What belongs in the American songbook?
Songs of U.S. brings artists from across the American musical landscape together to reinterpret songs connected with the nation’s cultural identity. Its range includes folk, jazz, soul, country, Americana and pop. Performances and conversations ask what an American songbook might contain today, including voices and traditions that do not fit one simple definition.
The project is framed around reflection as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary. Familiar material becomes a way to consider continuity and change: which songs endure, how their meanings shift and what happens when a different artist takes them on. The subject is as much cultural conversation as musical performance.
Identity, belonging and the American dream
The official site also presents Voices, a thematic strand drawn from the sessions. Its topics include American Music, Identity, Belonging, The American Dream and Great Songs. These chapters weave performances and conversations around a shared question, offering another route through the material besides following an individual artist.
Identity brings together Black artists working across genres, while Belonging considers experiences of growing up between countries, cultures and languages. The American Dream asks about the promise of a better life and who is included in it. These themes make the song choices part of a wider discussion about selfhood and place.
Different artists, familiar songs
The sessions include Grace Potter performing This Land Is Your Land and Crazy, Tiny Habits interpreting Blowin’ in the Wind, and Raheem DeVaughn presenting What’s Going On. The artist list also includes Samara Joy, Mickey Guyton, Brandy Clark, Amy Grant and many others. The breadth of the lineup is part of the project’s approach to the songbook.
