Who: Billy Bragg, Rosanne Cash, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Steve Earle, Shovels & Rope, Rufus Wainwright, Richard Thompson, the Indigo Girls, Jorma Kaukonen, Todd Snider, KT Tunstall, Loudon Wainwright, Amy Helm, Joseph Arthur, Stella Donnelly, Andrew Bird, Fink, Joan Osborne, the Mountain Goats, Valerie June, Stephin Merritt, Rita Houston
What: Special livestreamed Mother’s Day benefit concert from City Winery
Where: Private YouTube link sent two hours before showtime
When: Sunday, May 10, $10, 5:00
Why: “I love you and that’s why I’m going to stay away,” Billy Bragg sings to his mother in his March 21 video, “Can’t Be There Today.” The English singer-songwriter and activist was quick to follow social distancing guidelines, even if it meant not seeing loved ones. He has now teamed up with City Winery, where he is a regular performer, for a livestreamed Mother’s Day concert on Sunday, May 10, at 5:00, and there is an all-star lineup joining him from wherever they are sheltering in place. The roster so far features Rosanne Cash, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Steve Earle, Shovels & Rope, Rufus Wainwright, Richard Thompson, the Indigo Girls, Jorma Kaukonen, Todd Snider, KT Tunstall, Loudon Wainwright, Amy Helm, Joseph Arthur, Stella Donnelly, Andrew Bird, Fink, Joan Osborne, the Mountain Goats, Valerie June, and Stephin Merritt, hosted by Rita Houston.
Tickets to the YouTube show are $10, with all proceeds benefiting the United Nations Foundation, which “addresses sexual and reproductive health and rights in the COVID-19 pandemic.” Showing as always that he is ahead of the curve, Bragg explained in a statement about the song, “The coronavirus pandemic is going to affect our lives in ways we’ve yet to grasp. In the coming months, most of us will be forced to miss family gatherings, including Mother’s Day, which in the UK fell on the first weekend of isolation [March 22]. My new song touches on the emotional cost of this crisis.” Watch the concert with your mother, or in your mother’s memory. And stay safe and healthy out there; it’s not worth risking your life — or your mother’s — just to tell her you love her in person on Sunday.