David Rovics and Chet Gardiner

Albums 2023 - 2024 (And Beyond)

Notes From A Holocaust

All the songs on this album were written between October 13th and December 31st, 2023. I wrote them to bear witness to the genocide of the Palestinian people that continues by the hour as I publish this album. There are various videos, many more songs, essays, as well as an album songbook that can be found at davidrovics.com/palestine.

Released January 11, 2024

Download Album Here: https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/notes-from-a-holocaust

(FYI: This album has been censored by Spotify among others)

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When the genocide of the people of Gaza began in October, 2023, and I began to write a series of urgent songs on the subject, Chet Gardiner shared that sense of urgency, and started taking the songs I was putting out there and making great improvements upon them from his home studio in Hawai'i.

In January we put out a 20-song album together called Notes From A Holocaust.

This album is a continuation of those efforts, but with a somewhat expanded scope. Roughly half the album consists of songs about the Gaza genocide that I've written since we put out Notes From A Holocaust. The other half of the album are songs I've written and recorded in the past few years, that either Chet or I thought would be good candidates for enhancement -- plus the much older songs, "St Patrick Battalion" and "In One World" for good measure.

For my part, I'm either playing a guitar, an Irish bouzouki, or a mandola. Everything else you hear is Chet, which includes electric and acoustic instruments of all descriptions, including guitars, basses, banjos, synth, percussion, vocal harmonies, and more.

The cover photo was taken at a gig in France by Isabelle Souriment, who also designed the album cover.

Released April 19, 2024

Download Album Here: https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/bearing-witness

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This is an album in three parts.

First, the ongoing genocide in Palestine, songs that were written in the past few months.

Second, mostly songs related to the class struggle, some very recent and some slightly less so.

The third part relates to the album title.

To paraphrase Renée DiResta, we live in an era especially characterized by the collision of the rumor mill and the propaganda machine. A collection of the songs I've written over recent years on that subject, such as the album's title track, make up the third part.

The songs were all written by David Rovics. Depending on the song, you'll also hear David's guitar, bouzouki, or mandola. If you hear female vocals, that's Kamala Emanuel. Anything else you're hearing -- bass, drums, synth, banjo, electric guitar, and various other odds and ends -- is Chet Gardiner."

Cover graphics by the brilliant Kalindi Jackson.

Released July 16, 2024

Download Album Here: https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/i-heard-a-rumor

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As the genocide of the Palestinian people carried out by the Israeli military accelerates, I haven't written as much as I did during the first several months of the Israeli horrors. Every murdered child deserves many songs, but at the same time, what more is there to say? How many different ways are there to rephrase "stop killing the children"?

But I did write nine songs, and one poem, between August and October, 2024, and they're all on this album, along with a new recording of a song I wrote in 2016 (guess which one).
credits

If you hear vocal harmonies, that's my singing and touring partner, Kamala Emanuel, from Brisbane, Australia -- the other half of the Ministry of Culture.

Otherwise everything other than the voices and whichever instrument I'm playing (usually guitar, sometimes mandola) is Chet Gardiner, who improved the tone and added instrumentation to everything from his home studio in Hawai'i.

Released October 26, 2024

Download Album Here: https://soundcloud.com/davidrovics/sets/jabaliya-the-album

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From the Ashes is an album consisting of 10 songs I wrote between November, 2024, and January, 2025.

One of the songs is about a historical event -- the burglary of the FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania in 1971 conducted by the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI that revealed Cointelpro to the world.

The rest of the songs are about recent, or ongoing, events, including Israel's genocide in Gaza, riots in Amsterdam, fires in LA, an assassination in Manhattan, the death of Cornelius Taylor, Antony Blinken's last press conference, and Trump's second inauguration.

The woman singing with me on many of the tracks is Kamala Emanuel. Other than the guitar or mandola I'm playing, all the other instruments are from Chet Gardiner in his studio in Hawai'i. The process is I record at home, or if on the road with Kamala, in a random location with a smartphone, and then send that recording to Chet, to work his magic.

Cover photo also taken with a smartphone, by Jeffrey St Clair.

Download Album here: https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-ashes

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Eight songs written in February and March, 2025, ending with two remixed versions of songs I first recorded in 2013. So basically another album of songs very directly related to Trump 2.0.

Released March 18, 2025

Songs all written and sung by David Rovics, who also plays guitar and mandola, depending. Everything else you hear is by Chet Gardiner (chetgardiner.com) from his home studio in Hawai'i. David's parts for the first eight songs were recorded in his living room. The guitar and vocals for the last two songs were recorded in 2013 at Big Red Studio in Corbett, Oregon.

Download Album Here: https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/deport-the-billionaires

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"Chet Gardiner began taking songs I'd record in my living room and fashioning a band around them back in the fall of 2023, in his home studio in Hawai'i. He needed to do something about Gaza, and helping me improve the music I was putting out about it seemed like one thing he could do.

"Chet and I have recorded scores of songs this way, with this being our seventh album project collaboration.

"Another brilliant musician, Laura Love from the state of Washington, made the same sort of offer Chet had made, for the same sort of reason. I took her up on her offer, and her vocals all over this album are the consequences.

"The result of the collaboration of Chet and Laura is certainly one of the best albums I've ever put my name to.

"As to the songs on it, all but one are songs I wrote between March and June, 2025, about current events, with a particular focus on Gaza, Mexico, and the US. The only exception is "In the Name of God," which I originally wrote in 2009."

June 21, 2025

Download Album Here: https://soundcloud.com/davidrovics/sets/in-our-dreams

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"All but one of these songs I wrote in the past few months, mostly about the ongoing joint Israeli-American Holocaust of Palestinians in Gaza. Aside from my voice and guitar, all the instrumentation you're hearing is Chet Gardiner, and the harmony vocals are Kamala Emanuel. Kalindi Jackson made the cover. The one song that wasn't written this year is a remix of a song I recorded at Big Red Studio back when Jeremy Corbyn was leading the British Labor Party."
released August 3, 2025

Download Album Here: https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/from-auschwitz-to-gaza

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Most of these songs were written in August or September, 2025, and they're about some aspect of things that are happening in this mad world. Some of the songs were written earlier, like "Tortuguita's Playlist" and "Little Crow," both written around the beginning of 2024. "We Have Fed You All for A Thousand Years" and "Solidarity Forever" were both written long before I was born.

credits

Vocals and guitar for "We Have Fed You All for A Thousand Years" and "Solidarity Forever" were recorded at Big Red Studio in 2014, and originally appeared on the solo guitar and voice album, Wayfaring Stranger.

Everything else my vocals and guitar were recorded in my living room, and songs written by me. Kamala Emanuel is the other voice you hear, if there are vocal harmonies. Chet Gardiner is the man in Hawai'i playing everything else!

The cover photo is of Zahid Chaudhry and child, taken by Melissa Chaudhry. Kalindi Jackson used the photo to make the album cover.

released September 25, 2025

Download Album Here: https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-zahid