Hedwig's John Cameron Mitchell Releases Benefit Album New American Dream (Part One)

John Cameron Mitchell has released the benefit album New American Dream (Part One). The community-built album is available now on Bandcamp, with regular streaming to follow.

New American Dream explores how a community of friends can use the raw resources of a challenged America and a threatened world to create empathy and justice through art and beauty. The album was recorded during lockdown with 40+ collaborators across the United States and Europe.

Proceeds from album sales will go to Burritos Not Bombs, a food distribution program in Mexico City battling hunger during the pandemic, San Francisco's Transgender Gender-Variant and Intersex Justice Project, and the Connecticut-based Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Trust Fund.

The nine tracks on Part One are written and performed by artists including John Cameron Mitchell, Lance Horne, Izae, Justin Craig, Leland, Ezra Furman, Jorgen Jorgensen-Briggs, Ben Joseph, Sam Durkes, Amber Martin, Cassie Watson, Peppermint, Melania Brown, Brad Gemeinhardt, Gabe Lopez, Eleanor Norton, Thorgy Thor, Alynda Segarra, Bitch, and Robbie Cucciaro. Kevin Ratterman mastered the tracks.

Mitchell cocreated with Stephen Trask the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. His other films include Shortbus, Rabbit Hole, and How To Talk To Girls At Parties.

Get the album here.