May 1st, 2013 – New York, New York – Tom Morello is offering selections from his Union Town EP as a free download via Teamster.org TODAY in celebration of May Day/International Worker’s Day. The Union Town EP was originally released via New West Records in 2011. The songs “Union Town,” “A Wall Against The Wind,” “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night,” and “Union Song – Live In Madison, WI” will be available for free starting now. Morello and the Teamsters have been fighting the same fight across the country for many years and he has previously performed at their 2011 convention and their Stop The War On Workers rally in Los Angeles in 2012.
A lifelong advocate for Unions, Union Town was initially released after Morello performed at the Capital Square in Madison, WI in February of 2011 in protest to an anti-union bill put forward by Governor Scott Walker. Morello stated at the time “I’ve been a proud union man for 22 years and my mom was a union public high school teacher. Unions are a crucial counterweight to the raw corporate greed that torpedoed our economy, threatens our environment and wants to strip away decades of social progress. Here’s a soundtrack to our fight.”
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org
Tom Morello is an original member of the rock bands Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave, two artists responsible for multiple Grammy Awards and a combined 30 million albums sold worldwide. In 2007, he released his first solo album, One Man Revolution, as The Nightwatchman. His most recent solo album, 2011’s World Wide Rebel Songs was met with critical acclaim with Rolling Stone naming it one of the 50 Albums of the Year. Morello has also been recognized by the magazine as one of the “100 Greatest Guitar Players of All-Time (#26).”
Morello graduated from Harvard University with honors as a Political Science major and has been a widely recognized political activist throughout his career. In 2006, he was the recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award. In 2011 he was named The Nation Magazine’s “Musician of the Year,” received the 2011 Worker’s Voice Award, a 2011 Reed Award, and an MTV “O” Award for “Best Occupy Wall Street Performance.” Morello was also the recipient of the Hillman Prize Officers’ Award for his advocacy for and support of working people across the world. Previous Officers’ Awards have been awarded to such figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Harry Belafonte, and others.
Extremely active in the Occupy Movement, Morello performed at Occupy Wall Street and also made appearances at Occupy sites in London, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Seattle and San Francisco, distributing free tickets to his live performances. He is also featured on Wrecking Ball, the 2012 studio album from Bruce Springsteen and during early spring of this year toured Australia with Springsteen as a member of the E-Street Band.
Morello’s family has been a constant source of political and social inspiration as his great-uncle, Jomo Kenyatta, was the first President of Kenya, and his mother, Mary Morello, founded Parents for Rock and Rap, an anti-censorship counterweight to Tipper Gore’s PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center). With System of A Down’s Serj Tankian, Morello formed Axis of Justice, an organization whose purpose is to bring together musicians, music fans, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice.
Selections from Union Town available for free download May 1st:
- Union Town
- A Wall Against The Wind
- I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night
- Union Song – Live In Madison, WI