Sinead O'Connor is to take part in a crowd funded tribute album for Blind Willie Johnson. The fundraising campaign began on Kickstarter.com on October 13 and the album will go ahead only if $125,000 is raised. Fans have pledged $28,777 so far.
Other artists who have signed up to record tracks for the album include Tom Waits, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Lucinda Williams.
God Don't Never Change will be produced by Jeffrey Gaskill who previously had success with the independently funded Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan. His mission is to spread the word about Blind Willie Johnson whose contribution to the world of music he feels, is "far too often overlooked."
Writing on the Kickstarter page Gaskill says that "Our mission is to shine a light and acknowledge this important and influential artist currently representing mankind in outer space." In case you were wondering what that means, a sample of Blind Willie's music is on board the Voyager 1 spacecraft which is currently traveling beyond our solar system.
I guess Sinead, Tom Waits et al want earthlings to hear Johnson's music before the aliens do. It would be kind of embarrassing to draw a blank when they are trying to relate to us, you know?