Devon Gilfillian’s Philly Anthem yearns for hope and perseverance

The fifth song in our Philly Anthems project is out now, and in it WXPN favorite Devon Gilfillian gives his response to the prompt of  ”what does independence mean today?”

The Delco-born musician debuted his Philly Anthem song, “Ways to Go,” Friday during his set at XPoNential Music Festival to much fanfare from the crowd. The track is a message of hope for the future, and a call to persevere through what Gilfillian described as “polarizing times.”

Listen to the song in the player below:

“‘Ways To Go’ is a song about what I hope for this country,” he said. “We really have come a long way, but we have still not reckoned with our country’s ugly past, and frankly, we have an administration that is trying hard to erase the past and to muffle the voices of the few.”

 The guitarist and singer wrestled with several different emotions when writing the song. It was after a conversation with his percussionist and singer father that the song came into focus with a stronger sense of hope.

 ”He’s telling me about his past and all of the things that he’s had to conquer and get over, and it sounds harder and it sounds crazier when he’s talking about the terrible things that he’s had to endure,” he said of speaking with his father.

Gilfillian acknowledged all the progress achieved through struggle, but said plenty of work is yet to be done to reach equality, justice, and unity.

“This song is a cry for hope and the belief that we will get to the other side of the polarizing times we find ourselves in,” he said.

Gilfillian and Julie Williams wrote the song, which features Antoine Katz on bass and Jonathan Smalt on drums and percussion. Jonathan Smalt co-produced “Ways To Go” with Gilfillian. Engineering and mixing was done by Reid Leslie at Summit Sound Studios in Nashville.

Gilfillian’s song is the fifth released for the Philly Anthems project. So far, the project has seen the release of Eric Bazilian’s “Better Times,” Eliza Hardy Jones’ “America The Beautiful,” Lady Alma’s “Liberty,” and Christian McBride’s “Pick A Card.”

Then in October, WXPN will premiere songs by Grace Gardner, Sug Daniels, Black Buttafly, The Bul Bey, JR Everhart, and Moustapha Noumbisi.

The project will conclude on Record Store Day in April 2027 with a Philly Anthems album featuring all the songs—as well the grand prize-winning song from this year’s Song Challenge, “Workman’s Song #1” by The Flying Vees—marking WXPN’s annual vinyl release.

Philly Anthems has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.