SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Is it possible to protest and party? Low Cut Connie believes that it sure is.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GET DOWN")
LOW CUT CONNIE: (Singing) Ain't got no shoes. Ain't got no clothes. Throwing our phones down a toilet bowl. Get down. Pretty, pretty get down (ph).
SIMON: That's "Get Down" from Low Cut Connie's new album, "Livin In The USA." Adam Weiner, who's pianist and lead vocalist of the Philly-based group, joins us now from South Philadelphia. Thanks so much for being with us.
ADAM WEINER: Oh, it's such a pleasure to be with you.
SIMON: When you announced this album, you offered a lengthy and passionate statement about what you see as the need for protest music at the moment. Could you share some of those thoughts with us?
WEINER: I feel that these are times in which artists need to try to lead the way because, in a lot of ways, we are experiencing unprecedented times. I travel all over this country, and I've never seen so many people struggling.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LITTLE FREAKERS")
LOW CUT CONNIE: (Singing) Living on the street for the charm with your back to the wall. Got little to live for, so you live for it all. Oh, freedom fire (ph).
WEINER: And so I'm using my music to try to galvanize people to discuss these issues and do more social commentary in their art.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LITTLE FREAKERS")
LOW CUT CONNIE: (Singing) All these little freakers today. Everybody's changing their name. Don't you feel like running away?
SIMON: What are the struggles you see?
WEINER: I see poverty everywhere, every single state. I see divisions, I see racism. I see confusion. I see misinformation. I see lack of hope. My job when I get on stage is to take a temperature in the room and see how people are feeling. And so I'm like a doctor. I go out there, I see how they're feeling emotionally. And I'm telling you, I've never seen people struggling in this country more than right now.
SIMON: And yet you think joy is an important part of the prescription.
WEINER: I do. You know, if we lose our ability to access joy, I mean, what do we have, you know? And joy can be an act of resistance. Every single night on stage, I have the benefit of having a job where I get to make people feel good, and the process of making people feel good is one in which they process their emotions. So it doesn't have to be escapist. At the beginning of my show, I ask people, how are you feeling right now? Just yell it out. And we get all kinds of answers, and we talk about it throughout the show. We sing, we dance, we laugh, we cry. And at the end, I say, how are you feeling now? And they say, better.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PALPITATIONS")
LOW CUT CONNIE: (Singing) Drop your things and come with me, babe. We'll live like hippies in the USA. And know (ph) we may never get the chance again.
SIMON: I understand that last spring Low Cut Connie was set to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
WEINER: Yes.
SIMON: And then you canceled. Why?
WEINER: Well, I was supposed to perform as part of something called the social impact series. And there was, like, a mission statement for it, and it said, music and performances that amplify voices of diversity, inclusion and promote positive social change. So it was a nice thing to be a part of. And then when the president gave a speech saying that the mission of the Kennedy Center would be changing, that a lot of programming would be canceled, that members of the board would be let go and that he felt that he should probably become the chairman, I knew immediately that mission that I was signing on to would not be completed.
I knew that my performance would not be received in the context that I intended. And so it was an easy decision for me to cancel. I didn't think that my cancellation and the cancellation statement I made would become such a big thing and travel all over the world. I got a lot of attention, support, but I also got death threats and a lot of big backlash for me and my team because of it. I don't regret my decision, though. I really don't want to perform there under the current circumstances.
SIMON: Let me ask you about some of the songs on this album. Let's begin with "Livin In The USA."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIVIN IN THE USA")
LOW CUT CONNIE: (Singing) Livin' in the USA but it ain't my home. Livin' in the USA, but it ain't my home.
SIMON: Why doesn't it feel like you're home now?
WEINER: You can live in a place and feel like it doesn't recognize you and you don't recognize it. And for me personally, the America that I grew up in and the messaging of what America is and is supposed to be, it - that feels distant to me. And a lot of people that I know feel the same way. They feel lost. They don't feel included. And I think that's a sentiment that a lot of people share, that you can be living in a place and not feel accepted there.
SIMON: Let me ask you about another song, "Human Condition."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HUMAN CONDITION")
LOW CUT CONNIE: (Singing) It's a strange thing, drowning out the words of dissention in the USA. It's a strange thing living in a house of detention. Things are not (ph)...
SIMON: What do you observe about the human condition now in your eyes?
WEINER: When we talk about history, of ancient Rome or Greece or any part of world history, we always talk about poverty. We always talk about inequality. We always talk about corruption. We always talk about injustice. These things have always been part of the human condition, and it's something we should never stop talking about.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HUMAN CONDITION")
LOW CUT CONNIE: (Singing) Are you ready to talk about the human condition? Are you ready, babe, to talk about human affliction?
SIMON: Protest songs have a way of entering the mainstream of music and then getting appropriated. Bruce Springsteen's "Born In the U.S.A.," Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land."
WEINER: Yes.
SIMON: How do you feel about that?
WEINER: Yes. I mean, music is not just a song. It's the context in which the song is received and understood and heard. And a good song is one that can resonate at different times and in different situations. I think that we will always have this issue of context, but a good song can last and be interpreted over time, and it's OK if it means different things at different times and different things to different people. It's still having an impact.
SIMON: How do you feel about people who might have a different view of yours, but who enjoy your music? Is that OK with you?
WEINER: I have so many fans who feel differently than me, and I'm very proud to be able to keep them at the table. It's so important to me that we have diversity on every level, including of opinion, of political views. Everyone, as I say, is welcome at a Low Cut Connie show, just like Mr. Rogers used to say, everyone is welcome in "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood." I welcome a difference of opinion. And if people don't like my new album, my new song, my position, I like to hear their opinion out as long as that opinion is delivered with respect.
SIMON: Adam Weiner from Low Cut Connie. The group's new album "Livin In The USA" is out now. Thank you so much for being with us.
WEINER: Thank you for taking the time. It was a pleasure talking with you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVERYBODY")
LOW CUT CONNIE: (Singing) What time to be alive, liked to talk and learned to drive (ph). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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