Joan Baez to Perform THE PRESIDENT SANG AMAZING GRACE at Saturday's Emanuel 9 Rally for Unity in Charleston

Joan Baez will perform "The President Sang Amazing Grace" at this Saturday's Emanuel 9 Rally for Unity in Marion Square in downtown Charleston, SC. The pubic event marks the third anniversary of the Emanuel AME Church shooting and was created to celebrate the lives and legacies of the Emanuel 9 and the survivors and as a call to action to "end gun violence and acquire racial reconciliation." In addition to Baez, the rally will feature keynotespeaker, the Rev. Dr. Jamal H. Bryant of Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore, shooting survivor Polly Sheppard, Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg, Sen. Marlon Kimpson and activist Bree Newsome.

Of her involvement, Baez tells the Charleston City Paper, "It kind of brings everything together for me in my lifetime of civil rights work and human rights work. This is an area of the United States that I spent a lot of time in during the civil rights movement, trying to do my share. The other part of the answer is that we're in a siege of gun violence right now, which is the only thing you can expect in a gun culture. So, it was important for me to do it one way or another. Any acts like this that are empathetic and compassionate have become really vital. It's just a thrill for me to be a part of it."

Additionally, the official music video for "The President Sang Amazing Grace" will be screened ahead of most shows at New York's IFC Center beginning tomorrow, Friday, June 22, through next Thursday, June 28 (excluding first shows of the day, midnight screenings, screenings with in-person appearances or specialty one-off screenings). Created and animated by Jeff Scher (whose work is in the permanent collection at MoMA and who has created work for HBO, PBS and The New York Times) and produced by Rick Litvin (Associate Arts Professor, New York University), the video originally premiered earlier this spring via The Atlantic. Watch/share HERE.

"The President Sang Amazing Grace" was written by Zoe Mulford and is featured on Baez's acclaimed new album, Whistle Down The Wind, out now on Bobolink/Razor & Tie Records (purchase here). Her first album in ten years, the album recently debuted at #18 onBillboard's Top Current Albums chart and #4 on the Americana/Folk Albums chart-Baez's strongest chart position since 1975's Diamonds & Rust. The album is also finding success internationally debuting at #47 in the U.K., #36 in France, #6 in Sweden and #8 in Germany. Watch a recent profile on "CBS News Sunday Morning" here. Read a recent interview with the The New York Times here.

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