By Joseph Neff
The Vinyl District
June 13th, 2019
Mat Callahan & Yvonne Moore, Working-Class Heroes: A History of Struggle and Song (Free Dirt)
Featuring 20 selections, this one’s also CD-only, for no known reason other than that’s how the artists and label desired it, and so be it. The contents are both admirable and musically resonant; anybody with an enduring interest in protest song or curiosity sparked by the tide of current events should find this release of interest. Callahan has been on the scene for decades, both as a musician and as a writer-historian of various leftist causes; his strum is sturdy here, as is his singing. But it’s Moore, no stranger to community involvement herself, who’s the vocal powerhouse; while she has her own vocal thing, in terms of commitment and heft, she reminds me a bit of Barbara Dane, and that’s sweet. A-
