Songs for Social Change 2020

The winner of the 2020 Songs for Social Change Songwriting Competition is Alastair Moock and his prize winning song is "Be a Pain."

Alastair Moock wears many musical hats. He’s a Boston Music Awards-nominated singer-songwriter; a 2013 Grammy nominee for children’s music; and a well-travelled performer, speaker and educator for all ages. The Boston Globe calls him “one of the town’s best and most adventurous songwriters” and The Washington Post says “every song is a gem.”

His winning entry, "Be Pain,"  set in a catchy country-bluegrass rhythm, is a call for people to work for social change in the manner of the great activists of the past and present. Here is the official video of his song:

Anita Aysola's finalist song is "Heartbeat." Armed with lyrical wit, virtuosic piano runs, and a sultry-sweet voice that hearkens back to the golden age of jazz, Atlanta-based songwriter Anita Aysola is a deft musical mixologist who seamlessly infuses jazz and blues with classic rock and traditional Indian influences. Anita co-wrote the song with Dhanu Meleth.

Dan Miraldi's finalist song is  "The Sweet Sound of Protest. Dan Miraldi is a Cleveland-born, New York City-based singer and songwriter. After releasing four full-lengths and five EPs, 2020 found the two-time John Lennon Songwriting Contest Finalist unveiling a pair of new EPs, Mood Music For Introverts and its second volume More Mood Music.

Here is the official video of The Sweet Sound of Protest:

David Coile's finalist song is "The Volunteer."  David is a singer-songwriter who offers original songs that are bittersweet, sardonic and silly, sung with booming voice and acoustic finger-style guitar.

Hali Hammer's finalist song is "We Will Rise Together."  Hali Hammer is an award winning singer-songwriter who is experienced at playing in varied styles and settings. Aside from writing and performing her own music, she is a founding member of Occupella, which plays at political rallies and causes, is the bass player and a vocalist in Jump-In (which performs “folk & oldies” – don’t say it too fast) and is with The ReSisters (a trio performing political parodies).

Here is the video of "We Will Rise Together."

Ian Sloane and Trinity Rose teamed up to write "Love is the Only River." Trinity Rose is an award-winning singer/songwriter from Los Angeles. She uses her classical training to combine indie pop vocals with perfect pitch and harmonies.

Their finalist song features the performance of a young choir, One Love Friends.  Here is the video:

Jason Horowitz wrote the finalist song "In the Darkness" and it was performed by his group The Whiskey Farm, a folk-Americana band which won the overall prize in our 2017 contest for their track "Songs of Resistance."  The Whiskey Farm is based in Madison, Wisconsin and their music has been described as “straddling the line between bluegrass and folk, blending technical wows with accessible songwriting.”

You can hear their song in the following video:

Jeremy Facknitz is a singer-songwriter and his finalist entry is "Land Fills." Jeremy is based in Colorado and has been a finalist in numerous song-writing competitions.

Sam Price & the True Believers is a New Orleans-based ensemble and their finalist entry is "We Believe." According to Price "our music seeks to inspire, uplift, empower and energize... to speak to our common shared humanity. we believe that love, the most powerful force in the universe, is the soul of mankind."

You can watch their official video here:

Stan Troup and Ernie Gomez are a song-writing duo and their finalist song "Let Them be  Free" was performed by studio musician Deb Thomas.

You can watch the official video for their song here: