Musicians fundraise for Georgia Senate runoffs with festival, music releases

Prophets of Rage, Chuck D, Tom Morello, B-Real, DK Lord, Brad Wilk, Tim Commerford

Tom Morello performs with Prophets of Rage at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View on Sept. 13, 2016. Morello will join the Save the Senate streaming event to fundraise for Fair Fight. Paige K. Parsons/STAFF.

A host of artists are poised to perform at a one-day music festival with proceeds going to Fair Fight, the organization created by former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, which will be used to help the campaigns of Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff, who are in the middle of runoffs that will also determine control of the U.S. Senate. If both win, that will create a tie between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as a tie-breaker.

The streaming festival, called Save the Senate, will take place on Dec. 18 and will include performances by Rufus Wainwright, Tom Morello, Courtney Marie Andrews, Jim James, Okkervil River, Tyler Lyle of The Midnight and numerous others. See the full lineup below. Each artist will perform a song.

Musician Ben Lee organized the event with fellow L.A. artists Johanna Samuels, Fortune Tellers Music and Sid the Cat. It will stream via Noonchorus and tickets are available to purchase now for $15.

Several artists have also pledged proceeds of new music to the Georgia Democrat candidates. Most prominently, Death Cab for Cutie on Friday will release a covers EP, appropriately titled The Georgia EP, on the band’s Bandcamp, with proceeds also going to Fair Fight. The EP will include covers of songs by TLC, R.E.M., Neutral Milk Hotel, Cat Power and Neutral Milk Hotel.



Merge Records is releasing a compilation album of its artists that will benefit both Fair Fight and Mijente, another organization advocating for voting rights. Going to Georgia will include TORRES covering The B-52s, Superchunk and William Tyler playing The Glands and Will Butler’s take on R.E.M., among others. The record will be available for $10 at Merge.com and the label’s Bandcamp page. All proceeds will be donated.

“We live in North Carolina, where a racist Republican legislature has worked for a generation to undermine democracy through unprecedented voter suppression,” Merge Records and Superchunk co-founder Mac McCaughan said in a news release. “Our neighbors in Georgia have successfully fought back, through the efforts of Fair Fight and other organizations. The voters who turned Georgia blue in November can now elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, take back power in the Senate, and make true progress possible in this country. All of the songs covered are either by artists from Georgia or about the state.

The runoff election will take place on Jan. 5.

Save the Senate lineup:

Amanda Palmer, Ani DiFranco, A.O. Gerber, Annie Hart (Au Revoir Simone), Bedouine, Ben Lee, Buzzy Tunes, Chris Cohen , Courtney Marie Andrews, Death Valley Girls, Erin Rae , Faye Webster, Johanna Samuels, Jensen McRae, Jim James, Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore, Jolie Holland, Hiss Golden Messenger, KERA, Kimya Dawson, Liz Vice, Lonnie Holley, Madison Cunningham, Money Mark, Monica Martin, Mountain Man, Muzz, Ohmme, Okkervil River, Olivia Kaplan, Pete & the Quitters, Resistance Revival Chorus, Rufus Wainwright, Sadie Dupuis, Starcrawler, Tom Morello, Tyler Lyle (The Midnight), The Watkins Family Hour and William Tyler.



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