- Jack Chernos
Jack Chernos (born 1961) is a San Francisco-based activist singer/songwriter. In the tradition of
Woody Guthrie ,Pete Seeger andBob Dylan , Chernos plays his rousing, inspirational songs for social justice at rallies, pickets, and protests across the country and around the world. He performs on five-stringbanjo in the "old-timey"clawhammer style, as opposed to the three-finger Scruggs style developed by Earl Scruggs.Chernos has written several political songs of historical significance, including:
* "Sold Down the River," the song played in continuous-loop from the billboard truck of the United Steel Workers of America during theWorld Trade Organization protests in Seattle in late 1999;
* "The Union Grand," which was the theme song of theMillion Worker March on Washington, D.C. in October 2004, where it was performed as a sing-along at the Lincoln Memorial; and
* "The Silence of Good People," which was inducted into theNational Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.However, not all of Chernos' songs have been well-received by the political left. Although "Walk out of Jerusalem" is generally considered a song which promotes Middle East peace, the song has been banned from the arts pages of some peace websites.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.