SingSOS! — Album of Original Songs about Autism
Julie Nusbaum and Lisa Splitlog, posted March 15, 2010.
Now available on CD or digital download is SingSOS!, an album of original songs about autism by artists including Jackson Browne and Valerie Carter (duet), Dar Williams, Marshall Crenshaw, Teddy Geiger, Jonathan Brooke, Dan Bern, Ari Hest, and others. SingSOS!/Songs of the Spectrum is a nonprofit organization that enlists the power of music to spread the word about autism spectrum disorders and the importance of early detection and intensive intervention. On the album and the website, there is also a hand-selected set of high-quality information for parents and educators about autism in free downloadable form, including excerpts from books by leading experts.
Download the album at SingSOS! for a $15 donation or order a CD for $20. All proceeds go to a nonprofit group chosen by the donor – you are encouraged to select Music for Autism when choosing your charity at checkout.
All songs on the album are collaboration between John O’Neil, a New York Times editor whose 2004 essay about his autistic son James was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and Jon Fried and Deena Shoshkes, a husband/wife team that performs as the Cucumbers. Fried and Shoshkes, close friends of the O’Neil family, have witnessed firsthand James’s struggle and progress.
“Early intervention and dedicated, relentless treatment can have a genuinely transforming effect,” said O’Neil. “We want to bring listeners inside an experience that is so hard to see and so hard to understand. Autism has understandably been called an ‘invisible epidemic.” We hope to make it tangible.”
“The songs tell a cohesive story that affected families and others with an interest in or connection to autism can follow,” said Jon Fried. “We’ve had listeners tell us ‘You are singing my life’ and ‘Now I feel less alone.’”
A performance of the SingSOS! songs was the concluding event of the United Nation’s activities marking World Autism Awareness Day in April 2009.
For more information, visit www.singsos.org.
