Groundhogs, Trials & Love

This week, as we head into February, we begin with a few groundhog-related pieces + a couple more involving controversies surrounding the current occupant of the oval office -- along with several songs about moving on in challenging times. After that, with Valentine’s Day looming on the horizon, we focus mainly on songs and tunes related to courtship, love and constancy – taking us eventually on a musical journey with brief stops in Sweden, Scotland & England.

On the Journey Towards Freedom + A Few Celtic (Festival) Connections

In mid-January, as Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday comes around, our thoughts turn to the arduous and ongoing journey toward freedom in which Dr. King was so centrally involved. So songs and tunes related to the long and still-continuing struggles for freedom, equality, social justice, and the dream of working to fashion a more harmonious and inclusive world will be at the center of our show this week – with a little time reserved at the end for making a few Celtic Connections.

Remembering Farms, Transcending Borders

Early every January, the Pennsylvania Farm show comes to Harrisburg, and that always makes it feel like a good time for music about farms and farmers. We’ll feature a number of farm-related songs in this week’s show -- along with a bunch of pieces, mainly from releases that recently turned up in the Song Parlor mailbox, that will take us on two Southern journeys and celebrate the possibility of transcending borders.

Long Nights, Holidays, & the Turning of the Year

As we reach December holidays and the longest night of the year, songs for the season feature largely in the Song Parlor this week, starting with “The World Is Old” and carrying us along on a musical journey that eventually leads us on to an assortment of anthems, carols, wassails, and more.

Into December with Food, Wassails and More

This week in the Song Parlor, as we slide into December, we bring together some songs and tunes that offer suggestions about navigating our way through snow and darkness and controversy – including a bunch of pieces that involve food and a couple of wassails for the season.

An Autumn Calendar: Sliding Toward an Early Winter

Up here in the North Country, early snow has recently given us a vivid reminder that the season can change quickly and early – and that thought shapes much of the music we hear in the Song Parlor this week. We’ve assembled something of an autumn to early winter calendar with songs suitable for the season, a couple of musical previews and a chance to sample several recent releases – including some music from Bulgaria -- before finishing off with a few songs and tunes from Scotland.

Coming Into November in Our Times

This week in the Song Parlor our show features a number of songs and tunes (mainly from new and recent releases) about coming into November in our time – and we take a brief musical journey through the British Isles, as the ongoing Brexit saga continues.

On the Move

This week’s show features songs and tunes about being on the move in one way or another -- walking, drifting down the road or river, putting out to sea. . . . It’s a theme that seems especially fitting for us at the moment, since the studio where we record the Song Parlor is about to move. While that move is happening we’ll be busy, so the next show won’t be along until we’ve arrived at the new place – and that should be in early November

Some Schools, Teachers & Celtic Colours

This week’s show features songs and tunes about schools, teachers, and education (both inside and outside of the classroom) as well as a varied array of Celtic Colours (with a couple of autumn festivals in mind).

Into September, Meeting Geezers, & Some Long Views of England

This week in the Song Parlor we begin with a few pieces to ease us to the end of summer and toward the first signs of autumn. After that, we’ll feature musical portraits of a charming gallery of old geezers, before finishing off with songs that take us across several centuries of English social and political history.