Next week, Jim Dalton, the Railbenders' affable frontman, is slated to perform a song at an inauguration party in Washington, D.C., hosted by Norman Lear, the man responsible for This Is Spinal Tap and the classic '70s sitcoms that are now TV Land mainstays, such as All in the Family, Maude, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time and Good Times, among others. The tune, "Born Again American," written by Keith Carradine, "is about the hardships that Americans are facing today," says Dalton, who lent his voice to the song in front of the Jefferson Memorial for a video that was shot recently.
(Update: Just watched the inspirational clip, which is posted after the jump, and it also features, among a cast of other performers, American Idol hopeful David Hernandez, singing in front of Red Rocks.)
The track is also slated to appear on Bill Moyers show this Friday, and
will be available on iTunes as a download. The opportunity, says
Dalton, came about after the singer had dinner with Lear, who then
asked for a Railbenders CD. "I can't help but wonder what Norman Lear
was thinking," he says, "as he was driving through D.C. listening to
'Whiskey Rain.'" Well, if that was his sole impression of Denver, he
was probably thinking about turning the car around and heading
westbound on I-70.