Today on an all new Travel Notes, Grace talks with Osei Chandler host of Roots Musik Karamu - one of the longest running radio shows on SC public radio. They talk about the African roots of Caribbean music, Osei’s contributions to South Carolina’s cultural and music landscape and more.

Today on Travel Notes, Grace talks with award winning Brazilian guitarist and songwriter, Badi Assad about her creative process, current projects, mindfulness practice, challenges she’s overcome during her career and more.

Happy Holidays from Travel Notes! Join me and special co host Ryan Lareau for a special holiday edition of Travel Notes, A Christmas around the World where we find out how the world sings about Christmas.

Inspired by my brother who is living and working in Japan, tune in to explore the ancient and immersive art form of Taiko Drumming!

In this episode of Travel Notes we are going to travel across the ocean and through time as we discuss Canadian musician, Lenka Lichtenberg’s latest project, ‘The Thieves of Dreams’ which features songs inspired by her grandmother’s notebooks from while she was in Theresienstadt concentration camp during WWII. This story is about women, strength, loss, human tragedy and family.Tune to hear our conversation and Lenka’s beautiful music at

In this episode of Travel Notes, Grace McNally talks with Sicilian folk musician Michela Musolino about her music and musical journey as a Sicilian American. Together they discuss the rituals, traditions, people and idiosyncrasies surrounding Sicilian folk music. Now a resident of Memphis, Tennessee - Michela illustrates the similarities she hears between Sicilian folk music and the blues from the American Southeast.

In this episode of Travel Notes Season 2 Episode 2, I’m joined by Dan Rosenberg, a Toronto based journalist and music producer. He has traveled to more than 40 countries producing reports for the Rough Guides, The Times (UK), The Huffington Post, plus Cafe International, Toronto’s Classical FM, Afropop Worldwide, NPR’s Artbeat, CBC News and other radio programs. He has produced over 60 critically- acclaimed recordings, including Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II.

Thanks to the incredible compilation of Ukrainian music and interviews Dan has collected, we were able to discuss the current war through the eyes of Ukrainian musicians.

Season 2 of Travel Notes is officially here! I can't think of a better way to kick off season 2 than with the wonderful Ukrainian classical guitarist, Ulyana Machneva.

Ulyana began playing classical guitar at age six and she currently teaches, composes and performs in Charleston, SC. Her career has taken her around the world and her pieces have been performed in numerous countries. We talk about Ukrainian music, its role for the Ukrainian people in today's current conflict & its influence on American composer George Gershwin and much more. Ulyana performs a beautiful Ukrainian folk song on the larharp and we listen and chat about the inspiration behind a few of her original compositions and arrangements.

It’s Episode 12 and Travel Notes is officially 1 year old! In today’s show we are joined by a special guest, South African guitarist Derek Gripper. We dive deep into the nitty-gritty, not so pretty side of the classical guitar, explore the connection between kora master Toumani Diabate and JS Bach, talk about lessons Derek has learned from studying kora music and how he has applied them to the classical guitar. He even performs a song off of his album, Billy Goes to Durban which is inspired by southern baptist preacher Billy Graham. Hope you guys enjoy the show!

P.S.

To celebrate this milestone, there will be a longer extended episode on youtube where we dive into even more topics like yoga, the Bach basement tapes, ga ga dance, ancient Eastern Cape bow music and much more. You definitely don’t want to miss it. To access the video, check out the Travel Notes Instagram Page for a link in the bio.

In episode 11 of Travel Notes, host Grace McNally is joined with Azato, the artist behind a 7 piece Honolulu based world roots/reggae band who blend together Afro Cuban, Jazz, Blues, Hawaiian, Samoan, classical, and African elements into their music. They talk about the message and inspiration behind Azato’s debut album, Love is the Conqueror and explore topics such as the Hawaiin renaissance, culture and social challenges faced in the inner city of Honolulu.