Zooming John Brown: A Visit with Terry Leonino & Greg Artzner of Magpie

02/24/21 • 56 min

In this episode, Lou pays a zoom visit to the award-winning folk musicians and activists Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner, the duo known as Magpie. Since 1973, Terry and Greg have brought their unique sound and remarkable versatility to audiences everywhere, featuring traditional and vintage Americana to contemporary and stirring original compositions. With two strong voices in harmony and superb instrumental arrangements, their sound is powerful and moving. Award-winning recording artists, singers, songwriters, musical historians, playwrights, actors and social activists, Terry and Greg are proud to be, as Pete Seeger said of them, “...more links in the chain”, dedicating their lives and music to leaving this world a better place.
Terry and Greg have a particular love for John Brown that has given birth to both a play and to a lot of great music. In the play, "Sword of the Spirit," they dramatize the loving and devoted relationship of John and Mary Brown. In Magpie's related CD, "Sword of the Spirit," they explore many themes of this epic story in songs ranging from the themes of Brown and his family to Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.
In this interview, Terry and Greg reflect upon their lives and influences, their work on John Brown and other progressive platforms, and the nature of their art as a labor of love in making the story of Brown accessible to the public. As Magpie, they also perform three songs from their own John Brown repertoire. So sit back and enjoy a visit with Magpie. . . .
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All Their John Browns (With Some Lincoln Birthday Fun)

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How many John Browns can you think of? In this episode, Lou shares some reflections on biography and how John Brown has been portrayed in biographical and cultural terms since his death in 1859 and up through today. While this episode is about Old Brown, there is some reflection on Old Abe, but rest assured, it's all in good fun. Or is it? I doubt the Lincoln Squirrel is laughing.
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"Never Tell It": John Brown and the Masonic Lodge

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In this episode, Lou reflects upon the story of John Brown's involvement in the Masons, first his membership and then his drastic turnabout in becoming an antagonistic opponent of the "Worthy Brotherhood." Not only is this a peculiar aspect of Brown's biography, but it raises some questions, including if Masons then and now continue to claim John Brown as a brother Mason. Evidently, some have and some still do. In a storyline that begins with John Brown as a man in his twenties and ends with him in the final days prior to the Harper's Ferry raid in 1859, the Masonic theme provides an opportunity to get a real sense of Brown's orientation as an "anti-bully," his tendency to throw in on any conflict where he perceived injustice, and how his anti-Masonic turn may have been flavored by antislavery convictions. Later in life, John Brown didn't want people, especially Masonic supporters, to know about either his former involvement in the secret fraternity, or his turn against it. But despite Brown's admonition, "Never tell it!", Lou tells it all in this episode--at least as much as we'll probably ever know about John Brown and the Masons.
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