Ansel Adams

• Ansel Adams by Andrew McKnight, on his album Something Worth Standing For.  Learn more about Ansel Adams on our Authors page.

National Audubon Society

• “Audubon Song” by Bill Oliver on his album Audubon Adventures.

David Brower

• “Dave Brower, Knockin’ Down Dams” by Bill Oliver on his album Friends of the River.
• The Healing Song (Let the River Run) (YouTube) by John Denver.  This song was performed live by Denver in 1995 at the Windstar Symposium as a “work in progress,” which Denver explained was a song that David Brower had been encouraging John Denver to write for a number of years.  In introducing the song Denver expressed his great admiration for David Brower and explained how he took part of the lyrics and the concepts used  from the title of David Brower’s 1995 book, Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run: A Call to Those Who Would Save the Earth.

Rachel Carson

Read about Rachel Carson on our Authors page.

• “Gentle Warrior” by Magpie – from their album A Tiding – a song about Rachel Carson, whose scholarly scientific study and powerful and eloquent prose is the cornerstone of the modern environmental movement, and has inspired a generation of earth activists.
• “Rachel” by Magpie –  from their album Seed on the Prairie – Another song about Rachel Carson, encouraging us all the speak out like she did.
• “Silent Spring” by Emma’s Revolution on their album One, a song about Rachel Carson’s warnings about the impact of toxics on the environment. Now available from the iTunes Music Store.
• “Song for Rachel” by Walkin’ Jim Stoltz, on his Little Piece of Time (2004) album. – In addition To Rachel Carson, at the end of this song, Walkin’ Jim adds the names of “others of my tribe”: John Muir, Leopold, William O. Douglas, Brower, Cousteau, Ed Abbey, Bob Marshall, Thoreau , Mardy Murie, Jane Goodall, Sigurd Olsen, “and all my earth heroes.”
  (also available on the M.U.S.E. Songs for the Earth: A Tribute to Rachel Carson CD, see below.)
  “And I’m singing this song for Rachel
  And for the Elders of my tribe
  And I’m singin’ it for the children
  And this ol’ Earth on which we ride.
  There will be no silent spring, and there will come a better day.
  If we keep singin’ this song for Rachel,
  and remember what she had to say.“- from “A Song for Rachel” by Walkin’ Jim Stoltz

M.U.S.E., Songs for the Earth: A Tribute to Rachel Carson ©2005 M.U.S.E. Association, Inc.
This wonderful compilation of songs is the third release by Musicians United to Sustain the Environment (M.U.S.E.) done in partnership with the Rachel Carson Council to celebrate the life of Rachel Carson. Carson, through her landmark book, Silent Spring, inspired the modern day environmental movement by raising consciousness about the effects of pesticides and chemicals on the world around us.

The CD booklet has lots of information about Rachel Carson and her work. The profits from the sale of this and other M.U.S.E. recordings goes toward non-profit efforts to protect our environment.

These are the artists and the songs featured on “Songs for the Earth”

1. Pete Seeger – My Dirty Stream
2. Walkin’ Jim Stoltz – Song for Rachel
3. Steve Schuch – Where Will We Go?
4. Kat Eggleston – Go to the Water
5. Bill Oliver – Queen Invicta
6. Tom Vincent – Ballad of the Osprey
7. Betty and the Baby Boomers – Back Bay
8. Casey Neill – Hallowed be thy Ground
9. Dean Stevens – Salmon River
10. Cindy Kallet – Roll to the River
11. Tom Paxton – When it’s Gone, it’s Gone
12. Magpie – Rachel
13. Tish Hinojosa – Something in the Rain
14. Gordon Bok – Herring Croon
15. Emma’s Revolution – Silent Spring
16. Bob Zentz – Far Horizon
17. Josh White Jr. – Gentle Warrior
18. A speech by Rachel Carson herself

Jacques Cousteau

• “Calypso” by John Denver from the album Windsong – about Jacques Costeau’s ship.

Marjorie Stoneman Douglas

• River of Grass  (YouTube by “Earthman”) –  This beautiful music video is a tribute to environmentalist Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, with wonderful photographs of Florida’s Everglades and inspiring messages about this majestic wilderness.

