Search - King, Brandow :: I Struck Gold

I STRUCK GOLD marks an auspicious new partnership, both professional and personal, between folk veteran Charlie King (vocals, guitar, harmonica) and relative newcomer Karen Brandow (vocals, guitar). Charlie and Karen?s repertoire here covers three continents, two languages, and more than forty years of song selections, performed here with sweet harmonies and vibrant musicianship. The duo?s debut CD features songs about love, labor, and social justice, conveyed with passion, sincerity and humor. Among its highlights are the lovely Malvina Reynolds composition, "I Cannot Sleep" (with Charlie and Karen trading lines in English and Spanish), the exuberant title track, and "Que Sera de Mis Hermanos," a haunting song of exile about the US-backed coup in Chile. King and Brandow also target American follies in the defiant "Wal-Mart Union Gonna Rise Again"; "Tinky Winky" chides Jerry Falwell and turns darker with a pointed reference to gay martyr Matthew Shepard; "Barney" chronicles a laughable mishap at the 1997 Macy?s Thanksgiving Day Parade, when the giant purple dinosaur?s float ran amok. Two songs by the late and much-missed Steve Goodman are also performed ? the ruefully good-natured "The One That Got Away" and the starkly tragic "The Ballad of Penny Evans."