They called it their 'Social Isolation Song Series.' So every day they went online to sing folk and gospel songs. They wanted to contribute to those intergenerational conversations. People asking other folks to wake up, to listen. 'People taking to the streets, that was love,' he says. 'People were having these deep conversations about social justice and racial issues here in America,' Claudia recalls.ĭan says they admired the protesters. But after George Floyd was killed by police, they joined the protests outside. The coronavirus pandemic forced them and everyone else to stay home. The idea for this album began last year, after the Zanes moved from Brooklyn to Baltimore. One urges people to build bridges another, to pay reparations to descendents of slaves. Other songs were inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. Some of the tracks include rappers praising Claudia as a Black Queen, and their friend's children lending their giggles to a fun bilingual song about getting tickled. There are touches of gospel, country, R&B and traditional Haitian music. Their album of electric folk songs and singalongs are in English, Creole and Spanish. Young people and families want to be talking about these things.' 'It was important for us as an interracial couple to to speak from our our two perspectives,' says Dan, 'really with the belief that young people are hungry for this. One of their songs is a duet called 'Two Different Worlds.' 'Aw, yes,' Claudia adds, 'and we've been making music ever since.' 'We got together and sang that whole afternoon, the day we met, I knew at that moment that Claudia was the person that I'd been dreaming about my whole life,' he says.

Five years ago, a friend introduced him to jazz vocalist Claudia Eliaza, a music therapist whose family is Haitian American. The former lead singer of the 1980s rock band the Del Fuegos, Zanes founded the anti-racist organization Constructive White Conversations. Love was the guide for Dan Zanes, who's known as the godfather of the children's music renaissance.

'That's a manual for life right there in one sentence,' Dan adds. 'He says, 'So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide,'' Claudia says. The husband/wife duo say they were inspired by the words Lewis wrote in his final New York Times opinion piece, published the day of his funeral. The title track is an homage to the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis. 'It's an anthem of love and joy and possibility and community,' Claudia says, speaking from their home in Baltimore. Smithsonian Folkways has just released their first duo album, Let Love Be Your Guide. Social justice, anti-racism and joy: These are the themes of a collection of original songs written by family musicians Dan and Claudia Zanes.

The godfather the five families