VIDEO PREMIERE: Aaron Nathans & Michael G. Ronstadt "My Flag Too"

Aaron Nathans and Michael G. Ronstadt have achieved a fruitful long-distance partnership. Guitarist Nathans hails from the Philadelphia area, while cellist Ronstadt (part of the extended musical Ronstadt family, which includes his brother, his late father, and his aunt Linda) is based in Cincinnati.

While they’ve had outside projects, as a duo they’ve released three albums together, the most recent being Shadow of the Cycle this past fall. But with more to say, they’ve since released a couple timely singles: an ode to resilience titled “Rebuild” and a commentary on patriotism called “My Flag Too.” They have produced a video of the latter which the New Folk Initiative is honored to present exclusively today.

Directed by Nathans, the video has scenes of Independence Square in Philadelphia, a Gettysburg battlefield and cemetery, and an African-American veterans monument in Delaware. There are shots of families of color with flags and a few familiar folk faces. With memories of his father and grandfather, Nathans seeks to restore the flag from partisan purposes, singing “this flag is not a weapon.”