On Saturday, October 3rd, Taylor Goldsmith, the singer and guitarist for critically acclaimed Americana-rock outfit Dawes, took part in Democracy Comes Alive, a one-day, nonpartisan virtual music festival aimed at channeling the power of music to make a critical impact on civic engagement in this November’s elections and beyond.
For his solo acoustic performance, Goldsmith opted for a rendition “Free As We Wanna Be”, one of the new original songs that appeared on Dawes’ latest studio album, GOOD LUCK WITH WHATEVER, which had arrived just one day prior on October 2nd.
The stripped performance of the softer acoustic ballad highlighted Goldsmith’s calming vocals as delivered from a sun-drenched living room setting. While the song may or may not have been inspired by any specific political stance, there was certainly a parallel theme to the current sociopolitical landscape in America with the lyrics, “And when the dream becomes a nightmare/And when the hardware meets the software/We’ll see how ugly this can get/’Cause if the basis of our grievance/Doesn’t outweigh the convenience.”
Relive Goldsmith’s performance of “Free As We Wanna Be” as seen during Democracy Comes Alive in the video below. If you enjoyed the performance and have the means, consider making a donation to HeadCount and the Democracy Comes Alive artists via DemocracyComesAlive.com.
Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes) – “Free As We Wanna Be” – Democracy Comes Alive
Goldsmith joined 50+ performers and 10+ other speakers as part of Democracy Comes Alive, presented by Live For Live Music in partnership with voter registration nonprofit HeadCount. The 10-hour streaming event, powered by Nugs.TV and Plus 1, generated $40,000 and counting in funds for HeadCount as well as the participating artists, who remain out of work as the pandemic continues. In addition to the funds generated, Democracy Comes Alive led thousands of people to HeadCount’s tools to check your voter registration status and register to vote. For more information, head here.