In early 2021 during COVID quarantine I was looking for an historical precedent for what was happening. And guiltily I realized I knew very little about the influenza pandemic of 1918. As a self-proclaimed WWI nut how could I not know more about the virus that killed five times as many people as the war?

So I read John Barry’s book The Great Influenza, and it inspired the song Don’t Talk About the Flu. Originally it was to be part of The Foe and the Fallen. I didn’t know at the time that I’d written my first song for After the War: 1919.

I knew I wanted to write an historical sequel to The Greatest War, but wasn’t sure how far to take it. The next five years? The 1920s? And then I found Ann Hagedorn’s book Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in American 1919. I read it cover to cover, and immediately knew that this was the topic. Just one year. One year where it feels like everything happens.

Women’s suffrage, race riots, mass deportation without due process, attacks on free speech,  mass strikes including a general strike, Prohibition, the Treaty of Versailles, and of course the influenza pandemic.

There are a few other books that focus just on that year, but not many. Mostly I had to look up individual topics and learn about them. Each time I finished a book, I’d write a song. But despite my appetite for dense history books, I’m a very slow reader (I like to say I learn by attrition). So this process took a few years.

As I kept learning about these topics I was struck by how similar they felt to issues of today. And I remembered thinking, “I need to hurry, otherwise the moment will pass and this will no longer feel relevant.” Heh. 

Bryan, Ken, and Kevin performing at the first workshop, March 10, 2024

The first time we performed the music was for a workshop in early 2024. I didn’t know what a workshop was—it’s not really a part of the music world—but my theatre cohorts urged me to do it. It was received well, but the audience needed context. So I spent a year writing the “balladeer sections,” where I channeled Bruce Springsteen and Ken Burns in setting up the song. 

We had another workshop in spring of 2025. It was received even better, though it needed a bit of trimming. Which is what I’ve been up to since. And assembling the images. And transferring them to the software that runs the show. And recruiting musicians. And recruiting voice actors.  And rehearsing. And promoting the show. And fundraising. 

I have help. Jason Fassl is my partner in this and has taken on a great load despite designing lights and creating scenic design for some 30+ theatre shows a year around the state and the country. And there are others. In fact that list is slowly growing. An increasing number of people are volunteering their time to help put out this all new rock and roll history show.

It is both humbling and encouraging. It can be hard to ask for help, to let go of control. But I know that this will be a better production, and a better organization if it’s built in collaboration.

The Foe and the Fallen was the testing ground. And After the War: 1919 is where we launch into uncharted waters. Are rock and roll history shows a thing that people want to see? Is this work truly worthwhile? Is it important?

I think so, which is why I’ve dedicated the last five years of my life to it. 

Yours in remembering,
Ken