Song of the Soul

A self-proclaimed "Budd Lite" (as in Buddhism), Catholic-raised, Americana musician,  Joe Fahey  lives the questions through his music. Today the questions include life & death, but there are no definitive answers on tap here, just experiences, feelings, & some whimsy, from this Twin Cities-based artist.

Mandy Breeze  and Doug Kelly take traditional folk tunes, mostly, and transform them into vibrant, living stories and culture. With rich, beautiful vocals and creative, engaging instrumentals, you'll discover a love for traditional songs with modern impact.

Liam Robinson  &  Jean Rohe  largely birthed their Hunger EP at the  Crosshatch Center for Art & Ecology  in Bellaire, Michigan, and a creative threshold was crossed into the duo called  Robinson & Rohe . Their collaboration is a crucible for refining the American experience from many vantage points and creating a musical edifice of powerful lyrics, evocat...

Bill Miller  is a 3-time Grammy Awards winner, a Mohican Indian from Northern Wisconsin, and a Nashville-based singer-songwritter of incredible & diverse musical talents. He'll be the headliner at LaCrosse, WI's  Great River Folk Festival  Sunday afternoon concert, August 27, 2017.

Annie Patterson & Peter Blood support hope & change through their world-famous group singing books,  Rise Up Singing  and  Rise Again . For close to 40 years they have been nurturing & leading group singing. Peter was editor for  Pete Seeger 's autobiography,  Where Have all the Flowers Gone , and Annie performs in multiple configurations, including with ...

Juliana MacDowell  is sure that she was making music before she ever saw the light of day, and her music will make you believe it. A soul-deep voice and wide-open heart, you'll want her for your new best friend, singing in your ear every day.

In the hours when Paul Tinkerhess is not repairing Birkenstock footwear for the people of Ann Arbor, he finds other ways to nurture his town - by organizing the Water Hill Music Fest , by keeping winter sidewalks walkable with Snow Buddy , and by sharing his banjo-playing and song-writing talents generously in the cause of community. A CD of the live music from this interview will be available for...

An old friend of Northern Spirit Radio,  Charlie King , returns for the first time in nine years. Join us as this talented troubador shares his songs, stories, and trenchant wit with us and our listeners on Song of the Soul, tales from becoming a concientious objector as a Roman Catholic to being told by Pete Seeger to write a Woody Guthrie song.

Pete Seeger  planted seeds of music & change everywhere he went, and some of that harvest is shared today (& next week) by a visit with  Leda Schubert , author of  Listen: How Pete Seeger Got America Singing  (and also  The Princess of Borscht ), and musician friends of Pete's,  Joe Jencks ,  Charlie King , and  Pat Lamanna  (and several more fo...

A long-ago migrant from the Jersey Shore to the Heartland,  Ian Alexy  and his brother have been the  Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank , while his own band is  Ian Alexy & The Deserters . It's driving rock, it's folk, it's real, it's great.

Let him near a guitar and  Ned Brown   transmutes the punk rock of his youth, mixed with ingredients of jazz and word play, into something new for the planet, though most days he's just a mild-mannered, meditating, Tai Chi, bodywork professional with  Earth & Sky Bodyworks , Who is the real, who the fakir? A question beyond our pay grade!

Michael Smith is the face and guitar of  Whisper Behind the Light , drawing on the deep place to speak messages of power and transformation. Michael has found a life of rootedness and simplicity - as much as that happens with 5-plus kids - away from the  squirrel!!!  of big city life, and in the community of the Catholic faith of his upbringing. Check him out  on Soundcloud &nb...

Rod MacDonald spins deeply emotional tapestry with his songs, a sort of  emotional journalism , powerfully capturing the aspirations and angst of the listener. He was a principle in the 1980s folk revival in Greenwich village, co-founding the Greenwich Village Folk Festival. You'll find a couple of his songs in Rise Up Singing because of their penetrating & enduring power. Follow him on F...

Michael Hough has been making music with  Mustard's Retreat  since 1974, and as part of  The Yellow Room Gang  for the past decade. Michael is honest. He's straightforward. He's got a good heart. And he's talented. You will surely find both depth & enjoyment in his songs.

For the past 3 years, Joe Kidd & Sheila Burke have been awarded the Detroit Music Awards for Outstanding World Music. With 60's folk music roots mixed with Appalachian/Celtic/Bluegrass/Country/Middle Eastern/African/Native American spirituality, influences, and rhythms, Joe & Sheila make moving, meaningful, music.

David HB Drake  has deep Wisconsin roots, and deep knowledge of Wisconsin's music, wonderfully exhibited in his  Wiscon-Sing  history of the state's music. His decades of endeavors have included his years dancing with the Milwaukee Ballet & Betty Salamun's Dance Circus, and serving as shantyman on the tall ship,  HMS Bounty . He leads music & worships with the  Con...

Many people find an important piece of themselves in nature, but  Deirdre Jenkins  knows herself in oneness with nature at a whole new depth. Through her journeys with trauma, devotion, and remembering-the-self, Deirdre produces music that transports and transforms the listener. Contact her  on Facebook .

Brian Miller has a great passion for the Irish music and traditional songs of Great Lakes workers. He knows the legends, people, & places, to a science, steeped in art. Raised in Northern Minnesota, enriched & deepened in Ireland and other lands, Brian plies his trade from St Paul, MN. Check out his TheLostForty.com collection recordings from 1924.

The music of  Joe Jencks  burns in the heart of the listener, both with his lyrics and his powerful voice. The stories and poetry of his songs lift up a vision of love, compassion and solidarity without preaching or posturing - just solid, inspirational music. In addition to a wealth of solo performing, he's now part of a trio called  Brother Sun . As Joe says in one of his songs, "...

Kevin Basl  had 2 tours of duty in Iraq and in the course of the 2nd he wrote & recorded a CD capturing his frustration, doubts, & anger at the role he played in what he judges to be an illegal war. He currently does healing/empowerment work with 2 veterans' groups,  Warrior Writers  and  Combat Paper NJ .

Radmilla Cody  is firmly rooted in the Dine' musical & cultural tradition, and her songs come straight from the plateaus of the Navajo Nation, where she was the 46th Miss Navajo Nation. From her youth herding sheep, to her experience of domestic violence, to her activism work with social and environmental injustices, Radmilla seeks & sings beauty, balance, & harmony with our...

Jim Bizer  is a profound, engaging, talented lyricist, singer, & musician whose songs speak of our connection and the mind-blowing reality we live in. It's folk with some jazz touches, joyful with scattered clouds, deep with occasional dancing on the surface. Jim also performs frequently as part of a  duo with Jan Krist , as part of the  Yellow Room Gang  and as a part of&n...

Christmas songs you probably didn't hear leading up to December 25th - but which would have made the season so much more rewarding and meaningful. Instead of the old standards, how about new standards, but lesser-known, extremely wonderful musicians? Peace, justice, & growth at a dark time, growing lighter.

Dean Magraw  is some kind of awesome on the guitar, not just technically, but spiritually. Dean defies labels and limites - musically & spiritually - with one review saying, quite accurately that Dean is a Jazz cat, a folkie, a rock star, a front-porch bluegrass picker, a bluesman, ... and more. He's located in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, but the universe is his oyster.

One of the best companions you could have at a protest, around a campfire or in a song circle is  Bruce O'Brien . With his banjo and guitar (and sometimes mandolin or even violin), Bruce is completely in his element holding his ground or under a shining owl moon.