Dan Navarro and Janiva Magness - $20 Bill (for George Floyd)

Among the pivotal developments of the Covid-19 challenged year 2020 was the emergence of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, amplified by the senseless murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of local police. Outraged demonstrations spread nationwide, as the call for justice was issued loudly and forcefully by a frustrated public. Beloved folk musician Tom Prasada-Rao responded to the death by composing a song, “$20 Bill (for George Floyd),” that so instantly resonated within the folk music community that dozens of artists recorded and performed it within days and more than 100 within a few months. It became, to many, the song of the year.

Among those creating their own versions were blues music mainstay Janiva Magness (seven Blues Music Awards on 31 nominations) and folk-pop singer-songwriter Dan Navarro (two Top Ten Folk albums, co-writer of Pat Benatar’s “We Belong”). And although Tom himself recorded a version with the Fox Run 5, no definitive version emerged.

This summer, moved by Prasada-Rao’s death from cancer on Juneteenth, 2024, Dan and Janiva decided to honor Tom, and the song, with a long overdue definitive release. They tapped Grammy-winning producer-engineer Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Wilco, Dixie Chicks) and a crack team of top Americana players, with Dan on acoustic guitar, and duet lead vocals by Dan and Janiva, and recorded “$20 Bill” in a single day at Plyrz Studios in Santa Clarita, CA. The result is a soulful, deeply moving rendition, newly released to all the major music services and to folk and Americana radio.

The recording has also been submitted for consideration for a new, special Grammy – The Harry Belafonte Song of Social Change award, a songwriter award that would honor Tom, his seminal song and its riveting message – “What is the value of a life?”