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Susan Cattaneo and The Lucy Stone Singers lead 26 voices in a fight for gender equality

This Saturday, the Boston Women’s March For America will join other gatherings across the country in a show of solidarity for the ongoing fight for gender equality and representation. But the battle is not limited to one day or event, and if there could be any sort reason for positive thinking after the presidential election and leading up to this Friday’s Inauguration Day, it’s that many have been spurred into action to advance social causes and raise their voices.

Among the voices raised are 26 musicians from around New England who have come together for the one-off a capella single “Sisters of a Different Skin.” The project, led by Boston singer-songwriter and Berklee College of Music professor Susan Cattaneo and starring The Lucy Stone Singers — named for the 1847 suffragist and abolitionist who was the first Massachusetts woman to earn a degree — is donating proceeds from the single to national non-profit Girls Who Code.

The Lucy Stone Singers include a wide variety of voices spanning multiple genres, and include efforts from Field Day’s Joan Anderman, Jenna Lotti, Andrea Gillis, Jenee Halstead, Boston Rock Opera’s Erica Mantone, and others.

Cattaneo, who soared to 116 percent completion of her recent Pledge music campaign, says the project began in earnest last fall, and the momentum has been rolling ever since.

“The topic of gender equality is not a new one of course, but there were a series of events, from the media coverage of the female Olympic athletes to the tenor of the presidential campaign, that were disturbing,” she says in a statement. “But the boiling point for me was actually the PEN awards for Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence. As a songwriter I always love to see who wins every year, and this year, I was thrilled to see Tom Waits, John Prine and Kathleen Brennan would be honored for their work. Except that the AP release, which was picked up by a lot of online media outlets, read ‘Tom Waits, his wife and John Prine win award’. Are you kidding me? Kathleen Brennan doesn’t even get her name mentioned? That made me mad, and I thought, I should write a song about this injustice.”

Cattaneo continues: “At the same time, I wrote an angry post on Facebook. And the number of responses I got on my Facebook post from fellow female musicians gave me another idea. What if I wrote this song and got as many women as possible to sing on it with me? Coincidentally, I had a session booked for my new record on my birthday, and I decided to use it instead to record the song, so I sent an email out to all my musician friends, and a bunch of them came to the studio to celebrate my birthday by recording and filming this song with me.”

Cattaneo feels that in a city that boasts organizations like Girls Rock Campaign, booking agents like 2016 Boston Music Awards “Best Promoter” winner Randi Millman (Atwood’s Tavern) and Alyssa Spector (Plough & Stars), and musicians like Jenny Dee and Ruby Rose Fox who organize all-women showcase gigs, Boston is making progress. But there’s always still work to be done.

“I feel I am surrounded by like minded spirits,” she says.

Get more information on “Sisters Of A Different Skin” here, and stream or buy the song via Bandcamp and Soundcloud. Watch the video below on YouTube.