April 14th will be a very special show.  My dear friend of over 50 years, Si Kahn, turns 80-years-old on April 23rd and I’m throwing a Si Kahn 80th Birthday Party.  Besides being a frequent partner-in-crime, Si and I co-wrote five consecutive Grammy-nominated albums, toured our Signs of the Times tour (with sign language artist, Susan Freundlich). Not incidentally, Si is the godfather of my son Peter.  I was the first person to record a Si Kahn song, even before his incredible debut album New Wood.  So, I’ll reprise that first song, along with lots more of his great music.  But, most wonderfully, there will be over a dozen artists, including Billy Bragg, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Tom Chapin, Jane Sapp, Holly Near, and Kathy Mattea, who’ll be chiming in with tales about Si and singing some of his classic songs.  This will be an incredible evening and a chance to not only hear some great music, but honor the guy I declared, “The best damn songwriter in the South…in his spare time!” back in 1975. 

Even if you’re not able to watch the celebration live, your ticket will allow you to view a recording of the full event for the next two weeks.

100% of ticket sales will go to support the official launch at the concert of the Si Kahn Living Legacy, a new non-profit project that will make available in perpetuity those of Si’s songs, stories, song cycles for children and adults, poems, unpublished books, musicals, and other creative works that have never before been available to the public, and ultimately keep them alive and easily accessible after he’s gone.

A strong, clear, supple voice and the timing of a classic storyteller.

– Nat Hentoff, The Nation

I put Si in the same category as Woody Guthrie,
Pete Seeger, and my Dad…

– Roseanne Cash

“The most gifted songwriter to come out of the folkie tradition
since John Prine”

– Christgau, Village Voice

Si Kahn the Songwriter

Check Out Si’s extensive discography and purchase his music on CD.

Si Kahn the Playwright

Si Kahn has spent 40 years as a composer, lyricist and book writer for musical theater. 

Si Kahn the Author

Learn more and buy Si’s two popular books Creative Community Organizing and The Fox in the Henhouse co-authored with Elizabeth Minnich

The Latest News & Noteworthy Mentions

In Honor of Si’s 80th Birthday Today, April 23,

Please Join Us in Launching the Si Kahn Living Legacy

Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer, John McCutcheon

The goal of the Si Kahn Living Legacy is to build awareness of, support for, and public access to the amazingly large body of Si’s creative work that no one except Si has ever seen, and ultimately to keep it alive and easily accessible after he’s gone.  Si has been recognized internationally as one of the most important English language social justice songwriters, connecting his cultural work and social activism like so many before him, including Pete Seeger (with whom he worked, toured, and recorded) and Woody Guthrie.  

Nora Guthrie and others started the Woody Guthrie Archives long after Woody’s passing. As Si turns the corner to his 80th birthday, it’s a perfect time to think ahead, to gather, catalog, and make available those of his songs, stories, book manuscripts, poems, and other creative works that have never before been seen or heard by anyone except Si. The time to do this is now, while he’s healthy, still actively creating, and available as a friendly resource to the Living Legacy’s growth and development. 

It of course takes funding to build and maintain a major project like this. Your contributions are tax-deductible, as the project is managed by and part of the 501(c)3 non-profit Generations: Music for Justice (EIN 87-1647310).

Let’s do this together, recognizing the importance of Si’s life not just as an organizer and musician, but as a humane, generous, deeply kind person, who has spent his entire life trying to make this tired world a kinder, gentler, more just place for all of us.