Over forty years ago, the battle to save Minnewaska was raging in New York’s Hudson Valley while songs of protest filled the mountains most every weekend. It was to become one of the longest running environmental battles in American history and a success that preserved Minnewaska for all time. The Minnewaska Preserve is now a New York State Park, and the greater Shawangunk Preserve is currently under the stewardship of The Friends of the Shawangunks and growing all the time—for us to enjoy anytime we please. Now you can savor the 40th Anniversary Digital release of Save the Mountain, free and accessible to all who love her and hike her trails.

“One special day at Minnewaska, while we listened to some of the music you are about to hear, Hali Hammer suggested we make a record to raise spirits and money for the coming battle. Hali, Kurt Henry, and I took on the Save the Mountain Album Project, joined by the most wonderful human beings I have ever known,” said Michael Klein.

Against odds, they introduced a completed authentic folk collaboration at the Save The Mountain National Release Concert held at the Joyous Lake in Woodstock on April 5, 1981. Subsequently Kurt, Hali, and Michael, along with a good number of the players, have remained in touch. As we approach the official 40th Anniversary with a pandemic raging and many participants having passed on, it is unlikely that there will be a live 40th Anniversary Concert. It is therefore fitting to share these historic songs again—with each other and with those who never held an original vinyl in their hands. And so, it is with this digital-offering, we are celebrating those who made this record possible, those who fought before, and those who are now stewards of this jewel—Minnewaska.

Henry, a Woodstock/Hudson Valley folk-scion, commented “Michael Klein was running the Nader-group at the time, opposing Marriot’s tax abatement manipulations, while I was a foot soldier handing out flyers. Hali and I had been a part of the regional music scene for a long while, and with our musician friends were already singing our praises to The Mountain when Hali urged Michael to be a part of our unique team. The final song, the ‘Save the Mountain Theme Song,’ almost symbolizes the way our formative group swelled into the Hudson Valley Citizen Choir.” As a result of the string of successful concerts in support of Minnewaska, it seemed that the whole burgeoning movement had come to the recording studio, housed in a huge industrial building.

Michael Klein added, “As Kurt knows only too well, I can’t sing worth a damn; I was a Nader-organizer more used to speeches and debates, but I did sing, and so did my young son Josh, then ten years old. He and Hali’s daughter Bonnie, among others both old and young, proved we had become an inter-generational conscience for the region.”