Philly Anthems is WXPN’s newest contribution to America’s 250th — a new project, supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, commissioning 12 original songs from five acclaimed Philadelphia musicians and seven emerging local artists, all built around the enduring themes of freedom and independence. It’s the fourth chapter of WXPN’s ongoing Soundtrack to America’s 250th initiative, joining The Philly 250, World Café’s Sense of Place: Philadelphia, and Sound of History.

Eric Bazilian’s “Better Times” Leads the Series

The series opener comes from Eric Bazilian, founding member of The Hooters, whose new song “Better Times” enters regular WXPN rotation beginning July 14, ahead of its full release on July 21. The song can be pre-saved now. Americana-tinged and built to build, “Better Times” opens stripped down to just voice and piano before crescendoing into Bazilian’s signature guitar work, a string quartet, and a full choir lifting the lead vocal. Written from the perspective of someone disillusioned by the promises of people in power but still holding onto hope for the country he calls home, the song’s refrain says it plainly: “better times, had better come soon.”

“‘Better Times’ came to me in the shower,” Bazilian said. “Five words, over and over. Better times better come soon. I chased the idea in my head as I dried off, got dressed, followed it out of the house and into the studio… Several versions later, I’ve got a song in a style I’d never thought as mine, in a voice I’d never inhabited before.” On what the project itself meant to him: “I considered it a challenge to write something from a modern and relevant perspective about the state of our union. I put heart and soul into ‘Better Times.’”

Bazilian’s catalog beyond The Hooters is genuinely substantial. He helped arrange and record Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual alongside Hooters bandmate Rob Hyman, counts his guitar work on “Time After Time” among his best, and won a Grammy for Song of the Year for writing Joan Osborne’s “One of Us,” one of six Grammy nominations earned by Osborne’s debut album Relish, on which Bazilian also served as guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer.

The Hooters’ own Nervous Night sold more than two million copies and produced Billboard Top 40 hits including “Day By Day,” “And We Danced,” and “Where Do The Children Go” — the band went on to play Live Aid in 1985, the Amnesty International Concert in 1986, and Roger Waters’ The Wall in Berlin in 1990.

Five Established Artists, Seven Rising Ones

Philly Anthems draws on Philadelphia’s musical range — jazz, rock, soul, folk, and beyond — through its five headline artists: Bazilian, jazz bassist Christian McBride, one of the most significant living musicians in the genre with deep Philadelphia roots, soul-rock artist Devon Gilfillian, folk musician Eliza Hardy Jones, and Lady Alma, a fixture of the city’s soul and house scene.

Seven emerging Philadelphia artists round out the project: Grace Gardener, Black Buttafly, The Bul Bey, James Everhart, Sug Daniels, Moustapha Noumbissi, and The Flying Vees. WXPN General Manager Roger LaMay framed the whole project around looking forward rather than back: “Philly Anthems is about creating something new — giving Philadelphia artists the opportunity to reflect on themes in the Declaration of Independence that resonate today through original music.”

The Flying Vees Win the 24 Hour Song Challenge

The Flying Vees’ spot on the album came the hard way. Nearly 350 songwriters entered WXPN’s 24 Hour Song Challenge – Philly Anthems Edition this summer, each writing and recording an original song in a single day around the prompt “Freedom.” The Flying Vees — the quartet of Hannah Taylor, Shannon Vasile, Brechyn Chace, and Caitlin Ramsey — won with “Workman’s Song #1,” a track exploring how working people often have to defer their own experience of freedom just to get by. The prize is real: a $5,000 honorarium, performance slots at XPoNential Music Festival and Philly Music Fest, and a permanent spot on the Philly Anthems album.

The band’s own words are the clearest thing anyone said in this entire announcement: “This song embodies the spirit of Philadelphia, which is a community of working-class people. No snobs, no phony balonies. That’s what this song is really about: having to work hard and putting off your leisure time to another day.”

New Philly Anthems songs will premiere throughout the rest of 2026, building toward a 12-song vinyl album releasing on Record Store Day 2027, plus two live concerts. Twelve songs, twelve different answers to what freedom actually sounds like from a city that’s been arguing about the word for 250 years — that’s Philly Anthems.

About Post Author

Allan Lane

Philadelphia born and bred, Allan Lane is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of digital magazines. He launched his first publication, SportBikes Inc Magazine in 2010, followed by dosage MAGAZINE in 2019. Recently, Allan launched his third online publication, Club For Man. As a journalist, Allan covers fashion, lifestyle, culture, art, and motorcycles.

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