Note - This page will remain open to receive contributions on a rolling basis, though Rena will no longer be posting updates about the campaign on social media.

Hi! My name is Rena Branson. I’m a Jewish musician who uplifts personal and collective healing through song. I’m working on my second album, In Doing & In Dreaming: eighteen songs that weave together ancient Jewish texts with original prayers for transformation. The album cheers for us to keep building lives of joy and integrity amidst ongoing crisis, and to envision worlds where all beings flourish. I'm raising $25,000 in tax-deductible donations to complete this epic project. Thank you for donating and helping spread the word!

My Prayers for This Project

B’ezrat Hashem (with Divine help) and with your participation, In Doing & In Dreaming will be here to hold us at the end of the summer, in the month of Elul. I pray that this album can be a friend to you when it's hard to tell that your efforts matter, or when you want to say a resounding NO to the universe. I pray that these songs fortify you, at any choice-point in your day, to pick whatever feels most expansive even when conditions feel most narrow. The Jewish month of Adar, which precedes Nisan (the month of celebrating liberation), reminds us that joy can be a choice, and a powerful one—an emanating force that shapes external reality. I pray that we keep manifesting new life-affirming, joyful, liberatory realities together. I am so grateful that we don’t have to do anything alone.

My Ask

In this spirit of togetherness, I humbly ask for your help raising funds to bring this music of spiritual sustenance out of my heart and into the world. In a time when most music streams for free, community crowdfunding sustains artists’ livelihoods and celebrates the reciprocity in our relationships. $25,000 will help fund the musicians, sound engineers, studio space rental, release concert production, videography, album cover design, hard-copy CDs, distribution to streaming platforms, promotion, and more, plus trying something new this time—paying myself! It would mean so much to me if you share this fundraiser with other folks in your life in addition to contributing what you can. Donations are tax-deductible thanks to fiscal sponsorship from Beloved Builders for Shir Refuah, my broader project of bringing healing music to the Jewish world and beyond. Each of you has a significant role in this project.

Album Back-Story

I've had the striking experience of being in Manhattan on 9/11, Jerusalem on October 7th, and Western North Carolina during Hurricane Helene. Amidst my feelings of terror and survivor’s guilt, I've grasped many times for something solid to hold onto. Instead, I've found that word after word, song after song has come through me, helping me alchemize the pain. I’ve learned that there is no solidity—there is only the ever-moving, divine current of life. I am learning to say yes to this current. To the perspective that each experience can be an invitation to come more fully alive; to respond more skillfully and lovingly; to create, share, and connect with other people. To imagine that the crumbling of civilization ultimately offers space to shape something more beautiful. I feel that, somehow, I am here to share these healing messages with anyone who is drawn to receive them through my art.

If you are one of those people, THANK YOU. Thank you for being exactly who you are, and thank you for your love. Thank you for helping make it possible for me to continue recording music.

Love,

Rena

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Album Credits

Core Team: Rena Branson - composition, lead vocals, production; Rachel Chang - guitar & chord arrangements, mandolin, vocals; Aly Halpert - vocals; Mel Hsu - cello & chord arrangements; Joni Sidharta-Leibovic - percussion, bass, ukulele, glockenspiel, kazoo, vocals

Featured Instrumentalists: Brian Dolphin - bass; Sterling Duns - beats; I.E. - piano & chord arrangements; Danielle Gershkoff - flute; Ike McCreery - keyboard; Madelyn ilana - violin; Martronimous - trumpet; Laura Ogburn - banjo; Eric Sherman - trumpet; Cecelia Tannous-Taylor - violin; Joey Weisenberg - octave mandolin; Sam Weisenberg - percussion; Asher Wolf - mandolin

Featured Vocalists: Molly Bajgot, Sterling Duns, Danielle Gershkoff, Rebekka Goldsmith, Marques Hollie, Madelyn Ilana, Maia Kamil, Batya Levine, Eric Sherman, Joey Weisenberg, Sam Weisenberg

Recording Engineers: Brian Dolphin (Dolphin & You), Michael Richelle (Rittenhouse Soundworks), Eric Bogacz (Spicehouse Sound), Eric Sherman

Post-Production: Rena Branson, Brian Dolphin, Don Godwin, Martronimous, Jenni Rudolph

Videography: Shmulie Lowenstein (UpperDeck Film), Jess Benjamin

Fundraiser Teammate: Molly Bajgot

Help Create Rena Branson's Second Album!