'Have You Been To Jail For Justice?': Anne Feeney, Folk Singer, Activist Dies of Covid, RIP

[appalachiablue]

- Anne Feeney, US folk singer and activist, dies from Covid-19 aged 69. The Guardian, Feb. 5, 2021. Members of Rage Against the Machine and Peter, Paul and Mary among those paying tribute to singer known for Have You Been to Jail for Justice.

Anne Feeney, the US folk singer and activist self-described as a “performer, producer, hellraiser”, has died aged 69 from Covid-19. Her daughter Amy Sue Berlin announced the news in a Facebook post, calling her “courageous, brilliant, beautiful … We were very lucky that she fought hard enough to open up her eyes, and give us a couple days to be with her before she finally decided it was time to let go.”
Born in Pennsylvania in 1951 and raised near Pittsburgh, Feeney began playing guitar as a high-school student and gave her first performance at a rally against the Vietnam war in 1969. It was the beginning of a lifetime of blending activism and music, intensifying in the 90s following the release of her debut album Look to the Left in 1992, the first of 12 albums in all. Her song Have You Been to Jail for Justice, later recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary, became an anthem across global protest movements...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/feb/05/anne-feeney-us-folk-singer-and-activist-dies-from-covid-19-aged-69

[countryken]

1. Remembering Anne Feeney

Anne was a good friend of ours in Pittsburgh. I think hers was the first Brazilian D28 I ever played. We'd get together with her from time to time and we saw her shows whenever we could. I personally learned so much from her. She would drop historical names and events into conversations that had such momentum that I wouldn't stop her, but I made mental notes so that I'd look them up later. She introduced me to Sing Out magazine and the People's Music Network where I met some amazing and talented people at the gathering she hosted in Pittsburgh. We moved to Florida in '98 and invited her to stop in anytime she was in the neighborhood. Shortly thereafter we heard from her when she was planning a Florida tour. She said she'd love to visit and 'how would you feel about hosting a house concert?' I said, 'Sure. Let's do it'. We got off the phone and I had to figure out what a house concert was - I mean, it's sort of self-explanitory, but what are the the expectations and how do you promote it, and do we need a PA amp, and we had lots of things to figure out. Anne came and we did it, and it was one of the best things we'd ever done. I think that it was on that trip that we first went out to a local sports bar to play trivia. We wound up doing that every time she visited thereafter. Anyway, a few month later we got a call from Kelly and Donna of Still on the Hill - an amazing creative duo from Fayetteville Arkansas. They'd run into Anne in Kerrville. She told them about us, and they asked us if we'd be interested in hosting another house concert. Well, we trusted Anne, and that turned into another great experience as well, so after doing it twice, we began hosting house concerts pretty regularly over the next ten years or so. Thanks, Anne!

Of course, on her trips to Florida, she developed a close relationship with Stetson Kennedy. It seems she befriended great people wherever she went. This was natural for Anne.

She was so creative and talented and had such energy, and she believed all the right things (though we didn't agree on new stadiums for the Stillers and Buccos), and she lived her life consistent with her beliefs, and she had a great sense of humor. I became a better person (and a better amateur folksinger) for having known Anne, and I'm gonna miss her.

[mrs_p]

2. This is a beautiful tribute to your friend.

She is inspirational.

Thank you for sharing. Sorry for your loss.

[appalachiablue]

3. What a wonderful relationship. Glad you knew this

special person and musician and shared the story with us.