Folk artist and “champion of independent music” Will Stratton was last September diagnosed with stage III testicular cancer. He has spent the best part of a year fighting his way towards recovery, whilst simultaneously working on a new album. Brian Sendrowitz (of Beat Radio) and Maia Macdonald (of Kid In The Attic and Mitten) have put together a compilation of covers of Stratton’s songs to raise some money to try to help with the cost of his medical bills.
If You Wait Long Enough, released on the 11th June, contains covers from a range of artists including Sam Moss, Thibault Rivrain and Wilder Maker, not to mention Beat Radio, Kid In The Attic and Stratton himself.
Full Tracklisting:
1. Matthew Carefully & the Memorial Concern – Who Will
2. Wilder Maker – The War is Over
3. Beat Radio – You Divers
4. Kid in the Attic – Do You Remember the Morning
5. NY Lights – If You Wait Long Enough
6. Sam Moss & The Ineligible Bachelors – The Relatively Fair
7. Zachary Cale – Bluebells
8. David Garland – Vile Bodies
9. Alexandra Drewchin and Aaron Roche – Post Empire
10. Trevor Wilson – Colt New Marine
11. Jesse Rifkin – Katydid
12. Thibault Rivrain – Honey Diamond
13. Will Stratton – For Franny Glass (live on WNYC’s Spinning on Air)
Not only is this a great idea to help Will get back on his feet but it is also an effective way to raise awareness of the disease. It seems that cancer is affecting us all in one way or another but if we can increase the dialogue about it, especially in “cool” circles such as independent music, then we can remove the taboo nature of the disease and save as many lives as possible. You can pre-order the album right now on Bandcamp.
Also, if you’re not familiar with Stratton’s music, then I suggest you check out his Bandcamp page, starting with last year’s Post-Empire.