Album Notes

BLACKFIRE RELEASES SONGS COMPOSED FOR PREVIOSLY UNRELEASED AND UNPUBLISHED WOODY GUTHRIE LYRICS

Flagstaff, AZ - Independent Alter-Native post-punk Dine¹ (Navajo) trio BLACKFIRE have composed and recorded music for two previously unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics unearthed from the Woody Guthrie Archives in New York City.

"It¹s sort of strange to be collaborating with Woody Guthrie," said Clayson Benally, drummer and back-up vocalist for BLACKFIRE, "he¹s an American folk icon who wrote such classics as "This land is your land" and "Pastures of Plenty". We are honored to have the opportunity to build a bridge between the past and present movements of socially conscious political music."

"Woody wrote thousands of songs but only recorded a small percentage of them, so we were blown away when Nora Guthrie (Woody Guthrie¹s daughter) asked us to look through the archives and write music for some songs." says Klee Benally guitarist and vocalist for BLACKFIRE. "There¹s so much history in the archives of the struggles during Woody¹s time, it was surprising to see how much many of those issues still affect us today."

The first track, "Mean Things Happening in this World," is a passionate cry for peace written over 60 years ago. "Even though, this song was written well before I was born, Woody¹s lyrics remind me that we are part of a movement for peace that didn¹t just begin today or in the 60¹s", says Jeneda Benally Bassist and vocalist for the group.

The second track, "Corn Song," sings about the working class¹s struggle with corrupt politicians and how "working people" can learn from the self sufficiency and generous nature of the First Nations.

The "Woody Guthrie Singles" marks the 4th release on BLACKFIRE¹s own independent label Tacoho Records. BLACKFIRE¹s previous release "One Nation Under", distributed by Canyon records, featured the last recordings of punk rock legend Joey Ramone and was awarded the "Best Pop/Rock Album" at the 2002 Native American Music Awards and the 2002 F.A.M.E. award for "Album of the Year".

BLACKFIRE¹s constant tour schedule has taken them from a festival in the Sahara desert in Mali, Africa in January where they performed with Ali Farka Toure and Robert Plant, to their 7th European tour earlier this spring, as well as across the U.S. and into Canada. This autumn, BLACKFIRE will return to Europe for a month long tour and then follow up with a U.S. tour.