Rachel Baiman Announces New LP ‘Common Nation of Sorrow’, Shares Reinvention of John Hartford’s “Self Made Man”

Acclaimed singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rachel Baiman will release her anticipated new album, Common Nation of Sorrow, March 31 via Signature Sounds (pre-order here). Ahead of the release, “Self Made Man,” Baiman’s reinvention of John Hartford’s song of the same name, is debuting today.

Reflecting on the song, Baiman shares, “In 2019 John Hartford’s family released a posthumous collection of songs that he had never released. I was immediately enamored by a song fragment called ‘Self Made Man.’ The message of the song in conjunction with the whimsy of musical presentation spoke to me and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I decided to try and flesh out the song with additional verse lyrics, and a chorus and bridge melody.”

Produced by Baiman, mixed by Tucker Martine (Neko Case, The Decemberists, First Aid Kit) and recorded at The Tractor Shed outside of Nashville, Common Nation of Sorrow offers an assessment of the country’s current state, telling stories of American capitalism and the individual and communal devastation it manifests. Across the record’s ten tracks, Baiman highlights these shared experiences with the hope they will become a tool for activism.

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