The centerpiece of Copeland's latest album is a song born from the wreckage of the Clotilda — the last known slave ship to smuggle African captives to the United States.

"We were doing an awful job in an awful time," veteran Garett Reppenhagen said in a StoryCorps conversation. "If I shed any joy to anybody on that base that day, then I think it was all worth it."

Months of protests over police brutality has brought some change, but major reform has so far eluded many communities.

Rules in several key states don't allow election workers to begin processing or counting mail-in ballots until Election Day, so the winners may not be declared for days.