Children’s Album
FREADOM: Songs Inspired by Banned Children’s Books
Joanie Leeds Book Band
Regina Carter | Oran Etkin | SaulPaul | Divinity Roxx | Cheryl B. Engelhardt
FREADOM: Songs Inspired by Banned Children’s Books
GRAMMY Winning, NYC based singer-songwriter Joanie Leeds is a National touring artist, early childhood educator and activist. For her original children’s music, she has won a GRAMMY for Best Children’s Album for her album, (All the Ladies- a gender equality album for families), 1st place in the USA Songwriting Competition, International Songwriting Competition Winner, Independent Music Awards, Gold Parents’ Choice Awards, NAPPA Gold Awards, Family Choice Awards and is a John Lennon Songwriting Award Finalist. Joanie has played at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Clearwater Festival, The Kennedy Center, Skirball Center, Lincoln Center, Wolftrap Filene Stage, Levitt Pavilion and her music has been featured in The New York Times, People Magazine, Parents Magazine, Huffington Post, Billboard, NPR and The Washington Post.
An Overview of Banned Children’s Books
According to the American Library Association (ALA), last year saw the highest number of book bans, challenges and attempts to remove or restrict materials, since they began compiling data 20 years ago. Book bans across America are affecting millions of children who are currently losing access to important literature due to the growing grassroots movement led by right-wing advocacy groups (like Moms for Liberty,) putting pressure on politicians Nationwide or simply filling out forms for successful book removal. Book banners largely target stories by and about people of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals, Jewish themes and other cultural backgrounds.
The youngest readers have not been spared by this censorship as 317 picture books were banned in the 2021-22 school year. Most of these titles feature stories that represent a variety of ethnicities, cultures and gender identities. It’s not debatable that representation in books matter. These stories and characters build empathy and understanding for others while empowering the most vulnerable readers when seeing themselves reflected on the page.
Artist’s Vision
Often times when the political landscape seems impenetrable and too divisive to make change, I ask myself as a children’s musician, “What can I do?” My frustration and grief often become the catalyst for new music and in this case, an entire concept album. Strong allyship with underrepresented and discriminated groups being silenced and censored while advocating for inclusion through song not only became something that I wanted to do. It became something I had to do.
As a mother of an 8 year old daughter who loves picture books, we’ve been following this story closely as some of our favorite titles have been removed from schools and libraries across the country, particularly in my home state of Florida by Governor Ron DeSantis. My daughter’s bookshelves are filled with picture books featuring diverse main characters and illustrations with different cultural backgrounds and I have seen first hand how this has directly contributed to her understanding of a broader worldview. She was terribly upset upon learning that kids her age in certain states are not able to access the same books that she loves.
This was reason enough to write another protest album, lifting up some of these banned titles and causing some “good trouble.” We checked out dozens of books from our local library and together we chose some of our favorites. Then I reimagined the stories in song form and worked with some of the best musicians I know to record the album, FREADOM.
Joanie Leeds Book Band
- Joanie Leeds (vocals, guitar), GRAMMY ® winner
- Regina Carter (violin), Multi-GRAMMY ® nominee, MacArthur Fellow
- SaulPaul (guitar, vocals), GRAMMY ® nominee
- Cheryl B. Engelhardt (piano, vocals), GRAMMY ® nominee
- Divinity Roxx (bass, vocals), GRAMMY ® nominee
- Oran Etkin (clarinet, sax, vocals)
Guest Artists
- Lucy Kalantari, Multi-GRAMMY ® winner
- Aaron Nigel Smith, GRAMMY ® nominee
- Kymberly Stewart
- Joya Barman
- Flor Bromley
- Darius Kalantari
- Syreeta Thompson
- Robin Tucker
- Rob Dietz
- Ed Boyer
A capella Rainbow Flag arrangement by Rob Dietz (Pentatonix) Mix: Ed Boyer (Pentatonix)
Executive Producers include Jonathan Alter & A.J. Jacobs, Valerie Rockefeller Wayne, New York Times bestselling authors; Rabbi Angela Buchdahl; & Kasey Meehan (PEN America)
Songs
- Banned
- Block Party (Inspired by In Our Mothers’ House)
- Tango (Inspired by And Tango Makes Three)
- Cholent Time (Inspired by Chik Chak Shabbat)
- Rainbow Flag (Inspired by Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag
- Inside Your Heart (Inspired by Islandborn)
- Sing it Out (Inspired by Sing a Song: How Lift Every Voice and Sing Inspired Generations)
- Born That Way (Inspired by 10,000 Dresses)
“The songs comprising “Freadom!” by Joanie Leeds is an especially timely, greatly appreciated, and welcome contribution to our on-going national concerns about the banning books in schools and libraries is service to the current culture wars seeking to continue and protect the prejudices, bigotries, and disinformation that continue to contaminate our culture and society today.”
“I never thought I’d hear a catchy children’s song about my favorite Ashkenazi Shabbat meal, but “Cholent Time” by Joanie Leeds is not only an ode to the comforting beef stew, but to something that warms the heart and soul even more — books.”
