Great Lake Swimmers perform at a Swim Drink Fish Music event, June 2010. Photo courtesy of Dylan Neild.

Great Lake Swimmers, the Canadian folk-rock outfit led by Tony Dekker, have just released a new track honouring fishermen and families affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Ballad of a Fisherman’s Wife was written and produced in Toronto and is available online at www.swimdrinkfishmusic.com.

“Great Lake Swimmers’ Ballad Of A Fisherman’s Wife was written after hearing, with great dismay, news about the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Most striking and heart-felt to me were the sentiments of outrage from those who made their living in and along these waters, especially the fishermen, and especially their wives. I wanted to comment on this ongoing crisis from that very specific viewpoint,” says singer-songwriter Tony Dekker.

Dekker’s music has been featured on the Swim Drink Fish Music website throughout the month of August. The Swim Drink Fish Music Club is an online music and audio experience. Developed by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper with Ottawa Riverkeeper, and Fraser Riverkeeper, SDFM brings artists together with activists and citizens to celebrate exclusive and rare music while creating swimmable, drinkable, fishable futures for their communities. We have proudly worked with founding artists including Broken Social Scene, Bruce Cockburn, Dave Bidini, Gord Downie, Pete Seeger, Sarah Harmer, Stars, and Canadian producer Chris Brown.

“This latest release offers Club members a moving insight into the lives of people who are intimately connected to our fragile waterbodies. It also chronicles some of the greatest themes of our era: hardship, perseverance, and love. I hope our friends in the Gulf find strength that, even in this terrible time, others are watching, finding inspiration, and applauding their efforts,” says Mark Mattson, president of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and Club co-founder.

A Swim Drink Fish Music annual membership is $10. It provides unlimited access to the entire website and catalogue for one year. Members can download the songs, play them on any portable music device, and keep the music forever. For more information, please visit: www.swimdrinkfishmusic.com and www.greatlakeswimmers.com.

If you are already a member of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and want to claim your complimentary website access, send us an email. Media subscriptions are also available via email.