Gavin Friday and Howie B have recorded the song “Death on All Fronts (America is Falling)” for the Allen Ginsberg Tribute album The Fall of America, A 50th Anniversary Musical Tribute.
A benefit for HeadCount.Org, the album is dedicated to Hal Willner. Musically Interpreting poems from Ginsberg’s The Fall of America: Poems of these States 1965-1971, the idea behind the project dates from early 2020. The album’s co-organisers Jesse Goodman and Peter Hale say:
“We started probing around and asking Allen’s musician and artist friends how they’d feel about interpreting (them), many of which don’t easily lend themselves to song. Once we had enough people on board, the plan was to approach Hal Willner, the one man most knowledgeable of Allen’s audio archive and recording history, to help produce it.”
Hal Willner passed away in 2020, but Goodman and Hale pushed ahead.
“While there is no way we could even come close to the genius he would bring to a project, we can at least hope to try.”
TO BE RELEASED ON ALLEN GINSBERG RECORDINGS February 5, 2021, DIGITAL and June 4, 2021 on CD & LP
All proceeds from the album’s release will benefit Headcount, which promotes voter registration and participation in democracy through the power of music.