Spotlight Album Review: Reggie Harris "On Solid Ground"
Reggie Harris has been dubbed an “Ambassador of Joy, Hope, and Freedom,” and his new album, On Solid Ground, captures all of those qualities. In the year since he released his collaboration with Greg Greenway, Deeper Than the Skin (a Spotlight Album in March, 2020), the country has become attuned to race in America, and On Solid Ground is a perfect response to the zeitgeist. That’s why it’s the New Folk Initiative Spotlight Album of the month.
The lead track, “It’s Who We Are,” introduced as a single for Black History Month, in the wake of the January 6 insurrection, sets the tone. It’s a hard-charging call-to-action, featuring Pat Wictor on slide guitar. With civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., and John Lewis as his inspirations, Reggie dares to address the divisions we face. When people ask, “How did we get here,” he responds, “It’s who we are,” but it doesn’t have to be that way:
It’s in our hearts | It’s in our hands|
It’s in our minds | But we can change!
The civil rights legacy is imbued through much of On Solid Ground. “Standing in Freedom’s Name” recounts the Rev. C.T. Vivian’s 1965 encounter with Sheriff Jim Clark in Selma, AL. With guitar support from John Platania (of Van Morrison fame), it’s upbeat and uplifting in the face of oppression: “We will never go back/Got our eyes on the prize.”
The fight for voting rights today is the source for “Let’s Meet Up Early,” while Malvina Reynolds’ classic protest song, “It Isn’t Nice” gets updated with a name check of George Floyd. Reggie chooses a 2018 song by Joshua Campbell, “Sing Out,” to honor John Lewis and other civil rights leaders we’ve lost, then adds the timeless refrain, “Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me round,” a reminder of his work with ex-wife Kim. Their work together is also echoed in the title track, “On Solid Ground, which channels the spirit of our elders in the acapella gospel number:
We mourn our martyrs…in our hearts they’ll stay
And we’ll sing “We Shall Overcome” and go on our way!
Reggie has always personified what I call “songs of compassion and commitment.” The fight for freedom is pointless unless there’s love involved. Reggie supplies that in several songs: “Come What May” (“we know our love will keep us strong”) and the playful “Maybe It’s Love” (a duet with Colleen Kattau). Then there’s the unexpected cover of John Lennon’s “All You Need Is Love,” set to lilting jazz piano by Eric Byrd. And for compassion, it’s hard to top John Prine’s “Hello In There,” which Reggie makes his own.
The penultimate song, “Tree of Life,” grew out of a class discussion at the Swannanoa Gathering that spoke to inclusion (“We got a right to the tree of life/And all that love can gives us”). The album closer also came from a class discussion right after Pete Seeger died. A young student asked, “Where did Mr. Seeger live?” and Reggie replied, “High over the Hudson.” The song has been a concert favorite for years, and the recorded version (featuring Greg Greenway, the album co-producer, among others on backing vocals) is truly stirring. It’s not only a tribute to Pete but others who shared his values, including Odetta and Mary Travers. He sings, “Now we as your children and we as your friends/Must take up your mission of song.” No one has made that mission more inspiring than Reggie Harris.