Tom
Juravich got his start as a performer singing for workers and their
unions on picket lines, at rallies, and in meeting halls. Now,
twenty years since the release of his first album, Tom Juravich is one
of the leading singer/songwriters whose music remains firmly rooted in
the labor movement. As Richard Trumka, Secretary-Treasurer of the
AFL-CIO, put it: "Tom Juravich captures the drama of our history
and brings it forward with a vitality and vision that is inspiring to
all of us."
Tom Juravich represents the very best
in contemporary labor music. With his strong voice and solid
guitar, Juravich has achieved national recognition for his hard-hitting
songs about the struggles of working people. As one reviewer of
his most recent album wrote: "From the opening blast, Billy Ed
Wheeler's "Coal Tattoo", through the classic union ballad
"Which Side Are You On?," Tom's rumbling voice and straight
ahead delivery hit the mark squarely and without compromise."
Whether working alone or with his hard-driving No. 9 Band, his
music speaks to people. It rouses, inspires and points with hope
and determination toward the future.
Tom Juravich has released three albums
to date, most recently A World To Win and Out of Darkness,
both on the Flying Fish/Rounder label. Tom's first album, Rising
Again, was produced by the UAW in the first such undertaking by a
major union in more than twenty years. The title cut, "Rise
Again," was featured in the "New Voice" video produced
for the campaign by John Sweeney, Richard Trumka, and Linda
Chavez-Thompson and is fast becoming labor's new anthem. As John
Sweeney has often said, "As I travel the country, I can feel what
Tom Juravich calls "the spirit rising."
Over the past two decades Tom Juravich
has performed for hundreds of labor groups across the country, including
major appearances at the international conventions of the UMWA, UFCW,
APWU, UAW and others. His songs have been featured in a number of
labor films and videos produced for ACTWU, SEIU, UPIU, LIPA and IUD, as
well as in labor songbooks, including Pete Seeger's Carry It On.
Tom Juravich is also the Director and
Professor at the Labor Center at the University of Massachusetts at
Amherst. Juravich is author of Chaos on the Shop Floor, Commonwealth
of Toil, and Ravenswood: The Steelworker's Victory and the
Revival of American Labor, and numerous other publications about
work and labor. He has written extensively on music and culture
and is currently editing a collection of contemporary labor songs.
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