This Wednesday was Juneteenth – a good time to share this post…
By Naomi Bird

Slowly, the tour around the Eastern United States built momentum and had popularity with political leaders and churches and concert halls in New York. They eventually surpassed the goal of $20,000 White had committed to contribute to the University – doubling that and bringing in $40,000.
Over the following several years (1880s) the group grew and even did a European tour, performing for Queen Victoria and other notables as they raised $150,000.
[continued in the June 29 publication of SongNotes from the Birds –available here. – including more details about the group’s travel experiences, and of course more specifics about our featured song of the month: “Down to the River to Pray” ]
Nathan’s recording of “Down to the River” will be a virtual ensemble – combining the voices of family and friends shared electronically and layered together by our magical recording guy Nick.
studyin’ about that good ole way
and who shall wear the starry crown,
good Lord, show me the way.
O brother/sister/children, let’s go down,
let’s go down, come on down.
O brother/sister/children, let’s go down,
down to the river to pray.
Our recording of this song – and three others – will be available on Saturday, June 29 as part of the SongNotes from the Birds subscription series. Click to subscribe
SOURCES:
River image: Photo by Daniil Silantev on Unsplash
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_in_the_River_to_Pray
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Songs_of_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisk_University
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisk_Jubilee_Singers
Image: Fisk Jubilee singers: By Prints & Photographs Department, MSRC – Deep Roots Magazine, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29810516
New in June 2019 – you can buy just the June collection, without committing to the monthly subscription.
Click here for purchase info.
Not ready to pay to subscribe, but want to stay in the loop with the Bird flock? Get our Saturday Sampler emails here.
More about us:
We are the Birds.
We perform and record songs and write about them.
Nathan sings, Naomi plays piano, and often others are involved in our recordings as well.
We have old souls, and most of our music has been well loved already for many years.
Our goal is to use our music to enrich the lives of seniors – both in age and in spirit! – and cultivate meaningful connections between generations.
>> Here is a sampling of our May collection of garden-inspired songs (including special guest Christy Jones playing ukulele and singing on the last song!) Click to hear the sampler.
Each Saturday we send out a free email that contains a little something thoughtful to ponder, based on a song. On the last Saturday of the month, we send a sampler of our recordings of all those songs from the month. Sprinkled throughout these emails we also include fun family anecdotes about our four hatchlings, links to blog posts with behind-the-scenes perks, and info about opportunities to connect more through events or products.
We would love to share our music with more people. AND – some new free bonus tracks will be delivered to our email contacts periodically, so don’t miss that!
To get the free Saturday Sampler emails from us, click here or go to: https://email.nathanbird.com/emaillist
Thanks for reading!
~Nathan and Naomi