“No one asked Robert Zimmerman of Duluth, MN., in the 1960s to become the voice of his moment and era. But as Bob Dylan, that’s exactly what he was and what he did,” Christy writes on his website. “No one asked Duncan Christy of New York, New York, to try to become the voice and conscience of his moment. But that is exactly what I am trying to do and be.”
Writer and musician Christy is one of those rare people who has found his unique calling and hurled himself into it with absolutely no misgivings. Only a person of that much conviction could rhyme “uterus” with “neuter us” in the song “My Name is Stacey Abrams”: “I am the uterus, you are the spawn, no way to neuter us, wear the armor of the Goddess of the Dawn.”
That song is part of an album of political protest, Is This America?, that Christy says he was inspired to make after seeing the events of January 6, 2021, unfold. The 13 songs, released in 2021, take a musical and often satirical look at Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.
“I don’t think we even grasp yet how profound January 6 was as an event,” he says. “It really was a wake-up call.”
In the congressional hearings about the events of the day, former Capitol police officer Harry Dunn recalled sitting down after being assaulted and called racial slurs by now-pardoned rioters.
“How the fuck can something like this happen?!” Dunn asked in the hearing. “Is this America?”
Christy, now four years later, says yes, this is evidently America—but he hasn’t given up hope. He draws inspiration from his father, a Navy officer-turned-US Attorney who was a lifelong Republican until he gave up on the party.
“I grew up with music,” Christy says in a sonorous yet controlled voice. “It was an era when Broadway shows were absolutely at their ascendant. And then the Beatles arrived, and I got a guitar and listened to Bob Dylan and listened to John and Paul and played with friends, and I loved it.”
Christy has previously written music about the Bush era and journalism, somewhat inspired by his past career as the editor of the Delta Airlines in-flight magazine. On top of his artistic work, Christy is involved in some more pragmatic political organizing, including becoming the Democratic vice chairman of his precinct.
With songs like “King Trump” (“And while the Democrats sit on their hands /And while they talk themselves blue / I am the one who is giving commands”) and “Misinformation Disinformation” (“Truth is the commonplace common man stuck on the ground / Lies are the shimmering carousel spinning ‘round,”) Christy is aware that his music is much more on the nose than Dylan’s more subtle questions.
“‘How many times must the cannonballs fly before they’re forever banned?’” Christy sings to me from Dylan’s most famous song. “‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ is almost like a koan. Well, you know, implicitly, if you’re not doing something to stop those, ban those fucking cannonballs, we got a problem here.”
Christy is new to Durham—like many, he moved from the northeast to be closer to family—but as we chat outside of Monuts on 9th Street, I can’t help but feel like he’s found the perfect community to call home, as the deeply blue area struggles to find ways to meet the moment of American institutions unraveling.
What does he hope people take away from his music?
“I hope they’d like it, and I hope to create some reaction that could lead on to a commitment. A commitment of time, a commitment of presence, commitment of funds. It’s the hope that people will recognize that they’re not alone,” he says. “The gatherings that have been occurring all over the United States are very, very heartening. The challenge always is to sustain it.”
Christy’s music is available to stream on Apple Music, Spotify, or isthisamerica.info.
Reach Reporter Chase Pellegrini de Paur at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].