Merge Records Releases Album Benefitting Georgia Senate Democrat Candidates

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 07: Musician Laura Ballance and singer/musician Mac McCaughan of Super
Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for CBGB Festival

Merge Records is releasing a album of covers called Going to Georgia, which will benefit Georgia Senate Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. The album includes cover songs from Will Butler, Torres, Titus Andronicus, and Superchunk, among others.

Proceeds from the album’s release will go toward failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams’s progressive group Fair Fight, as well as the influential Latino group Mijente, according to a report by Consequence of Sound.

All eyes are now on Georgia, as Democrat Senate candidates Ossoff and Warnock face off against Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the January 5 Georgia Senate run-off election.

“We live in North Carolina, where a racist Republican legislature has worked for a generation to undermine democracy through unprecedented voter suppression,” said Mac McCaughan, co-founder of Superchunk and Merge Records.

“Our neighbors in Georgia have successfully fought back, through the efforts of Fair Fight and other organizations,” added McCaughan. “The voters who turned Georgia blue in November can now elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, take back power in the Senate, and make true progress possible in this country.”

The report added that Going to Georgia features 17 “Georgia-centric” tracks with Arcade Fire’s Will Butler kicking off the album with a cover of R.E.M.’s “Electrolite.”

Titus Andronicus covers “Closer to Fine” by Indigo Girls, TORRES covers The B-52’s “Topaz,” and Superchunk teams up with William Tyler for a cover of “When I Laugh” by The Glands.

This is the not the first time musicians have recorded an album for the benefit of Democrats.

In September, Pearl Jam teamed up with the pro-vote by mail organization Voting Rights Lab for “Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy,” a rock compilation album aimed at spurring voter turnout ahead of the November presidential election.

Rockers, including R.E.M. and Hayley Williams, are also among the dozens of musicians that took part of a 40-track album aimed at raising funds for Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight organization.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.

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