Photo of Mark Erelli and Lori McKenna. From artist’s website.
Mark Erelli is a veteran singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who released eleven albums as a solo folk artist and as served as a side musician for Josh Ritter and Lori McKenna. He enlisted the help of Ritter and McKenna, along with Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow and Anais Mitchell on his latest composition, “By Degrees.”
Rosanne Cash, a longtime advocate for gun reform, describes the Erelli penned tune as “the most compassionate, vivid and non-preaching anti-gun violence song I’ve ever heard.”
One of the lines that resonates is “and I’ve seen little hands on little shoulders, children in a line, I’ve seen them lead away from school as the shots rang out inside.”
We might be precondition to accept certain things as being normal because they happen “by degrees,” but Erelli makes it clear that gun violence shouldn’t be normalized. We need to get beyond thoughts and prayers and fleeting moments of grieving. How to take meaningful steps to reduce gun violence is a long overdue conversation that needs to be had. Now is the time for decisive action.
The song will receive its official release on October 19th and all proceeds from the sales will benefit gun prevention organisation, Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence.