I interviewed Peter Mayer back in 2011 – so 15 years ago – and for some bizarre reason I've waited all this time to have him back. The recent impetus was a song Peter wrote, called “Heroes,” inspired by the recent Minnesota uprising, so near to my home and to his. But Peter's music is endless reason to visit him time and again, because it's not only beautiful, but it's deeply reflective and inspirational, dancing on the line between spirituality and science, between inward magic and outward miracles.

Seven portions of seven Song of the Soul shows with seven great musicians back in the summer/fall of 2020, with songs linked by themes around old-timey music, old times, old folks, and new songs.

Today we have a wide-ranging re-visit with musician-farmer, Andy Juhl. Though much of his music tilts Americana/Folk, he's also passionately into progressive rock music, and plays with a band of that character also. Raised on the farm, he's also been navigating that work in the direction of organic farming, working side-by-side with his father on 800 acres in NW Iowa. Time in the self-driving combine leaves him with more time than you might expect to write music, and he's expanding his range regularly.

El Kleiner does music from the deeper side of the pool, with profound imagery, and with sensitive sensitivity and insightful sight into the way we look below the layers of meaning of our lives. El does not define or box-in our beliefs, but creates a shifting mosaic of perception that allows the listener to flow beyond the usual constraints of analysis, all of it delivered through haunting, enrapturing, heart-opening voice, lyrics, & melodies.

We welcome back Katie Dahl for Song of the Soul today, plunging deeper into the soul-sharings she gifted us with just over 2 years ago. Immediately after the murders of citizens in Minneapolis, Katie wrote and recorded A Song for Minnesota, which made it urgent to welcome back this Minnesota-raised Wisconsinite. With typical Minnesotan modesty, she looks deep within, looks boldly at the world around her, and she transforms these into heart-opening music, and into theater.

We're headed over to Metuchen, New Jersey, today, for a visit with the amazingly talented Efrat. Efrat showed her musical gifts from a tender age, with the Oak Ridge Symphony at age 10, than with the Knoxville Youth Orchestra at 11, along the way with her dad in a Mexican Jewish band, and on and on. Though she shines powerfully in classical and jazz music, and she's top notch in klezmer, blues, & swing, she found a special place in folk & pop music.

Ethan Eckert is a player of music in a wild variety of genres, including folk, jazz, hip-hop, hard rock and just about whatever you can imagine. He's a drummer, keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist, and he writes songs on the creative edge. He will help raise you up, just as he does with his sourdough bread and his songs will answer your thirst, as does his mushroom tea. Ethan does all of this and more in Kansas City, Kansas.

This is the third visit of Anne Hills to Northern Spirit Radio, and she brings together for us stirring visions of our past, present, and future, often glimpsed from on the wing. Anne has a rich history of writing and performing folk music, on her own, and with the likes of folk greats like Tom Paxton, Michael Smith, David Roth, and others.

Claire Dacey is a wonderful gift of music, too-little known. Her arrival on the folk music scene was delayed, in part, by her studies in Biology, Botany, Field Naturalist, and finally, Ph.D. studies at Harvard in Physiological Plant Ecology. Twas near the end of these studies when she realized her passion for music could be her chosen path, alongside her work of introducing folks to the more-than-human world and neighbors.

We're headed out to Pennsylvania today, with hopes that we'll see today's guest in Wisconsin within a couple months. His name is Dann Pell (music on bandcamp), and he came to my attention from an email offer he sent to my local Quaker meeting of a tour he is planning for March.