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About

NEW AMERICAN DREAM is a distance-defying community-built album,

100% home-recorded, mixed and mastered across the US and the Europe under global lockdown.

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join our little community that is trying to use the raw spiritual resources of a challenged nation and threatened world to create empathy and justice through friendship and art.

 

For this unique double-album, John Cameron Mitchell has called on old friends, new friends and acquaintances to write, perform and produce 16 songs from new wave glam rock to anti-folk, from electronic dark wave to alt-cabaret pop! Dive in, listen to the album and buy it on Bandcamp to support 3 amazing initiatives : 

Burritos Not Bombs - a Mexico City-based COVID food bank, the Trans, Gender-Variant, Intersex Justice Project and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Scholarship Trust Fund. 

All writing, recording, mixing, mastering, design, publicity, video production and administration were done pro-bono to maximize profits for our beneficiaries!

ABOUT

“New American Dream is a lockdown-inspired remotely-organized platonic musical orgy, says John. The idea started in March during self-isolation in a 100 year-old stone hut near Palm Springs.  Bored and depressed, I reached out to a variety of musical friends who sent me instrumental tracks which I could write melody and lyrics to - kind of like the Surrealist drawing game Exquisite Corpse.  The album idea came as the songs piled up. I even contacted a stranger in the South of France on Instagram, Izae, because I liked his cover of a Hedwig song and we ended up writing two songs on the album. Like the old story about the Stone Soup where strangers throw whatever food item they possessed into a communal pot, old friends and new donated vocals, overdubs, mixing, mastering, video production, art and publicity. Soon I realized we had a double album that could benefit the various charities that I’ve been helping through this dark time with Hedwig merch sales. It’s been such a comfort to us and we hope others will feel it too and add to the pot for the benefit of those in need.”

John Cameron Mitchell

MUSIC

MUSIC

Stream and buy the album on Bandcamp to support our 3 benefiCIARIES!

New Video Out Now : NATION OF ONE

BENEFICIARIES

Who are we Raising Money for  ?

Discover our 3 beneficiaries

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is a mutual aid food distribution program in Mexico City which began on April 15, 2020 to battle hunger during the COVID-19 crisis. In just a few short months, the program is already seeing how food assistance empowers communities and strengthens economies during the pandemic.

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is a group of transgender, gender variant and intersex people - inside and outside of prisons, jails and detention centers - ​creating a united family in the struggle for survival and freedom.  The mission of TGIJP is to challenge and end the human rights abuses committed against TGI people in California prisons, jails, detention centers and beyond.

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 is a nonprofit nonstock corporation dedicated to developing and maintaining a coordinated network of community resources for young people and their families and broadening and deepening public awareness of and commitment to society's responsibility for responding to the needs of youth and their families.

Donate directly or buy the album on bandcamp to support their actions

Meet the artists 

who wrote and performed New American Dream

Artists

John Cameron Mitchell is an American writer, director, performer, songwriter. He directed, starred in and wrote, with Stephen Trask, the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch for which he won two Tony Awards® and for the film adaptation: Best Director at the Sundance Festival and a Best Actor Golden Globe® nomination. His other films include Shortbus, Rabbit Hole and How To Talk To Girls At Parties. With Bryan Weller he created the acclaimed musical podcast series Anthem: Homunculus starring Glenn Close, Laurie Anderson, Patti LuPone and Cynthia Erivo. Currently he’s a cast member of Hulu’s Shrill and CBS’s The Good Fight. Last year he released Turning Time Around, a Lou Reed covers EP made with the Portland band EyeLids, produced by Peter Buck (REM).

Photo by Matthew Placek

Lance Horne is an Emmy® award-winning composer, pianist, singer, producer, and music director whose collaborations include projects with Jake Shears, John Cameron Mitchell, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Alan Cumming, Ricki Lake, Rufus Wainwright, Pink Martini, Liza Minnelli, Kylie Minogue, the von Trapps, Ben Folds, Neil Gaiman, Kristin Chenoweth, Justin Bond, Sandra Bernhard, Amanda Palmer/Dresden Dolls, Meow Meow, Taylor Mac, Sesame Street and Carol Channing. Broadway: vocal arr. for Little Women. Albums include: Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, An Evening with Amanda Palmer & Neil Gaiman, Jake Shears. Steinway Artist, Interlochen grad with BM, MM in Composition, Juilliard. For more information, and candles, visit www.lancehorne.com

Photo by Allan Amato

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Justin Craig is a Grammy nominated record producer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and music director based in New York City. Justin is the band leader of the "Tits of Clay" which is also "The Angry Inch" in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" on Broadway. Justin plays guitar & keyboard, as well as adding background vocals for the show.

Photo by Shervin Lainez

Izae is a French singer and songwriter. He is an emerging artist of the new French scene, with an hybrid style heavily influenced by 80's pop with a twist of melancholia.

Izae is currently working on his first EP, "Minuit FM". Find out more on

jesuisizae.com

Photo by Alan Marty

Amber Martin is a celebrated NYC/International Vocalist, Performing Artist and Comedic Monologist. Greatly inspired onstage by the traditions of Janis Joplin, Lily Tomlin, Carol Burnett and Dolly Parton to name a few, Amber has been named one of the Top Performers of the Year by The New Yorker. Onstage, Amber is a powerful vocalist with a deep love for all genres of classic American pop music, which also inspires her own original songs. Ms. Martin brings a sense of cabaret and comedy to her live, raw, genre-hopping musical performances, setting her apart from most of her contemporaries and bringing a diverse range of entertainment to her equally diverse audiences.

