Keep your mind set on freedom and your eyes on the prize
January 20, 2025 9:11 AM Subscribe
Crys Matthews calls herself the poster child for intersectionality. Her new album released last week,Reclamation (Youtube, Apple,Spotify, Autographed CD, reviews 1 ,2,3,4,5) "is both sonically and ideologically the fullest representation of who I am as an artist and as a human, she says. A preacher's kid, a Black woman, a Butch lesbian, and a proud Southerner who sings social justice music right alongside 'traditional' Country and Americana music, Matthews is reclaiming not just of the space Black artists have been denied in Country and Americana music, not just of the space LGBTQ people have been denied in communities of faith, not just of the autonomy women have been denied over their own bodies, she is reclaiming the South that raised her." And today, because it s a terrible day for so many, she released her latest song, Sleeves Up, written November 6th, 2024. There is so much
Today, in keeping with her mission statement to amplify the voices of the unheard, to shed light on the unseen, and to be a steadfast reminder that hope and love are the truest pathways to equity and justice. Matthews released her anthem for inauguration day:
I know it feels like this is the end, but if we stop hoping, we stop fighting
Then that's how a tyrant wins
It's not a marathon. It's not a sprint
It's a thousand-day relay race
So rest to resist again
Wipe your face dry
Roll your sleeves up
Even when they knock you down
You get back and you don't give up
We didn't come this far just to come this far,
when there's so much left to lose
Last week, she released her Kickstarter-funded new album. In Reclamation, Matthews reclaims what it means to be Southern and to be Country:
And just because you're peddling love and hope doesn't mean you can t do it with snark:
You say you want to build a wall
OK, let s build a wall around you and yours
So you can figure out it ain t just your town that s small
See, I grew up country, too
So tell me what's your excuse
For that backhanded, hand-me-down
downright dangerous point of view?
____________________
Other themes addressed on the album include:
Christianity
In my hometown, there's a
church on every block,
sanctified folks who'd much rather pray for you than talk
They cherry-pick the good Word and hold on to the bad parts,
so they can willfully ignore every lesson Jesus taught
But in a town I'd never been to before
I saw a church that made me wanna run right through its doors
I could tell just by the outside I'd be met with open arms,
folks spreading the good news with open minds and open hearts
Pride flags flyin' for all to see,
"Black Lives Matter" on the church marquis
Bet they don't just pray when the sick take ill,
or just send thoughts when another gun kills.
____________________
Gender
This world is a
mess,
and it's getting worse as days go by,
uncivil unrest
about who's and girl and who's a guy,
but this heart beating in my chest knows the truth I can't deny:
I might look good in a dress,
but I feel better in a suit and tie.
____________________
The general messed up nature of U.S. Culture
There's a whole lot in our culture I'd cancel if I could:
instead of banning books, I'd ban gerrymandering for good;
the rich would feed the poor like the good Lord said they should;
and every child (without exception) would feel loved and understood
No more whitewashing our history when the truth will set us free
No more watching corporate profits soar while people sink into poverty
No more telling kids they're flawed because you think that your god would
There's a whole lot in our culture I'd cancel if I could
____________________
Intimate Violence
He calls her every name in the book
except darlin' 'til she says yes to all the dark things he takes part in.
He tells her, "one more drink" even when she's had enough. Keeps her underneath his thumb
when it comes to money stuff.
Nobody around her
seems to have a clue
what happens in her house
or what she's going through.
____________________
Reproductive Rights and Me-Too
Rage is like fire
it's warm until it's hot, it's quiet 'til it's not.
And these days, they require
all the can't-stop-won't-stop rage that you've got
Every time we catch our breath,
they try harder to choke out what we've got left
And it's a mad, mad, world
if you're a woman or a girl
They don't see us,
they don't hear us
'til they fear us,
'til they fear us
And I know, I know, I know
this world is hard on you,
but come on, come on, come on,
we've got work to do
Pay her what she's worth!
