-Booksongs-
A trilogy of songs
within a trilogy of books.
Jerry Ebert is the third oldest of 12 kids who performed at local churches and school dances in hometown Cornwall-on-the-Hudson. He wrote his first song in 1963 at age 10, and has written thousands since. His songs mix country, folk and pop into a blend he calls Hudson Valley Music. After retiring as a union organizer/journalist in 2019, he began recording with producer Lenny Underwood and musicians Debbie Major, Lawrence Cullen, and Steve Morgan. His trilogy Booksongs (jerryebert.com) combines more than three dozen original songs with three books: one personal, one spiritual and one social. (Love and Light, Secret Souls and Working Class Manifesto). He has opened for Pete Seeger, David Bromberg, Don McLean, Jan Hammer, Harry Chapin, Oz Noy and others.
jerryebertmusic@gmail.com
Jerry Ebert Wikipedia
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Booksongs Producer Lenny Underwood has played and/or recorded with Madonna, Amy Winehouse, Celine Dion, Harry Belafonte, Chaka Khan, Jaco Pastorius, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Botti, and others. He tours Europe regularly, where the club dance music he helped create with Unlimited Touch in his younger years still has a strong following.
Scroll to bottom for free downloads of song playlists and books. Along the way, sample the music and writing!
I Wish You Were Here
(Holiday version at bottom of homepage)
My Hometown
Let Me Be The One
Facebook-friend Jerry Ebert, and catch reviews of shows such as the one below. You’ll also enjoy new songs, intriguing photography, show-announcements, writings and much more.
HELLO HELLO
How You Look Tonight
"The truest treasure you give me are memories."
-from Love and Light
My Best Friend
All For You
Help Support This Effort
If you enjoy my music and writing, please donate below on your preferred platform. Much appreciated!
There's Someone For Everyone
My Dream of You
...at a Hudson Valley Music For Humanity show in 2022.
Empty House
"Destiny is what you decide to do."
-from Secret Souls
Imagination
Poem (from Love and Light)
We wander the fields
of our homeland,
longing to know
the truth of souls,
the place beyond tears.
You danced
through shadows
to find me last night,
to pull me
toward your light.
Who are you?
Just before waking
you curled like a cat
around me,
murmuring
in another language
…and I wondered
where our souls go.
Someday Soon
"If you're not negotiating a workplace contract, you're not doing business."
-from Working Class Manifesto
Into The Light
Granpa's Arms
Many times over a 40-year span, Jerry accompanied legendary folksinger Pete Seeger. (Jerry Ebert Wikipedia.) Read Jerry’s tribute to Pete Seeger in Working Class Manifesto and Other Essays
I Wonder As I Wander
Lonesome Lullaby
The Lord's My Shepherd
Poem (from Love and Light)
Come to the shoreline
of laughter and imagination,
the ocean of your truths.
Listen to the music
of waves seducing sand.
I need you
when I least expect it.
Not in the danger
or storm,
but when the wind
is still,
tide pulling,
sun and moon
together yet apart.
Beauty is mystery
unaware of itself,
the elegant depths
never seen,
you,
a world hidden
below the sea,
waiting in
pristine silence
for the loneliness
to end.
...at a gig in Albany NY, 1985.
Help Support This Effort
If you enjoy my music and writing, please donate below on your preferred platform. Much appreciated!
Jerry (bottom row, second from right), with his brothers and sisters, circa 1973. The family all sang together at the local church in Cornwall-on-Hudson NY.
Now Is Our History
From Working Class Manifesto
What I’m telling you is true whether your cause is left-wing, right-wing or turkey-wing.
Before you snowflake-dismiss me, be aware that in my 40 years of union organizing I’ve called for more picketlines and carried out more strikes than most of you will ever experience.
So take five minutes to read this, and let what I’m saying percolate through your mind for a few days.
Martin Luther King had it right, as did Gandhi and Christ.
Practice the three nons: non-hatred, non-violence and non-destruction of property. Respect your adversaries.
Imagine a scenario where a group of people want you to do something. To increase the pressure, they insult and threaten you. How would you react? Probably as I would: you’d resist, even if you were initially inclined to do what was asked.
