Recently, we were honored to have longtime friend Rosanne Cash approach us to collaborate on a special project. She worked with Bldg. 14 to print and produce t-shirts dedicated to her album, “The River and the Thread.” As you know, Alabama Chanin has a special relationship with this record and its message. Rosanne has served as a source of inspiration for our design team and we are once again inspired to be working with her. The shirts feature a screen-printed design of her album artwork and will be sold both at Rosanne’s concerts and at Alabama Chanin’s online and Factory store.
Proceeds from the sale of this shirt will be donated to Equal Justice Initiative, a Montgomery-based organization led by Bryan Stevenson that focuses on racial justice, children in prison, mass incarceration, and the death penalty. They recently opened the National Memorial for Peace and Justice which memorializes lynching and racial terror in America. Rosanne chose this organization because she wanted to focus on affecting change in our region.
Rosanne was recently awarded the “Spirit of Americana” Free Speech Award by the Americana Music Association, in partnership with the First Amendment Center. In her speech, she—as she always does—spoke her mind about issues she felt were of urgency at the moment. Those things included the Music Modernization Act that would secure fair compensation for musicians. She spoke to the status of women today, saying, “Women are not small, inferior versions of men. We are not objects or property. We have unique gifts to offer and if you discount us, the whole world tilts on an unnatural axis. We deserve respect and every kind of consideration given to men, including equal representation in government and equal pay.”
She also addressed a topic dear to her heart and one that she has been outspoken about: gun control. “I believe with all my heart that a single child’s life is greater, more precious, and more deserving of the protection of this nation and of the adults in this room than the right to own a personal arsenal of military-style weapons. The killing of children in schools should not be collateral damage for the 2nd amendment. There is no amendment that is absolute and not subject to revision. We must re-order our priorities and protect our children.”
Rosanne would like to remind everyone in America to VOTE in the upcoming elections, as would our team at Alabama Chanin.
We look forward to any future collaborations with Rosanne and are honored to join with her on this project.