William O. Douglas

• “Song for William O. Douglas” by Bill Oliver (from his album Texas Oasis).

Jane Goodall

• “Love Song to Jane” by Dana Lyons
  
  
• “Jane Jane” by Raffi, on his children’s album Let’s Play.
  Gombe calling… Jane! Jane!… The chimpanzees are calling to thank you… it’s been 40 love-filled years….
  Listen on YouTube.
• Lori Henriques – “Song for Jane Goodall”
  Listen on YouTube 

Julia “Butterfly” Hill

Songs about the young woman who lived two years in a ancient Redwood tree named Luna to prevent it from being cut for lumber.

• “Butterfly Wings” (a tribute to Julia Hill) by Jim Page on his album Gettin’ Squeezed
• More songs exist, but are may be hard to find. Look for these songs:
  • Julia Butterfly by Steven King Trio
  • Julia Butterfly by BEV
  • Julia Butterfly Hill by Surdo

Aldo Leopld

“It feeds them. It feeds their spirits, it feeds their muse. Leopold’s writing — ‘A Sand County Almanac’ in particular — is something that has touched a lot of musicians,. From folk musicians, to classical to pop, these are musicians who have become so inspired that they felt they needed to bring the words to life through music.” 

• Sand County Songs, an album by Tim Southwhick Johnson, is a lively hour of music based on Aldo Leopold’s famous book, A Sand County Almanac. From thoughtful ballads and beautiful instrumentals to spirited bluegrass and finger style blues, the songs are performed with honesty and a respect for Leopold’s vision of a land community. The CD was released in of January 2012 with a portion of the proceeds being donated to The Aldo Leopold Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
• Sand County (PDF of sheet music) by Kansas City-based choral composer Jean Belmont Ford is a three-part choral piece commissioned by The Festival Choir of Madison in 1999 for the 150th anniversary of Wisconsin’s statehood. It incorporates text from A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold:
  1. “Sand County“
  2. “Draba“
  3. “WildThings“
  Sheet Music and audio preview of this choral music available from sheetmusicplus.com.
• Ode to Aldo Leopold by Susan Werner, on her album Hayseed. (YouTube)

John Muir

• See the John Muir Exhibit website for a comprehensive, annotated list of songs about John Muir including all of the following and MORE:
  • “The Legend of John Muir” by Gayle Lynn Dreifus
  • “The Ballad of John Muir” by Patrick Michael Karnahan of “Black Irish Band”
  • “Tribute to John Muir” by Betsy Keithcart
  • “Muir and the Master Builder” by Brian McNeill
  • “Muir Power to You” by Bill Oliver on the John Muir Tribute CD.
  • “John of the Mountains” by Matthew Werner of “Mariposa”
  • “The Big Trees are Down” by Douglas Wood – The album Earthsongs features tributes to Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold, with a call to us to stand in their footsteps.
  • “Climb the Mountains” – Lyrics by Mary Bracken Phillips and music by Craig Bohmler (from Mountain Days: The John Muir Musical
  • “Creation’s Dawn” (Ode to John Muir) by Barry Hertz, on his album Sure Cure and on the John Muir Tribute CD. This song was inspired by Hertz’s experience of a “Muir Trek” in the Canadian Rockies in the early 1990’s. In this song, Barry has adapted and set to music words from Muir’s journal writings in an effort to express the spirit of Muir’s life in song. Lyrics
  • “Range of Light” by Walkin’ Jim Stoltz on the John Muir Tribute CD.
  • “Me and Stickeen” by Bill Oliver on his album Friend of the River
  • “Hooray for Hetch Hetchy” by Bill Oliver (2005, 2018).
    Lyrics | MP3 Preview |

Mardy and Olaus Murie

• “A Song for All Lovers” by John Denver, performed on his 1995 Wildlife Concert DVD/VHS video and the video, Arctic Dance: The Mardy Murie Story.

Ranger Rick

• “Ranger Rick” (the conservationist raccoon) by Douglas Wood  in his album Earthsongs