Dropkick Murphys, Violent Femmes Take on the Peekskill Riots in “Gotta Get to Peekskill”

Dropkick Murphys are teaming up with Violent Femmes to take on an important moment in music history.

On Thursday (April 6), Dropkick Murphys dropped “Gotta Get to Peekskill,” their take on the Peekskill Riots in upstate New York, which incorporates lyrics from folk icon Woody Guthrie. In 1949, Guthrie was on the scene for the riots before Paul Robeson’s concert near Peekskill. Robeson was a vocal opponent of the Ku Klux Klan and was scheduled to perform a benefit concert for Civil Rights Congress in August in Cortlandt Manor near Peekskill when several protestors, many of whom were members of the KKK, violently attacked concert-goers.

Guthrie and Pete Seeger were among the music legends who attended Robeson’s rescheduled show a week later in support of the singer. It was reported that Guthrie pinned a red shirt on the window of the car they were driving in to stop the glass from shattering as people threw rocks at the car. Dropkick Murphys turn this harrowing experience into such fiery lyrics as I’ll follow the new trail of blood on the ground / In through the gate, and mill with the crowd / I just got a feelin’ that blood’s gonna fly / I gotta get to Peekskill, break a leg or die.

“We had the privilege of collaborating with the Violent Femmes on this feisty track,” Dropkick Murphys’ frontman Ken Casey says in a press release. “Acoustic Dropkicks sounds a lot like the Violent Femmes in my opinion, so the collaboration is musically and symbolically fitting. And singing a song about fighting the Ku Klux Klan is always extra fun.”

“We have always loved the Dropkicks’ aggressive approach to roots material,” comments Violent Femmes guitarist Brian Ritchie. “They don’t need any help, but it was a pleasure to contribute flamboyant acoustic bass guitar. I was moved by the vocal interplay between [singer Gordon Gano] and Ken. Mysteriously, the end result sounds suspiciously like Dropkicks meets Femmes. Which is a good thing!”

This is the latest release of Dropkick Murphys’ upcoming tribute album to Guthrie, Okemah Rising, which will be released on May 12.

Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images