It’s time to kick back with the iconic Cowboy Bebop “The Real Folk Blues” track. Only this time, the rendition features a larger group of people behind it and benefits a good cause. Mason Lieberman, a Tencent Senior Game Audio Coordinator and artist, put together this project with Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts, her band that worked on the original ending theme for Cowboy Bebop, to raise money for Doctors Without Borders and the CDC Foundation as they deal with the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. People can buy the song or a record with this track and a thebishopgame remix of it.
“The Real Folk Blues” charity track is immediately available via Bandcamp digitally. For $1, people can pick up the song. Though, if people would like to pay more, they can. (Amazon Music, iTunes, and Spotify won’t offer it until May 8, 2020.) For people who want a tangible version, Qrates is allowing people to back a record of the COVID-19 charity arrangement for $25 until May 30, 2020. The A-side is the standard arrangement, while the B-side has the shorter remix.
A music video for “The Real Folk Blues” Special COVID-19 Charity Arrangement has been released, showing Kanno and the other participants performing the track.
From the official press released, here’s a full list of everyone joining Kanno and The Seatbelts and their contribution to the project. Steve “Spike Spiegel” Blum and Beau “Jet Black” Billingslea both make cameo appearances.
Trumpet – Koji Nishimura
Trumpet – Eric Miyashiro
Trombone – Yoichi Murata
Vocals – A-sha Mai Yamane
Percussion – MATARO
Upright Bass – Hitoshi Watanabe
Drums – Yasuo Sano
Electric Guitar – Tsuneo Imahori
And Special Guest:
Vocals – A-sha Mai Yamane
Mix / Additional Guitar – Masahiro Aoki (Legendary former composer at Capcom with credits on Mega Man, Street Fighter V, Astral Chain, and more)
Mastering Engineer – Jett Galindo (Mastering engineer at The Bakery LA on projects like the La La Land OST, Barbara Streisand, and Green Day)
Organ – Robbie Benson (Band leader of Super Soul Bros)
Keys – Ed Goldfarb (Series composer, Pokémon: The Animated Series)
Guitar – David McLean (Guitarist on Beyblade Burst, One Minute Melee, host of Animyze)
Synth/Additional Sound Design – Jason Walsh (Senior composer and sound designer at Hexany Audio with recent credits including Overwatch Contenders, PUBG Mobile, and League of Legends)
Bass – Matthew Hines (Touring bassist with recent gigs including the Jonas Brothers, Ledisi, Summer Walker, Kiana Lede, Bazzi, and more)
Drums – Kevin Brown (Touring drummer with recent gigs including Jason Hawk Harris, the Southern California Brass Consortium, and more)
Saxophone – Zac Zinger (Composer and woodwind player for Street Fighter V, Jump Force, Mobile Suit Gundam: Side Stories, and more)
Flute – Kevin Penkin (Series composer, Made in Abyss, Rising of the Shield Hero, more)
Lead Vocal – Shihori (J-pop singer and song-writer on shows like Fairy Tail, Macross Frontier, Irregular at Magic Highschool, and more.)
Lead Vocal 2 – Úyanga Bold (Lead vocals on things like Mulan (2020), League of Legends, and multiple projects with Hans Zimmer/Pinar Toprak etc.)
Lead Vocal 3 – Raj Ramayya (Lead vocals on Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Wolf’s Rain, Made in Abyss, and more)
Backing Vocal 1 – Dale North (Composer for Dreamscaper, Wizard of Legend, Sparklite, Nintendo Minute, and more)
Backing Vocal 2 – Dawn M. Bennett (Voice actress for anime and game series like Dragon Ball Super, Fairy Tail, RWBY, Borderlands 3, and more)
Backing Vocal 3 – Kaitlyn Fae (Filipino-American singer, actor, writer, director, co-host on the nerd video podcast, PanGeekery)
Rap 1 – Substantial (Legendary jazz-hop rapper, Nujabes’ collaborator, with dozens of major placements and projects)
Rap 2 – Mega Ran (Critically-acclaimed nerdcore legend)
Rap 3 – Red Rapper AKA Zaid Tabani (Rapper with credits on Street Fighter, the EVO worldwide fighting tournament’s main theme, and Rooster Teeth’s Red VS. Blue)
Poem – D.B. Cooper (Voice sctress and director on Hearthstone, Bioshock 2, The Amazing Spiderman 2, Ghostbusters (2016), DC Universe Online, and more)
Spoken word – Beau Billingslea (Voice actor from Cowboy Bebop – Jet Black)
Ending Tag – Steve Blum (Voice actor from Cowboy Bebop – Spike Spiegel)
String Director/String Arranger/Orchestrator/Disco slide king – Lance Treviño (Film composer for titles like Beyblade Burst God, Hanazuki, Chef’s Table, and more!)
String Copyist/Orchestrator/String Mockup – Dallas Crane (Multimedia composer and personal assistant to Austin Wintory)
Strings: Our string section is composed of brilliant artists whose individual credits include grammy nominations, tours with artists like Eminem, Sting, and Hans Zimmer, and recordings for soundtracks like Steven Universe, God of War, The Lion King (2019), and many, many more.
Violins – Molly Rogers , David Morales Boroff, Felicia Rojas, Jeff Ball
Violas – Joe Chen, Molly Rogers Isaac Schutz, Jeff Ball
Cellos – Andrew Dunn, David Tangney
Upright Bass – Travis Kindred
Music Video – Zaid Tabani and Dallas Crane
This new version of Cowboy Bebop’s “The Real Folk Blues” is immediately available. Also, as a reminder, a Cowboy Bebop live action series is being developed by Netflix.