Sometimes in my job negotiating contracts for workers, I had to urge them to vote to strike. Over the years I learned that if I cultivated the respect of the boss along the way, he or she would then usually reach out to make a deal before the actual picketline was ever assembled. When I didn’t cultivate respect, prolonged problems ensued, and sometimes the entire effort collapsed.
Those who espouse hatred, violence and destruction of property harm the cause they espouse.
From Secret Souls:
Chapter One
Anna and her seven-year-old granddaughter Nina lay on a blanket in a backyard, looking into the October night sky.
Indian Summer, 1978. The village of Cornwall-on-the-Hudson sleeps under a veil of moon and stars.
“I can’t see it Granma,” says Nina, frustrated.
“Mi cariño” soothes Anna in her native Spanish. “Relax. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Clear your mind. Then slowly open your eyes and look inside the sky, not at it. Make your eyes flip it over.”
Nina shuts her eyes and calms herself. Then slowly, she opens them.
For a split second, the white moon and stars turn black as the dark night brightens.
She blinks in disbelief; it reminds her of an x-ray she once saw in a doctor’s office.
The image disappears.
“See inside it,” Anna presses.
Nina tries again.
The moon and stars become black dots, and the darkness turns light. This time she holds the image.
“Wow…Granma…I see it.”
“Bueno, Nina, bueno…this is how you see the unseen. This is my gift to you, my legacy to you alone. Tell no one; this is our secret: nuestro secreto.”
“Can I see my brother in Heaven?” asks Nina, still staring in a half-daze into the strange sky.
Anna catches her breath before answering.
“You can’t see inside Heaven until you go there, and that’s a long time from now. But don’t worry, Davey’s watching over you. He can see you, so he’s happy. Someday you’ll see him again. No se preocupe – don’t worry.”
Nina shifts her eyes to her grandmother. “Oooh Granma…I see your colors…so pretty…bright…”
She sees her grandmother’s form glowing three colors: white, yellow and blue, almost invisible, like waves of heat rising from summer pavement.
Anna smiles at her granddaughter’s excitement.
“You’re seeing the colors of my soul, Nina.”
[NOTE: Secret Souls derives from interviews with the main characters. As the story unfolds, Anna teaches Nina many secrets of life-beyond-death. They inadvertently channel into malevolent souls who are angry at being identified. A violent struggle ensues.]
Jerry, standing right, with The Insurgents in the mid-1980s. That's vocalist Debbie Major, center left, who performs all the female vocals on Jerry's songs. Standing second from left is Lawrence Cullen, Jerry's cousin, who plays the electric guitars you hear on this website, and helps with production..
MANY THANKS:
Lenny and Bernadette Underwood (Personal Touch Studios)
Steve and Ellyn Morgan, Tom Destry
Elliot Glen (On Target Recording)
Ray, Matt, and Ed Ebert
(Boilerroom Sound), and their house musicians Frank Johns, Mike Fornal
and Tom Hunter (of the band Skull)
Video Editor Joey Fezza
Pat Ledyard, Alfie Simpson, Sara Sherwood, The Estis Family
Debbie Major, harmonies
Lawrence Cullen, electric guitar and congas
Guitarist Tony DePaolo and vocalist Debbie Major for their work on Wish
Website editors Tom Bahr and Robert Maines
My family and all my friends
Dedicated to my wife Jeanette, who passed away Jan. 2, 2019. She inspired this.
All songs written by Jerry Ebert.
Acoustic guitar, harmonica, vocals: Jerry Ebert
Wish
From Love and Light
Remember the child,
the smile
that was yours,
the eyes
that asked all
in the wonder
of innocence.
Remember laughter
if your cares close in,
how you played
when there was
no time.
Carry your own light
into this world,
keep walking
toward the star
in the distance.
Hold to nature,
the things
that are real,
nurture
the fire inside.
Hold to your soul,
don’t let it go,
it’s who
I’ll love forever
…and we’ll
grow young
as the world
grows old.
I'm Gonna Miss You
You'll Be All Right
I Wish You Were Here (Holiday version)
Click music buttons below for many more free videos; click book buttons for free writings.
-Love and Light-
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-Secret Souls-
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-Working Class Manifesto-
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