Christian McBride ponders the proverbial cards dealt to Americans for Philly Anthems
Highly decorated Philadelphia jazz bassist Christian McBride is the fourth artist to release a song for WXPN’s Philly Anthems project. In ‘Pick A Card,’ he employs instruments to examine the varying interpretations of freedom found throughout the nation.
Eleven-time Grammy Award-winning jazz bassist Christian McBride’s newest song is another track written and recorded for WXPN’s Philly Anthems project. The Philadelphia native wrote “Pick A Card” after reflecting on the project’s themes of freedom, identity, belonging, and hope.
”I think of America as being this sort of melting pot of disjointed ideas and many different interpretations of what freedom is,” McBride told Morning Show Co-Host Bob Bumbera. “So that’s where I came up with the title of ‘Pick A Card,’ because I imagine a person who has never been to America before looks at Uncle Sam dealing some cards and basically says, ‘Hey, pick one,’ and you might get lucky to find some version of freedom that you might understand.”
McBride lauded the spirit of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, but acknowledged a schism between those documents’ ethos and how their words are interpreted through actions.
“I mean, on paper, [they’re] absolutely perfect,” he said of the foundational writings. “But somewhere between that paper and practice is a lot of static.”
He touched on the nation’s increasingly segmented populace and how that can lead to conflicting interpretations of freedom.
With “Pick A Card,” McBride leaned into traditional patriotic melodies and marching rhythms, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “God Bless America” for example. But the song’s main theme exists as “somewhat of a shadow” throughout the song.
“Then the trombone comes in, and that’s the trombone’s version of freedom. So the trombone comes in and says, ‘Well, wait a second. This is how I feel about what you just said about freedom. I feel that it’s this.’ So then the piano at some point says, ‘Well, wait, if you guys feel that way, then I feel like this.'”
McBride’s song was recorded live in the WXPN studios by Chris Williams and features McBride on upright bass, Byron Landham on drums, Orrin Evans on piano, and Jeff Bradshaw on trombone.
“Pick A Card” is the fourth song released for the Philly Anthems project. Other songs released in the project are Eric Bazilian’s “Better Times,” Eliza Hardy Jones’ “America The Beautiful,” and Lady Alma’s “Liberty.” R&B and rock singer-songwriter Devon Gilfillian will release his song in September.
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.