Labor songwriter Joe Hill composed songs to amuse, to organize, to “fan the flames of discontent.” And 100 years ago this fall, the state of Utah executed him, as much for his radical politics as for evidence of any crime. Wisconsin native and current Chicago musician Bucky Halker is honoring the centennial with a CD of new interpretations of Hill’s music. Anywhere But Utah: The Songs of Joe Hill includes such songs as “The Rebel Girl” and “There is Power in a Union.”
Bucky Halker and Milwaukee’s Lil’ Rev will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 19 at the Bay View Historical Society’s Beulah Brinton House to mark the anniversary of Hill’s execution.
