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Listen to “Old & Proud (Acoustic)”:
https://moonalice.ffm.to/oldandproud-acoustic
Friday, July 21, 2023 – Today, Bay Area collective Moonalice shares an acoustic version of the soulful anthem “Old & Proud.” Led by Moonalice vocalist Lester Chambers, the single is a tribute to the spirit of the older generation. Chambers confidently embraces aging on the call-and-response track, now reimagined with stripped-down instrumentation.
“Old & Proud” is part of a new batch of Moonalice songs written alongside esteemed Nashville songwriter and producer Dylan Altman. The song chronicles Chambers’ journey escaping the 1950s Jim Crow South and moving to California to pursue a life in music.
Speaking about the song, Lester adds: “At the age of 83, ‘Old and Proud’ has quickly become a new anthem for me. I see and hear so many ways to be thankful and proud and especially happy to be this age. To those of you who have made it this far along in your journey of life, I say ‘God Bless You’ and for all of those who wish to make it to your golden years, I say ‘God Help You.’ Remember, no matter what your age, you can sing it out, ‘I’m Old, I’m Proud and I Like my Rock n’ Roll Loud!’”
Born in 1940 in Carthage, Mississippi, Lester Chambers grew up in the Jim Crow South. He miraculously escaped a sharecropper's life and relocated to LA in the '50s, alongside his brothers George, Joe and Willie, with whom he played music together in a family band called The Chambers Brothers. The band was at the forefront of black psychedelia, which T: The New York Times Style Magazine called “one of the most lasting and influential artistic movements of the 20th century.” In 1967, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the Chambers Brothers' cowbell-infused “Time Has Come Today” became an anthem for the disenfranchised and disillusioned youth of America. The song sat at #11 for five weeks on the Billboard Top 100 and propelled the group to national stardom. In the summer of 1969, The Chambers Brothers starred at the Harlem Culture Festival, a performance featured in the Oscar-winning documentary, “Summer of Soul.”
Lester's storied rock and roll life continues today with Moonalice, where alongside his son Dylan Chambers, he continues to lift up the community and inspire the next generation through messages of “love, peace, and happiness.” Fresh off performances at Napa Valley’s BottleRock Festival and Skull & Roses Festival in Ventura, CA, Moonalice is heading to Alaska this month to perform at Salmonfest and the South East Alaska Fair.
Moonalice recently partnered with One Tree Planted, a nonprofit organization focused on global reforestation. Since 2014, the organization has planted over 40 million trees in more than 47 countries across the globe. For every fan that follows Moonalice on Spotify, One Tree Planted will plant one tree.
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