Phil Odgers & John Kettle - The War Is Over (The Songs of Phil Ochs Volume 2) Phil Odgers & John Kettle

Back in April 2020, as lockdown brought normal life to a halt, Phil Odgers — singer and acoustic guitarist with The Men They Couldn’t Hang — finally found time to begin a project he’d long been considering: recording a collection of Phil Ochs songs. He invited John Kettle (Merry Hell guitarist and producer) to collaborate, and together, working remotely, they created the critically acclaimed album Far Rockaway.

The record became a folk favourite, picking up radio play across the US and Europe and, most importantly, introducing Ochs’ songs to new listeners. With that mission accomplished, Odgers returned to his own writing and touring, with no plans to revisit the idea.

However, four years and seven months later, on the morning of 6 November 2024, when Odgers heard the newsreader announce that Donald Trump had won the US presidential election for a second time, he knew it was time to return to the work of Phil Ochs. The result is The War Is Over — a collection shaped by world events, steeped in anti-war themes, and filled with stories of struggle and resistance.

The album was completed exactly fifty years after Phil Ochs took his own life. His songs remain powerful, urgent and sadly as relevant today as when they were written. Phil Ochs died on 9 April 1976 in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York. This album is dedicated to his memory and to the lasting impact he made on people, music and politics.