The new documentary film Barbara Dane: On My Way celebrates the life of the US activist and folk, jazz and blues singer who was signed to both Folkways and Capital. Born in Detroit in 1927, Dane still performs today. During her long career she has played or recorded with Lightning Hopkins, The Chambers Brothers, Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Clara Ward, Mama Yancey, Little Brother Montgomery, Louis Armstrong and others. The activist side of Dane’s work can be summarised by two LP titles, I Hate The Capitalist System (1973) and the anti-war album FTA: Songs Of The GI Resistance (1970), while her earlier albums Trouble In Mind (1957), Livin’ With The Blues (1959), On My Way and When I Was A Young Girl (both 1962) give some indication of the range of her songs and music. Dane also co-founded Paredon Records with Irwin Silber and opened the Sugar Hill: Home Of The Blues club on San Francisco's Broadway in 1961.

For the documentary, film makers Maureen Gosling (This Ain’t No Mouse Music and Burden Of Dreams) and Jed Riffe (Ishi, The Last Yahi and The Long Shadow) have worked with producer Nina Menéndez – Dane’s daughter. Together they put to screen a story of how she paved her own way through art, social justice, civil rights and peace. They’re also calling for donations to help finish the film.