“I’ve Got a Song!” is a live performance about Nancy Hood’s childhood experiences growing up in a leftist family during the McCarthy Era. Complementing her personal story, Hood performs American spirituals, union songs, haunting love ballads, and humorous tunes of social significance. A backdrop of family photographs and newspaper clippings completes this living history lesson, which spans the mid-1940s through the early 1960s. Evoking laughter and tears, this program draws the audience into a child’s courageous struggle with adversity and persecution.
“I am lucky that the seeds I planted in 1949 are still thriving. Keep on …”
– from Pete Seeger, reflecting on “I’ve Got a Song” and his 1949 first performance of “The Hammer Song”
“Nancy’s performance piece is a delightful reminder of the connection between songs and social justice. I found it a pleasure to listen to and truly inspiring in recalling the historic struggles for a better world.”
– from Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States
“Nancy Hood and Barry Brown present an important piece of American history that is rarely discussed. In using their musical talent to tell the story, they have created a fascinating, sobering, moving and entertaining program.”
– from Joyce May, Weaver Library, East Providence, RI
“Nancy Hood’s lyrical program “I’ve Got a Song: A Living History of the McCarthy Era” is more than a performance; it is an invitation to join Nancy on an evocative, sonic journey through the history of the McCarthy era. With simultaneous courage and vulnerability, Nancy lays bare the trauma of growing up in a Communist family persecuted for their beliefs by the United States government. And yet, Nancy reminds us of the collective power we have in solidarity, mutual aid, and song to struggle against and resist oppression.”
– from Shannon O’Neill, Curator for Tamiment-Wagner Collections, Tamiment Library, New York University
I've Got a Song 