New York’s Chris Oledude – born Chris Owens – has a story that earns the music. He performed on the streets of New York in the 80s, recorded a 1984 cassette called Anyone’s Revolution that caught the attention of Pete Seeger himself, and spent the next three and a half decades in civic and political activism before re-emerging as an artist in 2020. His brother is Geoffrey Owens. His father was Major R. Owens, a librarian who later became an elected official. His George Floyd tribute song-video earned over 150 film festival accolades. “The Choice,” released March 29th and timed to coincide with Earth Day 2026, is built on an unlikely source: the haunting medieval melody of “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” which Oledude has taken and rebuilt around new lyrics about human decision-making and environmental stakes. The Hudson River – cleaned in no small part because of Pete Seeger’s decades of advocacy – was the direct inspiration. Guitarist Zachary Staples, engineers Mark Dann and Kat Lewis, and ten family members and friends on background vocals round out the production.
Musically, this song shifts more into musical theater vibes, with the dramatic organ and the style of arrangement for the backup vocals, as well as the lead vocals’ obvious preacher/showman quality. It’s a very rich sound that complements the epic scope of the song’s narrative.
Taking a well-known melody and reshaping it into something with an entirely different meaning is a risky move – it can feel gimmicky or forced. Here it doesn’t, because the original melody already carried a weight and solemnity that transfers naturally to environmental stakes. Oledude’s prog rock and folk influences sit comfortably alongside each other in a song that genuinely earns its ambition.
