On July 16, it’s been exactly 80 years since the Trinity test happened in New Mexico, where J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team set off the first atomic bomb.
To remember this day, Kronos Quartet decided to put together two very special covers of Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”, a song Dylan wrote soon after the Cuban Missile Crisis, and both versions are now released by Red Hot Organization. The first track, called “Hard Rain”, brings together voices like Iggy Pop, Willie Nelson, Allison Russell, Satomi Matsuzaki from Deerhoof, Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields, Tanya Tagaq, Laurie Anderson, Slowspin, and a bunch more. Kronos Quartet played the instruments, with some help from Belle & Sebastian, Deerhoof, musicians from Patti Smith’s group, and a choir featuring Greta Kline from Frankie Cosmos and Xenia Rubinos.
“Hard Rain (Drone)” is a totally different vibe, more like spoken-word than singing, and it includes people such as Matsuzaki, Merritt, Anderson, Pop, Nelson, Ringo Starr, Ocean Vuong, Sampa the Great, Sleaford Mods, Nadya Tolokonnikova from Pussy Riot, Tom Morello, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Shahzad Ismaily playing as part of the band.
Fans think it’s cool when so many artists work together on something meaningful.
Tonight, Kronos Quartet and Allison Russell are also putting on a special show at the David Rubenstein Forum in the University of Chicago, which is part of a big event organized by the Nobel Laureate Assembly for the Prevention of Nuclear War.
