Mark Rubin / Dispatches: Songs from a world gone mad
Mark Rubin / Dispatches: Songs from a world gone mad, 2025
CD, downloads available from Borscht Beat, via Bandcamp and available from finer digital outlets everywhere.
Mark Rubin, my favorite Jew of Oklahoma is back with more songs about being Jewish in America. These days, that is often the downside of being Jewish in America. Like a Jewish Phil Ochs, he points to the big issues facing us and pulls no punches. (Oops, Phil Ochs was Jewish, and was a wonderful songwriter, but his songs had no connections to Jewish music, nor to being a Jew in America.)
Whether addressing Trump-encouraged antisemitism ("Dog Whistle"), wars that never end ("Bear at the Door"), the violence we perpetuate on each other ("Wild Bill Jones"), or what ICE is doing to us all ("Goon with a Hammer": 'Hey Hey / You know it's true / Because if they can take Jose / They can surely take you"); or the horror being inflicted upon Gaza and Palestinians ("Staying Put," "Horrors of the War," "Blues for the innocent": 'Bombs keep fallin' on my head / everybody I know is dead'), Rubin reports what he sees and gives voice to the tangle, setting the observations to traditional bluegrass voicings and melodies. This is bone-deep bluegrass, but it's not the happy music of the more trendy, spiritual-oriented purveyers of "Jewgrass."
As one would expect from his decades of playing, there are also new instrumentals, such as the "Berish Katz Breakdown", "Reb Dovidl's Reel," or "Beregovsky's #77" that run the gamut from traditional bluegrass to traditional klezmer.
In a world where to report what the world, and perhaps especially the Jewish community doesn't want to hear (neither on the rabidly antisemitic right so finely encouraged by our current president, nor the trendily antisemitic part of the left), praise creation that Mark is still writing and singing and playing. If you're smart, you'll not only share copies of this recording with those you care about, you'll bring him to your town for the news and music, live, in concert.
Reviewed by Ari Davidow, 1-June 2026 .
Performers Mark Rubin: voice, guitar
Guests:
Dylan Blackthorn: accordion, tracks 4 and 10
Matt Smith: voice, track 10
Songlist
- Dog Whistle 2:38
- Blues for the Innocent 2:17
- Horrors of the War 1:52
- Staying Put 2:08
- Bear at the Door 1:47
- Berish Katz Breakdown 2:13
- Reb Dovidl's Reel 2:41
- Wild Bill Jones 2:01
- Beregovsky's #77 2:44
- World is Just a Wheel 2:40
- Goon with the Hammer 2:47
All compositions by Mark Rubin