Say that you believe her,
that "it's her body, her choice" (not yours)!
Be your sister's keeper
Lozen and Wilma,
and Sojourner Truth,
Ella Baker, Rosa,
Sonya and Ruth
we are the warriors now like we've always been.
These are extraordinary times, we were made for them.
Liberty and justice aren't just birthrights for men
when our foremothers' grit bought and paid for them.
____________________
Abolition and Visiting a Quaker Cemetery
Abolitionists and Quakers
peeking through the veil to see the fruits of their labor.
400 years in Pennsylvania
six feet underground, but still steady as an anchor.
So now, I sense a hand upon my shoulder.
I'm waking up the dead and the air is getting colder.
And I'm minding my steps, oh my eyes are wide,
and I am who I am 'cause they were alive.
Dirt on my soles from a graveyard stroll
picking up pieces of the past,
and the ghosts don't scare me in this cemetery, no, no,
they're singing, "Freedom! Freedom at last!"
____________________
And if you still need a dose of revolutionary-pick-me-up after all that, check out some songs from her previous albums:
On revolution, Call Them In:
You've got to
Find a way, to get
in the way
Speak up, sing out
every day
Freedom riders or
letter writers,
do what you can
shine your light brighter
Make good trouble every
chance you get
Eyes on the prize!
We're not finished yet
Don't tolerate
injustice, my friend
Call them out, then
call them in
____________________
On Black Lives Matter:
How Many More
How many times must my people ask why?
How many times must we watch another mother cry?
And if we were you, would what you've done be enough?
Would our reactions be as hard on you as yours are on us?
How many more marches will it take?
How many more days like this until we break?
And if you were us, how much more could you bear?
How many "I can't breathe s before you care?
____________________
On the first time this awful thing happened
Battle Hymn for An Army of Lovers
Change is coming that's for sure
We gave a madman all the keys and let him walk right in the door
And I don't think he'll see the light,
until the whole world is on fire, but that's alright
We will still be here when he's gone,
and if it doesn't kill us all, well it sure will make us strong
Don't let four years change your heart!
We are not born hating each other -- now is not the time to start
____________________
On Me Too:
For the Women with Steel in Their Bones
If I had a dollar
for every "boys will be boys"
I would buy some way to alter
this madness and quiet this noise
for the women with steel in their bones,
the ones with titanium skin
I see you, I hear and believe you
May the truth win out in the end
____________________
On gun violence:
Safe
We're not safe anymore
They're walking their guns through the synagogue door
No we aren't safe anywhere
when they're cutting down the faithful in their houses of prayer
Mother Emanuel in Charleston, a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek
how much blood needs to be spilled?
Spare me your thoughts-and-prayers speech
We're not safe anymore
They're gunning us down in our grocery stores
No we aren't safe anywhere
when they're murdering our babies in their classroom chairs
Too many schools to rattle off, too many names to memorize
How much blood needs to be spilled?
Spare me your "don't politicize".
____________________
Freedom
Black Lives Matter, oh yes, they do
And yes of course all lives do to
But they don t see me
The way they see you
You reach for your ID, they smile
I reach for mine, they shoot
They say that freedom is a constant cry
They say that freedom is a constant cry
They say that freedom is a constant cry
Oh, Lord, we've cried so long We must be free
We must be free
____________________
Connecting across differences:
Exactly Where You Are
I've traveled all across this land
up the gold coast and back home again.
Found common ground 'round every bend
and far fewer strangers than I found friends:
a little princess drawing at breakfast
with wonder in her eyes;
an immigrant on the phone with her abuela saying goodbye.
Planes and trains and buses too,
no 'us and them' just me and you.
And every person's like a book with a story yet to tell,
a hidden gem buried deep within the depths of their well.
Hello. How's it going, how's your journey been so far?
It's nice to meet you, nice to meet you exactly where you are.
