We’re giving you a devil’s choice of fantastic and inventive sounds. And a whole nation of awesome agriculture, because we’ve got not one, but two bands joining us for live music Friday. Each exploring interesting connections between Americana and the louder beyond.

There’s the one man sonic cavalcade of self-made instruments that is Matt Lorenz aka The Suitcase Junket. This weekend sees the third iteration of the celebration he built to honor his sister and former band mate Kate Lorenz, take stage at The Shea Theater in Turners Falls. We’ll hear a few tunes from him and learn who else will join him for Sparkletown on Saturday. 

And then there is the sound of metal meeting the acoustic fret boards and clever lyrics with the duo Mattie and Debbie. Hot off of releasing their debut album, Satan’s Junction, today, they’re in the middle of a whirlwind array of dates in the northeast to celebrate. We hear from drummer/singer Sean Trischka and Bluegrass guitarist/singer Stash Wyslouch how rock begets bluegrass and harmonies with before you can hear them at the Parlor Room on April 11th. 

And in the middle of our music sandwich, we’re making plans to explore the vintages of Italy at Provisions’ upcoming Italian Wine Festival. We get a preview of the event with two bottles at their Thorne’s Marketplace location for this week’s Tina Turner Memorial Wine Thunderdome.

Spring seems to finally be spring-ing, and you can hear it though in the music in the air.

Tanglewood Learning Institute’s inaugural spring programming continues with a touch of jazz. Renowned saxophonist Nick Hempton brings his organ trio into their illustrious halls on Friday, April 10th. We talk with the Hard Bop enthusiast about his ska origins, emigration to the US from Australia, his latest album Horns Locked and more. 

This Saturday sees another transatlantic look at the connections in scores with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. Their upcoming program “Gloria!!!: From Vivaldi to Gershwin” centers around a truly massive work by Poulenc, but connects works from France, Italy, and the US. We speak with guest conductor Kedrick Armstrong as well as President Heather Caisse-Roberts about the upcoming performance on April 11th,  and connecting communities with music.

And Congressman for the 2nd district Jim McGovern is just as baffled and on edge from the executive office’s actions this week, but still finds time to speak with us about his recent tour of an ICE facility, ongoing issues with a wide array of benefits including SNAP, and more. 

In Northampton, P’frogi Pierogies is looking for a little help to aid their food trailer upgrade, and on Thursday, April 9th the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence will host a fundraising dinner to help. We speak with Irida Kakhtiranova, who built the business while in sanctuary at that very location during the first Trump administration, and learn about this evolution in her business and more. 

West Africa meets the sounds of western Mass as the Senegal America Project begins a small area tour including a performance in Westfield at First Congregational Church to benefit the sanctuary's Open Pantry Services. The two artists helming this collaboration, Massamba Diop and Tony Vaca, join us for a live music Wednesday and delve further into this partnership that’s spanned over two decades of music. 

Plus, we know that words are magical, but there’s a word in English that has its origins in the transcendental nature of learning and communication, and it’s pretty to boot! Word Nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam-Webster casts our attention on the word “glamour”.

Connecting the arts across the ocean are two W. Mass based composers who'll each have premieres performed in Florence at Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity on April 12th.  Ensemble Télémaque is currently touring on a project they initiated to collaborate with US composers for the first time in their tenure, linking American scores and literary pieces with ties to Marseille. We speak with Kate Soper and John Aylward about writing for this group of musicians, and some of the spectacle you’ll hear as part of this Sunday's performance. 

We’ll also meet members of Greenfield Community College's upcoming production of The Laramie Project, a devised theater work that looks at the circumstances and impact of the murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming and on the rest of the nation.  Alex West, Jesse Archambault, Ioana Teutsch, and Tom Geha of the production team make a visit to our studios to discuss how the piece continues to strike chords with the people, policies, and policy makers of today as they prepare to put it onstage next weekend.    

And in Granby, a collaborative partnership is getting local produce on the tables of seniors. We head to Dave’s Natural Garden to learn more about the senior shares they provide  through a partnership with CISA and local governance. There farmer Meghan Hastings shows us around  not just their farm store, but how they’re significantly shifting their growing practices for a changing climate, as Claire Morenon of CISA and Andy Rogers of South Hadley's Council on Aging elaborate on how this triumvirate keeps the community healthier. 

Here at the show, we are big fans of language and the many ways that we communicate with each other, and this weekend on the UMass campus, the first ever Festival of Languages and Dialects happens April 11th and 12th featuring a huge array of activities including a parade! We speak with organizers and linguists Edwin Everhart and Ashley McGraw about the fun that can be had when we listen more closely to each other. 

We’ll also head back to Don Blanton’s amazing array of artwork at Westfield on Weekends to hear from the artist himself and president Bob Plasse about hear a little about his most far out landscapes and work, the closing celebration they’re holding for the extended exhibit that you can attend this Sunday, and how he'll be remaining engaged with the location in his new residency. 

