Ella Jenkins and a Union of Friends Pulling Together

Although many of the songs here promote the benefit of labor unions, overall this album's designed to promote the concept of the "union" in general—cooperation in work, working together in support of a cause, pulling together in the name of friendship. Also, as the title of the album indicates, it's not solely an Ella Jenkins record. She does sing, narrate, and play harmonica, but there are also lead vocals by Pete Seeger (on "If I Had a Hammer," actually taken from a Pete Seeger album with no Ella Jenkins connection), Bucky Halker, Mary Ringstad, Josh White, Jr. (doing the protest song his father made famous, "One Meat Ball"), and others. The labor union is a concept that is not always easy to convey to young people, and also a concept that in general (and often unfairly) has taken some hard knocks in American society in the late twentieth century. For the most part, this disc illustrates the virtues of unions, labor and otherwise, in a respectful and suitably understated manner. The repertoire is pretty straightforward in selection and delivery, but if you're looking for something a little different, there's "Let My People Go," performed by Jenkins as a harmonica instrumental.