Rookin is a folk-rock band from Massachusetts and Kentucky, currently based in New York. They are about to go on their second tour of the north and southeast. The band is comprised of Adam Horn (vocals), Ben Naddaff-Hafrey (guitar & piano), Parsa Kamali (guitar), Ethan Schneider (drums), and Socrates Cruz (bass). The band started up when the two songwriters Adam and Ben took an American Civil War class in college. Tasked to either write a research paper or take on a creative project. They made a record about the Civil War (called Mystic Chords). Adam, a Kentucky native, wrote for the South. Ben wrote for the North. Years later, they formed a band with close friends from adolescence and college. That’s the band that’s written the group’s first LP, Unionism, which will be released in October.
The video is assembled entirely out of archival footage. The main archival footage is
from a mid-20th- century educational film called People Along The Mississippi directed
by Gordon Weisenborn, It’s about a young boy and his brother who build a toy boat and sends it south along the Mississippi. As the ship runs aground, young children from various minority communities set it back on the river. It is reputedly one of the first nationally distributed educational films to
promote integration. Select other footage comes from an FDR film called “The River”
promoting the importance of the river, and making an environmental plea for its
protection (it also promotes the TVA, one of FDR’s signature achievements). Check out their huge historical masterpiece “Henry Twain”
