Pittsburgh Action Against Rape (PAAR), which still provides services to rape survivors in the Pittsburgh area as of 2021. Feeney graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She enrolled in law school, also at Pitt, and in 1976, she joined a bluegrass band, Cucumber Rapids. The group disbanded in 1977, but Feeney carried on performing locally. Legal career Feeney graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1978. She worked for 12 years as a trial attorney, something she said had interested her as way to effect social change, although later she found her music to be a better route for that goal. While a lawyer, Feeney's clients were mainly refugees and domestic violence survivors. She was a member of the Gender Bias Committee of the Allegheny County Bar Association. From the early 1980s through the 2010s, Feeney served on the board of Pittsburgh's Thomas Merton Center, devoted to advocating for peace and justice causes. She was also chapter president of NOW and served on the organization's state executive board in Pennsylvania. Music career In 1989, Feeney's music career became an increasing focus after she won a national song writing contest, the Kerrville New Folk contest. Beginning in 1991, Feeney toured North America and the world to perform and participate in political and labor rallies and events. In 2008, she said in an interview, "I think music is a fantastic way of empowering people and giving them strength and energy. I've spent a good part of my life trying to find and write music that will empower people to resist and stand up for what's right." Feeney's music is frequently featured on the broadcast radio program Democracy Now! and her anthem "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?" is featured in the documentaries This is What Democracy Looks Like, Isn't This a Time: A Tribute to Harold Leventhal and Get Up/Stand Up: The History of Pop and Protest. The song is an ode to civil disobedience, beginning, "Was it Cesar Chavez? Maybe it was Dorothy Day / Some will say Dr. King or Gandhi set them on their way / No matter who your mentors are it's pretty plain to see / That, if you've been to jail for justice, you're in good company." Feeney served as president of the Pittsburgh Musicians' Union from 1997 to 1998, the first and only