Brent Hallenbeck

Free Press Staff Writer

Todd Lockwood can't remember exactly what prompted the idea; it probably came from a combination of downtime at his recording studio and a caffeine-fueled conversation one morning at Leunig's Bistro. But he thought it would be really cool if he brought Burlington Mayor Bernie Sanders into his studio in the fall of 1987 to lay down a few tracks for a cassette tape.

"Even back then he was a polished public speaker and wrote terrific material," Lockwood said of Sanders, now a U.S. senator from Vermont. "I just had a sense that that was going to translate really well in the studio. I had no idea how musical he was, and he turned out not to be musical at all."

That didn't stop Lockwood, whose White Crow Studio helped Burlington-born jam-rockers Phish record their early material, from going ahead with a musical project involving Sanders. The resulting tape made an impression in and around Burlington 27 years ago. It's likely to make a bigger splash now that Lockwood is re-releasing the album on CD and digital download — especially with Sanders, a favorite of the political left, considering a run for president in 2016.

"This can't do anything but help" Sanders' potential presidential campaign, according to Lockwood. "It's just going to add another little angle, and it's a great way to sort of promote his ideas."

Lockwood used less than half an hour's worth of material from those 1987 sessions for the new release, "We Shall Overcome," named for the traditional folk song Sanders, five backing musicians and a 21-member chorus recorded in rousing fashion to conclude the album. The recording will be available Dec. 1 on Amazon, iTunes, GooglePlay and CDBaby.

Sanders is known for his loquaciousness — he famously delivered a nearly 9-hour filibuster from the Senate floor four years ago — but offered only a two-sentence statement this week when asked for his thoughts about the recording sessions. (Granted, he was waiting to take part in the controversial Keystone XL pipeline vote Tuesday evening when he wrote his response.)

"I love music very much, but to be honest I can't carry a tune," the independent senator wrote in an email forwarded from his Burlington office. "I have to tell you that working with all of those Vermont musicians was a great experience."

"We Shall Overcome" contains five songs featuring many performers still active on the Vermont music scene, including Jon Gailmor, Rick Norcross of Rick & the Ramblers and Danny Coane of The Starline Rhythm Boys. Rather than sing, Sanders delivers impassioned speeches with his deep New York accent intertwined with updated versions of classic folk songs such as Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land."

Many of his soliloquys would work just fine as stump speeches for his potential presidential push in 2016, as the topics he addressed then are similar to those he emphasizes now. On Pete Seeger's "Oh Freedom," Sanders boldly espouses "freedom, dignity, the willingness to stand up against the strong and the powerful." On Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," Sanders angrily indicts the evolution of warfare to nerve gas and laser beams. The album might come off a little awkward at times, but it shows the consistency of Sanders' positions.

"His message has not changed one bit, and if anything it's maybe a bit more relevant than it was then," according to Lockwood. He acknowledges he was initially intrigued by the idea of Sanders making a recording for the "humorous paradox" it offered, but the tone changed when Sanders agreed to do the session as long as it carried an important message. "So maybe in a way this project is even more apropos to the time than it was when it first came out.

Lockwood has pressed 1,000 CDs for the first run of "We Shall Overcome" but expects those copies to disappear in no time based on the early buzz he's seen on Facebook and the music-playing website SoundCloud.

"It's clear that this thing has really got an audience," Lockwood said. "What occurred to me is, you know what, it doesn't even matter if he runs for president. It's just a totally relevant message what he's saying here, and he does have a national following, so why not?"

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at 660-1844 or bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.