The Music of Blue Wilder 

My life has been a continuous merger of politics and music. Music brings people together across language, culture and experience. It can soothe, inspire and motivate. I honed my craft not only with folk and rock and roll groups, choirs and open mics, but at rallies, protest marches, and labor events. I was immensely privileged in my twenties to open for Holly Near; to perform with Charlie King; and to be one of many performers at rallies in California where Pete Seeger and Bernice Reagan were featured.

I have also been able to travel and to share music in Mexico, Ireland, Scotland, Kenya and Cuba. My appreciation of the Nueva Cancion music of Chile, and engagement with La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley, birthed the formation of a Latin and North American folk ensemble, “Mariposa” with two other women. We played at numerous events and helped highlight the American intervention in Chile.

I never imagined, as I raised my family and did my work, that I would live to see the spectre of facism spreading over my country. I stand ready to perform solo, or with band members, and to lead songs at rallies and events that promote gender and racial justice; and oppose economic inequality, xenophobia, imperialism and the police state.

The Red Rose

We Are the River