevin McCloskey on mandolin and vocals and was mixed and mastered by Richard Hartline.