Photo by Matthew Placek

Leland is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and lecturer. Based in Los Angeles, California, he has worked closely with a range of popular artists, including Selena GomezTroye SivanDayaAndy GrammerKelsea Ballerini and Allie X. In December 2017, McLaughlin signed with Vertigo Berlin/Universal Music Germany for his career as a singer and is currently published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

Photo by Jacob Bixenman

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Former Miss Gay USofA Massachusetts 2018, and 4th Runner up for Miss Gay USofA 2018, as well as recently crowned winner of the Boston Drag Idol 2019, Qya Cristál is looking forward to what new experiences and opportunities 2020 will bring. Her musicianship, and live singing skills will blow you away, and are what make her brand of drag, unique to the North Eastern Drag Community. She loves to share her passion for the arts of music, acting, and drag, whenever she can. Coming from her crowning as Boston Drag Idol 2019, she is inspired now, more than ever, to continue to spread the message of love, peace, and acceptance of yourself, as well as to continue to show support for our LGBTQA+ family.

Photo by  Eric Magnussen

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Jamie Stewart (b. 1978 Los Angeles) started the band Xiu Xiu in 2002 and began to waste his life.

Photo by Sharon Van Etten

Ezra Furman is a Chicago-born singer and songwriter, quite infected with the insurgent spirit of rocknroll. “One of my goals in making music is to make the world seem bigger, and life seem larger,” she said once. Her music is a war on social and emotional repression, and she sounds as often like someone rushing into a battlefield as she does one of its wounded soldiers. In addition to their kickass albums, she and her band did the soundtrack for Sex Education that great little Netflix show about British teenagers.

Photo by Jessica Lehrman

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Alynda Segarra is an American singer and songwriter from New York. After she moved to New Orleans in 2007, she formed the band "Hurray for the Riff Raff",. The band has released the critically acclaimed studio albums Small Town Heroes (2014) and The Navigator (2017), featuring a more distinctive and comprehensive Americana sound, compared to the folk music played by the band at its beggining.

Photo by Michael Tucker

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Stephen first achieved wide acclaim as the co-creator/composer/lyricist of the award-winning stage musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which was also developed into a feature film released by Fine Line Features. The Broadway production of the show won four Tony Awards in 2014, and the soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy. Since 2003 Trask has been scoring films at both the independent and studio levels for directors as diverse as Tom McCarthy, Paul Weitz Todd Graff, Jon Kasdan, John Cameron Mitchell, Jeffrey Friedman... In addition to Hedwig, Trask’s work for the Broadway stage includes orchestrations for the recent production of Rocky, the musical based on the classic film. His latest show, This Ain’t No Disco, premiered at The Atlantic Theater in 2018. Known for his time fronting ‘90s NYC punk band Cheater, Trask has also recorded and performed with artists such as Stone Temple Pilots, Bob Mould, Sleater-Kinney and Yoko Ono.

Brett Every is an Australian songwriter, singer, guitarist and pianist. Well-known on the LGBTQ scene, Brett he won an Out Music Award from the LGBT Academy of Recording Arts for the marriage-equality song “What A Beautiful Day". Brett co-wrote Amber Martin's album "A.M. GOLD" and has worked with John Cameron Mitchell on the soundtrack of his movie “How To Talk To Girls At Parties”. Brett contributed to New American Dream by co-writing and co-performing “Call Me Joe” with John Cameron Mitchell.

Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon has been a show-stopping performer since his early days. He was selected for American Idol’s 17th season, and went up to the too six performers of the season. He also caught the attention of some big names like Elton John, who called him after his cover of John’s “We All Fall in Love Sometimes”. He also performed with Broadway favorite Cynthia Erivo, pop star Katy Perry, and performed his original song “Almost Heaven.” His debut LP album, Namesake, is a personal and curated journal of his journey over the last few years of his life. It explores themes like the uncomfortable reality of coming out to family, experiencing unrequited love, and existential questions about acceptance and friendship. Jeremiah currently resides in Baltimore, MD and performs with his band in the area, as well as across the country. His live shows are a testament to his years as a performer and songwriter, and this is only the beginning.

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Ted Nash was born in Los Angeles, into a musical family. He started to be interested in music very early, and was supported by his father, trombonist Dick Nash, and uncle, reedman Ted Nash - both well-known studio and jazz musicians. The younger Nash exploded onto the jazz scene at eighteen, moved to New York and released his first album, Conception (Concord Jazz). He is co-leader of the Jazz Composers Collective and is constantly pushing the envelope in the world of “traditional jazz.”  One of Nash's most important associations is with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, as well as the adventurous Jazz Composers Collective. Nash's recordings have appeared on many national "best-of" lists including The New Yorker, The New York Times, Village Voice, The Boston Globe, and New York Newsday.

Billy Hough describes himself as the "Head asshole of "Scream Along With Billy", Garage Dogs Records, Venice, Time Out of Mind (2015), The Gold Dust Orphans, Gifford House proud uncle."

Actor, writer, musician and performer, he performs his show show "Scream Along with Billy" with his partner, bassist Susan Goldberg. He is also the lead singer of the punk band, GarageDogs, with his brothers Paul Hough and Matt Hough. All six of the GarageDogs' LPs, as well as "Scream Along with Billy: The Album" were released by the brothers' own label, GarageDog Records.

CONTACT

CONTACT

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