____________________
Oh, and here's her Ted talk, Sing, don't shout: an alternative approach consisting primarily of performing songs on the theme of having difficulty conversations. Oh, and she also writes regular love songs, Christmas songs, covid lockdown (with her partner Heather Mae), and songs about life and moments in life and all that kind of stuff, like other folk/country singers, but I think this post has gotten long enough and I'm already a little nervous that I might get in trouble.
Today, in keeping with her mission statement to amplify the voices of the unheard, to shed light on the unseen, and to be a steadfast reminder that hope and love are the truest pathways to equity and justice. Matthews released her anthem for inauguration day:
I know it feels like this is the end, but if we stop hoping, we stop fighting
Then that's how a tyrant wins
It's not a marathon. It's not a sprint
It's a thousand-day relay race
So rest to resist again
Wipe your face dry
Roll your sleeves up
Even when they knock you down
You get back and you don't give up
We didn't come this far just to come this far,
when there's so much left to lose
Last week, she released her Kickstarter-funded new album. In Reclamation, Matthews reclaims what it means to be Southern and to be Country:
"calls out the hypocrisy of folks trying to act like they have some kind of claim to what it means to be Southern, what it means to be country, just because they're because they're hateful. What kind of thing is it to rally around a message that portrays the South to be a hateful place? By and large, the people in the South are incredible, so loving and so giving. This song was also about taking back that narrative of what it means to be Southern and not have it be a polarizing thing. You know, you go into so many of those country spaces, and everybody's waving the Confederate flag around and spewing toxic rhetoric, and they act like that's the South but that is not my South. That's not the South that built me. That's not my experience as a proud Black Southerner
There's this country song that Jason Aldean released a couple years ago called Try That In A Small Town , and it's just a song full of nothing but hate and dog whistles, and it's just so toxic and terrible. It felt like he was making people think that hate is all the South is. It was incredibly disrespectful to me as a Southerner because when you tell a story like that you completely erase the fact that there are Black people who live in the South and furthermore, that there are black people who literally built that place with our blood, sweat and tears. The songs came almost as a clap back to that. That song was really just a symptom of a bigger ailment in country music, in the white version of country music and country spaces.
And just because you're peddling love and hope doesn't mean you can t do it with snark:
You say you want to build a wall
OK, let s build a wall around you and yours
So you can figure out it ain t just your town that s small
See, I grew up country, too
So tell me what's your excuse
For that backhanded, hand-me-down
downright dangerous point of view?
____________________
Other themes addressed on the album include:
Christianity
In my hometown, there's a
church on every block,
sanctified folks who'd much rather pray for you than talk
They cherry-pick the good Word and hold on to the bad parts,
so they can willfully ignore every lesson Jesus taught
But in a town I'd never been to before
I saw a church that made me wanna run right through its doors
I could tell just by the outside I'd be met with open arms,
folks spreading the good news with open minds and open hearts
Pride flags flyin' for all to see,
"Black Lives Matter" on the church marquis
Bet they don't just pray when the sick take ill,
or just send thoughts when another gun kills.
____________________
Gender
This world is a
mess,
and it's getting worse as days go by,
uncivil unrest
about who's and girl and who's a guy,
but this heart beating in my chest knows the truth I can't deny:
I might look good in a dress,
but I feel better in a suit and tie.
____________________
The general messed up nature of U.S. Culture
There's a whole lot in our culture I'd cancel if I could:
instead of banning books, I'd ban gerrymandering for good;
the rich would feed the poor like the good Lord said they should;
and every child (without exception) would feel loved and understood
No more whitewashing our history when the truth will set us free
No more watching corporate profits soar while people sink into poverty
No more telling kids they're flawed because you think that your god would
There's a whole lot in our culture I'd cancel if I could
____________________
Intimate Violence
He calls her every name in the book
except darlin' 'til she says yes to all the dark things he takes part in.
He tells her, "one more drink" even when she's had enough. Keeps her underneath his thumb
when it comes to money stuff.
