Searching for America in song with historian Jill Lepore

"I've read books and watched Ken Burns documentaries, but my principal education in American history comes from our music. It's my pathway as I search for identity, for lineage and legacy, for community and for an understanding of this vast land, in all its confusing complexities and contradictions. I've learned that our music is a map of our history. It traces our roots and routes, and marks all the places where our journeys intersect to meet on common ground."

"It has always, from the beginning, given voice to our tragedies and triumphs, pointing the way forward, accompanying revolution, resistance and resilience, and insisting on the possibility of hope. As we mark this 250th anniversary year, I'm crisscrossing the country, engaging scholars and historians in conversation to share perspectives on where we've been and where we're going. Together we've been listening to songs that form the soundtrack of these 250 years, hearing the echoes of the past, resonance of the present."

"My first stop is a 200-year-old barn in Brattleboro, Vt. On a snowy evening at the nonprofit Retreat Farm before a packed audience, I was joined by historian and journalist Jill Lepore, whose latest book is We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution. Together we considered "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free," a song written in Philadelphia in 1759, and the conditions in our country just before it officially became the United States."

Lara Downes travels the United States during its 250th anniversary year collecting conversations with scholars and using music as a primary education in national history. Music functions as a pathway for exploring identity, lineage, legacy, community, and the nation’s complex contradictions. Songs trace roots and routes, mark intersections where journeys meet, and give voice to tragedies and triumphs while accompanying revolution, resistance, resilience, and hope. Downes engages scholars and historians across the country to listen to songs that form a 250-year soundtrack. Her first stop was a snowy evening in a 200-year-old barn in Brattleboro, Vermont, where she and Jill Lepore considered the 1759 Philadelphia song "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free."

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