VIDEO PREMIERE: The Klezmatics Collaborate with Sofía Rei on a Cross-cultural Interpretation of Woody Guthrie’s Timeless Protest Anthem “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)”

Both The Klezmatics and their new album, We Were Made For These Times (due out May 1st) are links in the goldene keyt—the Yiddish concept of an ever-growing golden chain that binds past and future. Now entering their momentous 40th year as a band, The Klezmatics have forged a long series of links in that chain, wielding klezmer and Yiddish not as museum pieces but as a living language of struggle, joy, and shared hope. And now on their 14th album, the legendary ensemble recommits to that revolutionary inheritance, braiding traditional and original Yiddish melodies with Latin grooves, gospel glory, free-jazz fire, and borderless rhythms that refuse complacency.

These songs don’t merely recall the past; they activate it—echoing labor anthems, anti-authoritarian hymns, and spiritual outcries that once galvanized communities, now reawakened for an era once again defined by upheaval. In honoring where they come from while daring to reshape it, The Klezmatics remind us that history is not a closed book but a chorus, and that the work of justice, like the music itself, is meant to be carried forward.

On an album loaded with incredible guests—William Parker, James Brandon Lewis, Joshua Nelson, Sofia Rei, Enver Izmaylov, La Manga, Janis Siegel, and the Lavender Light Gospel Choir—Klezmatics reed player Matt Darriau credits a bit of surreal power. “The integration of two dozen guests, three languages (and at least six opinions) had a natural flow,” he says. “Perhaps we were being touched by a bit of klezmagic dust as the pieces fell into place.”

The album continues their history of powerful collaboration, this time focused on other voices from across New York’s rich, diverse music scene. From jazz icons James Brandon Lewis and William Parker on “Elegy for the Innocents” to Crimean Tatar guitarist Enver İzmaylov on “Lashinke vaysinke,” The Klezmatics and We Were Made For These Times bring together the world in honor of the rich traditions of the past and the shared dream of a better future. Or, as cofounder Paul Morrissett puts it: “We Were Made For These Times is not simply a milestone in our 40th anniversary year, it is the next chapter in a journey that continues to unfold.”

Today, Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of the band’s colorful interpretation of Woody Guthrie’s ever-relevant “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee).” Often shortened to “Deportee,” the enduring protest anthem has been covered by artists like Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, and now The Klezmatics, among others. Joined by Argentinian-born singer-songwriter Sofía Rei and tapping into the duality of that goldene keyt, the band manages to fuse worldly influences including their beloved klezmer with Mexico’s iconic Dueto Azteca style, mariachi, and while shifting verses between English, Yiddish, and Spanish. The result is an impressive tune that, perhaps sadly, speaks to our current moment while amplifying the cross-cultural themes.

Sofía Rei describes the inspiration behind covering the tune:

“Woody Guthrie’s words, born from outrage at the disregard for human dignity, still hit with the same heartbreaking force they carried in 1948. Singing this song now, in a time when conversations about immigration in the United States feel increasingly fraught and hostile, I sense an immense responsibility as an artist. This is more than a historical lament. It is a mirror held up to our present moment. The voices once reduced to “deportees,” stripped of names and stripped of humanity, remind me that behind every policy debate live real people with families, hopes, fears, and untold stories. When we fail to name them, it becomes easier to forget them. Woody’s insistence on remembering, on giving identity back to the erased, is not nostalgia, but an act of radical empathy.

Collaborating with The Klezmatics, with their deep sense of history and musical courage, felt like weaving many strands of resistance into a shared voice across cultures and borders. Today, “Deportee” asks us to break the silence around human stories and to hear migrants not as statistics, but as fellow travelers on this shared earth.”

Lorin Sklamberg adds:

“I’ve been singing Woody’s songs since I was a kid, since my mom won a copy of one of his albums of children’s songs in a radio contest. (Who knew that I would actually get to work with Woody’s lyrics and get to know his family personally!) I’ve known “Deportee” for a long time – I never imagined that an 80-year old song would mean so much more in these challenging times. It was a thrill to hear realised my reimagining of this as a tri-lingual (English/Yiddish/Spanish) ranchera (shades of having grown up adjacent to East L.A.) and to sing it, Dueto Azteca-style, with our musical cohort Sofia Rei. Thanks to Sofia and Daniel Kahn for their translation work.”

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