You can change your surroundings when you sing – you can change your whole world, in fact. That’s because your voice is a powerful, wild instrument, one you shouldn’t be afraid to use. Moira Smiley came to that realization a few years ago and that eye-opening experience led her to record her newest album, Unzip the Horizon.

She describes the album as having a quality of expanding, of opening out, and says she felt able to express herself personally for the first time. Naturally, talking about yourself, your anxieties and your worries is, Smiley says, incredibly frightening. But being willing to expand your horizons, open your mind, your heart and, yes, your mouth, gradually takes away a little bit of that fear.

Joined by Stefan Amidon on dumbeck, fiddle, bodhran, and kick drum and by Robinson Morse on bass, Smiley stopped by Beehive Productions studio in Saranac Lake, NY to record this exclusive Folk Alley Session featuring songs from 'Unzip the Horizon.'