The World's Grievance Man

Mike Stout is a socially conscious singer song-writer and community leader. He leads crusades against local and global economic injustice rallying people with his music and he organizes them to take action. His sound and lyrics are influenced by his musical hero’s Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Neil Young. John Hayes of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette wrote of Mike "In the Woody Guthrie tradition, his songs reflect contemporary issues without resorting to journalism. They're more like partisan op-ed columns that grab political opponents by the throat and don't let go." Mike tells his stories from the heart about people who are effected by unemployment or social injustice or war.

Mike Stout is a hard-working singer-song writer calling on Americans to work together in solidarity to to overcome their struggles. Along with his day job running a union print shop, he has worked many long nights in the studio creating music to raise awareness about serious social and political problems. His ninth CD release “Soldiers of Solidarity” combines hard hitting new protest songs with updated versions of the working class anthems that are the standards of his performances at labor and political rallies in the U.S and Europe. Guitarist/engineer Fred Nelson (who contributes hook laden electric guitar and rich vocal harmonies) creates a rich musical fabric of alternative country/folk rock sounds that brightly illustrate Stout’s strong social message of the need for solidarity.

The solidarity Mike lauds has two dimensions. The first is personal, rooted in family and friendship. The family dimension is expressed in a reworking of 309 Colony Boulevard and the joyful new alternative country song Old Kentucky “back home where my forefathers lie”. The solidarity of friendship is celebrated in the new country versions of the standards You were there for me and My kind of people. The second dimension of solidarity is political – solidarity of working people of the world. A link between personal friendship and the broader social struggle is expressed in Fighter with a heart a warm tribute to Charles Owen Rice, Pittsburgh’s labor priest who died this past year at the age of 96. “Labor’s apostle, a born and bred activist. Poor man’s disciple, his pen was his fist."

Angry new songs protest the handling of New Orleans, the corporate rape of retiree pensions and healthcare, the deepening oil crisis, and the war in Iraq. Mike calls on the American people to arise in solidarity against these injustices. Broken Promise tells of the betrayal of the elders in steel, coal, airlines and auto. “Contracts were signed that later down the line there’d be security. You worked so hard for every dime, paid your dues, put in your time; scrimped and saved from what little you made to buy some dignity.” Ain’t It the truth portrays the plight of the poor of New Orleans. In the angriest of the new songs, Stout argues that WMDs are indeed in Iraq and it is the United States that is using them. “And if you really support the soldiers and troops, if you care about the environment anymore, if you’re concerned for the new born, and the unborn child, if you’re really pro-life for sure – right this wrong, ban this bomb, stop this violence, break your silence, tell your neighbors, friends and families the score – DEPLETED URANIUM IS NUCLEAR WAR.”

Finally, The End of Petroleum Man. predicts “The more we consume, the quicker we’re doomed”. But the answer, the hope is as clear and as straightforward as the words of anthems like We are the Working Class or the title song Soldiers of Solidarity. “At the machines, out in the fields, down in the mines, serving the meals, behind the wheels – WE ARE THE WORKING CLASS…We got the numbers we got the clout, we’ve got the power to straighten this mess out.” The only damn thing that’s going to break that chain is when we stand brother and sister again. You and me - Soldiers of Solidarity.”

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.