Nobody around her
seems to have a clue
what happens in her house
or what she's going through.
____________________
Reproductive Rights and Me-Too
Rage is like fire
it's warm until it's hot, it's quiet 'til it's not.
And these days, they require
all the can't-stop-won't-stop rage that you've got
Every time we catch our breath,
they try harder to choke out what we've got left
And it's a mad, mad, world
if you're a woman or a girl
They don't see us,
they don't hear us
'til they fear us,
'til they fear us
And I know, I know, I know
this world is hard on you,
but come on, come on, come on,
we've got work to do
Pay her what she's worth!
Say that you believe her,
that "it's her body, her choice" (not yours)!
Be your sister's keeper
Lozen and Wilma,
and Sojourner Truth,
Ella Baker, Rosa,
Sonya and Ruth
we are the warriors now like we've always been.
These are extraordinary times, we were made for them.
Liberty and justice aren't just birthrights for men
when our foremothers' grit bought and paid for them.
____________________
Abolition and Visiting a Quaker Cemetery
Abolitionists and Quakers
peeking through the veil to see the fruits of their labor.
400 years in Pennsylvania
six feet underground, but still steady as an anchor.
So now, I sense a hand upon my shoulder.
I'm waking up the dead and the air is getting colder.
And I'm minding my steps, oh my eyes are wide,
and I am who I am 'cause they were alive.
Dirt on my soles from a graveyard stroll
picking up pieces of the past,
and the ghosts don't scare me in this cemetery, no, no,
they're singing, "Freedom! Freedom at last!"
____________________
And if you still need a dose of revolutionary-pick-me-up after all that, check out some songs from her previous albums:
On revolution, Call Them In:
You've got to
Find a way, to get
in the way
Speak up, sing out
every day
Freedom riders or
letter writers,
do what you can
shine your light brighter
Make good trouble every
chance you get
Eyes on the prize!
We're not finished yet
Don't tolerate
injustice, my friend
Call them out, then
call them in
____________________
On Black Lives Matter:
How Many More
How many times must my people ask why?
How many times must we watch another mother cry?
And if we were you, would what you've done be enough?
Would our reactions be as hard on you as yours are on us?
How many more marches will it take?
How many more days like this until we break?
And if you were us, how much more could you bear?
How many "I can't breathe s before you care?
____________________
On the first time this awful thing happened
Battle Hymn for An Army of Lovers
Change is coming that's for sure
We gave a madman all the keys and let him walk right in the door
And I don't think he'll see the light,
until the whole world is on fire, but that's alright
We will still be here when he's gone,
and if it doesn't kill us all, well it sure will make us strong
Don't let four years change your heart!
We are not born hating each other -- now is not the time to start
____________________
On Me Too:
For the Women with Steel in Their Bones
If I had a dollar
for every "boys will be boys"
I would buy some way to alter
this madness and quiet this noise
for the women with steel in their bones,
the ones with titanium skin
I see you, I hear and believe you
May the truth win out in the end
____________________
On gun violence:
Safe
We're not safe anymore
They're walking their guns through the synagogue door
No we aren't safe anywhere
when they're cutting down the faithful in their houses of prayer
Mother Emanuel in Charleston, a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek
how much blood needs to be spilled?
Spare me your thoughts-and-prayers speech
We're not safe anymore
They're gunning us down in our grocery stores
No we aren't safe anywhere
when they're murdering our babies in their classroom chairs
Too many schools to rattle off, too many names to memorize
How much blood needs to be spilled?
Spare me your "don't politicize".
____________________
Freedom
Black Lives Matter, oh yes, they do
And yes of course all lives do to
But they don t see me
The way they see you
You reach for your ID, they smile
I reach for mine, they shoot
They say that freedom is a constant cry
They say that freedom is a constant cry
They say that freedom is a constant cry
Oh, Lord, we've cried so long We must be free
We must be free
____________________
Connecting across differences:
Exactly Where You Are
I've traveled all across this land
up the gold coast and back home again.
