Ron Olesko's Folk Music Notebook

Jim Bowers discusses his book "The Man in the Gold Lame Suit", a biography of Phi Ochs. Host: Ron Olesko

Host Ron Olesko sits down with Neale Eckstein to discuss and sample tracks from Neale's new album "Never Too Late".

Neale Eckstein has been chasing music his entire life. He started playing guitar with two friends in his basement  when the Peter, Paul and Mary album came out.  By the time he was in college, he was playing in rock cover bands, but still revered the singer/songwriter genre. He wore out vinyl by Tom Rush, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne and James Taylor.  (In the “pinch me, how did this happen?”, he became good friends with both Noel Paul Stookey and Tom Rush).

Neale became a pediatric dentist, but never lost his love for the singer-songwriter genre. With his wife Laurie, they hosted the Fox Run Concerts series in their home for over 20 years.

His interest in recording, photography and video led to a professional recording studio setup in his basement. Neale has produced many albums for others in his Fox Run Studio.

Realizing he was about to celebrate his 75th birthday and had never released a solo album, he asked his good friends in his writing group Fox Run Five if they would help him get it done they gladly agreed.  It’s Never Too Late.

Host Ron Olesko visits with Heather Pierson (www.heatherpierson.com) to discuss and share songs from her new album "Back to the Light".Heather Pierson is a singer/songwriter, pianist, songleader, and performer with a passion for cultivating joy, both onstage and off. Her live performances feature her ease at the piano and her bell-tone voice that Americana Highways says ‘sounds like timeless wind moving slowly through the trees.’ Heather’s latest album, Back To The Light, was recorded ’live on the floor’ in Portland, ME with her trio—bassist Shawn Nadeau and drummer Craig Bryan—and pulsates throughout with the grooves of New Orleans, the beauty of Appalachia, and Sunday-go-to-meeting celebration.

Jennifer Roe, Executive Director of Folk Alliance International (www.folk.org) sits down with Ron Olesko to discuss the role of FAI in growing and perpetuating the folk community. Plans for the 2025 International conference as well as future conference locations are discussed, along with the challenges facing the folk music world in 2024.

Folksinger Rik Paleri (www.rikpalieri.com) joins host Ron Olesko for a discussion about Rik's latest album "Hands of Time", featuring 10 original songs and one traditional song, a project that developed from Rik's exploration of the roots of country music.

Host Ron Olesko welcomes singer-songwriter Teni Rane(www.tenirane.com) to TRADITIONS to talk about her new album.

Inspired by the stories of everyday life, Teni Rane is a folk-country singer-songwriter with a vintage vocal edge and a knack for capturing ordinary scenes in a way that is at once specific and widely relatable. Comfortable in everything from overalls to full-body sequins, Rane isn’t afraid to explore musical territory and synthesizes vocal and sonic influences into her own brand of country-infused, Americana-folk-pop with a jazzy vocal lean that feels simultaneously familiar and brand new.

2024 sees her offer her first full length album to the world. Releasing in early August, listeners will find familiar a few of the tunes that were leading singles for the album in 2023, including the title track, “Goldenrod.” Taking shape at a time in Rane’s life when everything seemed to be up for re-negotiation, the arc of the album focuses on what it means to allow change to influence a life without eradicating the individual. Inspired by the shoulder season “as the summer fades into fall,” each track has a reflective bent that calls attention to the lessons, both cruel and kind, that are learned simply by looking around.

Founder and lead singer of the band Misty Blues, Gina Coleman (www.mistybluesband.com), visits with host Ron Olesko to discuss the groups new album "I'm Too Old For Games: A Live Tribute to Odetta".

The album is the second installment in the live Odetta tribute recordings the band has captured. In a perfect bit of timing it doubles as a celebration of Odetta's recent induction both the Blues Hall of Fame and The Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame!

Howard Fields, drummer for the Harry Chapin Band, visits with Ron Olesko to discuss his years working with Chapin and the reunited band and their new concerts with the Chapin Family - Tom and Steve Chapin, the Chapin Sisters and Jen Chapin.

Stella Prince visits with Ron Olesko to discuss and share songs from her latest EP "Dear Future Me".

“No one sings like Stella Prince,” says Grammy-winning producer and steel guitarist Steve Fishell (Dolly Parton, John Prine, Mavis Staples). “I was transported the first time I heard her and I bet you will be too.”

Self-produced, Stella recorded a handful of songs for her Dear Future Me EP live at the legendary Sound Stage Studios where she worked with Fishell. Described by Nashville Scene as the artist “carrying the banner for a new generation of folk musicians”, Stella’s goal is to bring folk music to a new generation, describing her sound as “Gen Z Folk”. She recently made history as the youngest performer at this year’s Tin Pan South.

Phil Odgers, a London-based singer and acoustic guitarist with the band The Men They Couldn't Hang visits with Ron Olesko to discuss and share songs from his new album "Far Rockaway: The Songs of Phil Ochs", recorded with John Kettle(Merry Hell).The album presents 11 songs which particularly resonated with Phil Odgers on one level or another. It’s a mixture of politically themed and some of Och’s more personal or introspective songs - ones that Phil Ochs,perhaps, less widely known for.

Originally aired on WFDU-FM and www.FolkMusicNotebook.com on April 14, 2024