ParkinSong: Something to Inspire Just About Everyone

Inspired by their mother who had triumphed over from Parkinson’s Disease for 10 years, the children of retired English teacher Selma Litowitz approached Lawrence High School in Lawrence, New Jersey (the school where she had taught for 20 years) with the idea of a benefit concert to raise money for Parkinson’s research. After two sold-out concerts in successive years, the ParkinSong Foundation was created and Selma’s son Rob then began the work to assemble a CD.

The result is ParkinSong: 38 Songs of Hope, Volume One, recently released by Ryko Distribution. Bonnie Raitt, Lucy Kaplansky, Greg Brown, Alejandro Escovedo, Dar Williams, Eliza Gilkyson, Kelly Willis, Sara Hickman , Dave Alvin , Hot Club of Cowtown, and Jonatha Brooke are among the extraordinary group of singer/songwriters who have contributed a song to this two-disc set, which covers a broad range of styles and voices.

Proceeds from the purchase of this CD will benefit the New Jersey-based ParkinSong Foundation, a non-profit that uses music to raise awareness and money to research new and innovative therapies for the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease. The foundation intends to stage higher profile concerts on the east and west coasts later this year, and will begin assembling tracks for volume two of ParkinSong.

Parkinson’s Diease is a terminal affliction with no cure, a devastating illness –I know this from personal experience with someone in my own family. So the cause is good. And with more than two hours of music, it’s a great sampler of many of the singer/songwriters that we play on Folk Alley. To learn more about Parkinson’s Disease or to purchase this CD, go to the ParkinSong Foundation.