And of course, Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College’s Salman Hameed has to talk about the Artemis II mission, which will take humans farther than our species has ever gone before, but which brings some questions about our priorities between this exploration, and the current issues of this nation. 

We’re exploring innovations, and traditions, and some places where the two overlap. 

In Westfield, an incredibly prolific local artist has just had his exhibit extended. It seems that there is practically no medium that Don Blanton does not engage with, from sculpture, to painting, to graphite and ink, and even poetry, and currently a wide array of his work is on display at Westfield on Weekends. We get a tour with the artist and president Bob Plasse, and learn how you can celebrate with them as the exhibit comes to a close, and talk about the intersection of America's past with African history in Blanton's creations.

We also get to hear the sounds of the eastern Steppes. Alash is a trio of renowned Tuvan artists bringing the amazing techniques and sounds of their culture worldwide who’ll be performing at the Iron Horse on Sunday April 5th. Live Music Friday sees their vocal finesse  and traditions fill our studios 

And we got word of a new style of decanter that allows even more enjoyment of what your vintages have to offer. We speak with creator Michael Fors about his Liquid Jazz Experience and get a chance to the innovation this week’s thunderdome. 

We’re highlighting an event that takes all we do on this show and condenses it into a day of learning, sharing, and expansion on the UMass Campus. 

Art for the Common Good is a full day convention at the Fine Arts Center that is bringing together artists, healthcare practitioners, policymakers, researchers and community leaders from across Massachusetts to look at the connections between art and our well being as humans.

We speak with Drs. Jean King and Tasha Golden, as well as Jamilla Deria, director of the Fine Arts Center, and Betsy Cracco, assistant vice chancellor for Campus Life and Wellbeing and co-Chair of the Okanagan Wellbeing Collective on Campus about  the ways in which arts and creativity can support healing, build stronger communities

And although congress is currently on break, Rep. Jim McGovern still finds time to chat with us about DHS bill that did not fund ICE, birthright citizenship, a short civics lesson about the letter of the constitution and procedures that are currently either under fire or being shirked, plus the places in his constituency that he’s been visiting in this downtime. 

No joke, we are building a better future through skill and laughter

Right here in our own building the NEPM Media Lab spring cohort has just wrapped up their projects, which spanned from working with reporters at Mass Live, to interviewing their peers at schools in the area, and more. NEPM's director of education, Ismary Santiago-Lugo and education program coordinator Donyel Le’Noir Felton reveal more about the students of this session, and cohort members Enrique and Jahlyssa explain  their insights and experiences as their time with us comes to a close

And laughter is some of the best medicine around, and it’s at the core of an upcoming fundraiser for the Northampton Center for the Arts. Revelry at 33 is an incredible affair featuring music, art, an auction, tasty delights, and this year, stand up comedy. We talk with the two performers who’ll take the stage to ensure art is available to everyone: beloved local figure  Kelsey Flynn, and Rhymes with Orange cartoonist Hilary Price as well as NCA co-director Kelly Silliman to discover more about the communal nature of comedy, and the importance of having community performance spaces like 33 Hawley. 

“Alienated Tongues” is the theme of this year’s Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival (MMFF) which kicks off tomorrow at Amherst Cinema and will run every Wednesday in April. We are joined by MMFF guest program curator Ayanna Dozier, a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and assistant professor of communications at UMass Amherst, to hear about her vision for centering women directors for this festival, and how her non-film work has added to the history and legacy of Janet Jackson.

Then we’re off to the hills of Colrain to visit the largest brewery in town yet one of the smallest breweries in New England to talk to Justin and Katie Korby from Stoneman Brewery. We meet up with Jennifer Core, executive director of CISA, traverse a dirt road, a covered bridge, and visit the microbrewery to learn about how they became the first in the country to create a community supported agriculture (CSA) beer share.

Today’s show is one big love fest.

Big Love Little Performances is the area’s only karaoke and lip sync fundraiser, and it's happening April 2 at The Iron Horse in Northampton to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County. We talk with two long-time ‘bigs,’ Bob Lowry and Jack Petrides, about the impact of mentorship on both the littles and on the bigs. We also talk with the creators of the event,Tara Brewster of Greenfield Savings Bank and Ann Walsh of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County.

We show some big love to valley-based Transhealth, the only independent, non-profit healthcare organization in the nation devoted solely to serving trans and gender-diverse communities. We meet CEO Jo Erwin and hear what they are up to in anticipation of the Trans Day of Visibility tomorrow and the challenges they face from the federal government as they try to provide gender-affirming care here in western Massachusetts.

And, astronomy lover Mr. Universe, Salman Hameed of Hampshire College and Kainaat Studios, tells us what might interfere with the love of star gazing as a corporation plans to launch thousands of mirrors into space that will impact our dark skies at night.