A stroke of destiny, or the right place at the right time. This is how PEARL JAM guitarist Stone Gossard and Ani DiFranco connected to support women and their rights to reproductive health care. The track is "Disorders", created by Gossard along with Josh Evans, Skerik and Stanton Moore, with lyrics and melody by DiFranco.
All proceeds from "Disorders" go to the National Network of Abortion Funds, which aims to remove the financial and logistical barriers to abortion access. "Disorders" is a production of Loosegroove and Righteous Babe Records. Listen to it here.
About "Disorders", Gossard says: "What keeps me coming back to playing my guitar is the magic of how musical bits and pieces can transform into a complete song with a life of its own. The major ingredients are usually an inspired collaboration and some ephemeral fairy dust. What was recorded six years ago as a demo in New Orleans sat for a while until Skerik had the epiphany to ask his friend, the singer, musician, artist and activist Ani DiFranco to add her voice and words. Ani's fierce melodic independence and her visceral in-the-moment vocal performance took this track to a much higher plane. I'm thrilled to have been part of this song and to have had the chance to collaborate with this incredible group of artists."
DiFranco shares that longtime friend Skerik mentioned a track he was working on that needed vocals and lyrics and she offered to listen. "What showed up was a killer track with an evocative guitar hook, a shape, a vibe, a bombastic balls-to-the-wall outro," she says. "I marveled that anyone could record a song that sounded so cohesive and fully realized with no melody or lyric to guide it. I felt instantly inspired and honored. I was invited to sing about whatever I wanted."
DiFranco continues: "With the imminent overturning of Roe v. Wade, women in every Republican stronghold in this country are left treading in a sea of unnecessary suffering, just trying to keep their heads above water. Poor women will be drowned by the score. That is why this track is a fundraiser for abortion access — to help women who don't have resources but who desperately need abortions. I am so grateful for men like Stone, Skerik, Stanton — not just for the blessing of this track and the honor of being invited into it, but for actually seeing women in their full humanity and being willing to stand with them."
Last month, PEARL JAM guitarist Mike McCready joined pro-choice protesters at a Women's March rally in San Francisco, California. He and thousands of other of abortion rights supporters took to the streets across the United States, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court may soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide a half century ago.
The members of PEARL JAM are longtime supporters of the pro-choice cause, having performed back in 1998 at Washington, D.C.'s Constitution Hall at a benefit for the abortion-rights group Voters For Choice. Three years earlier, PEARL JAM played a Voters For Choice benefit at the same venue with Neil Young, L7 and Lisa Germano to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade. That concert raised $180,000 for Voters For Choice.