Found common ground 'round every bend
and far fewer strangers than I found friends:
a little princess drawing at breakfast
with wonder in her eyes;
an immigrant on the phone with her abuela saying goodbye.
Planes and trains and buses too,
no 'us and them' just me and you.
And every person's like a book with a story yet to tell,
a hidden gem buried deep within the depths of their well.
Hello. How's it going, how's your journey been so far?
It's nice to meet you, nice to meet you exactly where you are.
____________________
Oh, and here's her Ted talk, Sing, don't shout: an alternative approach consisting primarily of performing songs on the theme of having difficulty conversations. Oh, and she also writes regular love songs, Christmas songs, covid lockdown (with her partner Heather Mae), and songs about life and moments in life and all that kind of stuff, like other folk/country singers, but I think this post has gotten long enough and I'm already a little nervous that I might get in trouble.
I am not familiar with Crys Matthews and I am immensely grateful for the introduction.
Thank you so much for this outstanding, astounding, lovingly curated and generous post. I am so grateful, If only I had a penguin.
posted by kristi at 12:09 PM on January 20 [2 favorites]
Thank you so much for this outstanding, astounding, lovingly curated and generous post. I am so grateful, If only I had a penguin.
posted by kristi at 12:09 PM on January 20 [2 favorites]
What I needed, and will be carrying forward.
Thank you so much.
posted by Jesse the K at 3:15 PM on January 20 [1 favorite]
Thank you so much.
posted by Jesse the K at 3:15 PM on January 20 [1 favorite]
Aw, Crys is a friend of a friend, lovely to see that on here.
posted by wicked_sassy at 3:47 PM on January 20 [1 favorite]
posted by wicked_sassy at 3:47 PM on January 20 [1 favorite]
Ok, I don't know what happened but it's come to my attention that more than half the links don't work anymore. Here are working links.
Reclamation album on Youtube
Like Jesus Would, the song about Chrstianity.
Interview with "The Rev" her mother (the link from "Preacher's Kid"
Cancel Culture (about the messed up nature of U.S. Culture)
Sister's Keeper (about Me Too and reproductive rights)
Waking up the Dead (about the Quaker Cemetery)
Call Them In (about revolution)
Battle Hymn for an Army of Lovers (about the last time)
For the Women with Steel in their Bones About Me too
Safe (about gun violence)
Ted Talk
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:24 PM on January 20 [1 favorite]
Reclamation album on Youtube
Like Jesus Would, the song about Chrstianity.
Interview with "The Rev" her mother (the link from "Preacher's Kid"
Cancel Culture (about the messed up nature of U.S. Culture)
Sister's Keeper (about Me Too and reproductive rights)
Waking up the Dead (about the Quaker Cemetery)
Call Them In (about revolution)
Battle Hymn for an Army of Lovers (about the last time)
For the Women with Steel in their Bones About Me too
Safe (about gun violence)
Ted Talk
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:24 PM on January 20 [1 favorite]
I met Crys at a guitar/songwriting camp, not knowing who I was talking to--I just sat down at her table during lunch. She was so gracious and open-hearted, not minding me asking clueless questions like "are you gigging these days?" So glad that she is getting the buzz she deserves!
posted by umbú at 10:12 PM on January 20
posted by umbú at 10:12 PM on January 20
Crys Matthews is great. I saw here open for Lilli Lewis in a small venue two years ago or so, and Lewis is another artists worth checking out.
posted by maurice at 7:35 AM on January 21
posted by maurice at 7:35 AM on January 21
So cool to see this release just days after it was presented as an answer to my question about great revolution-themed songs. Its a great album, so nice to hear an album release in 2025 with meaningful lyrics!
posted by mahadevan at 9:59 AM on January 28
posted by mahadevan at 9:59 AM on January 28
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