We the Common

We the Common is an album by alternative folk band Thao & the Get Down Stay Down. It was released on February 5, 2013 on the Ribbon Music label. Produced by John Congleton, the album features a guest appearances from Joanna Newsom on "Kindness Be Conceived". Background After the 2009 album Know Better Learn Faster, Thao Nguyen took a break from touring and recording, and volunteered with local outreach projects in her new home of San Francisco. One of these projects was the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, an organization that advocates for healthcare and medical care. During these prison visits she met several women who were serving long sentences – one of them being Valerie Bolden who inspired the album's title track. Nguyen considers this outreach work as a major influence on her music and stated that it had "emotionally shaped" much of We the Common. Nguyen stated of the album: "My intention from the beginning was to make an album full of songs that better captured the energy and hope and optimism of the collective and of one person in particular—myself—who wanted to be a part of that collective, and one who wanted to be more present in her own life and the lives of those she loved."