WKXL - New Hampshire Talk Radio

The 146th Annual Deerfield Fair opens Thursday and Fair Director Dick Pittman joined us to discuss “New England’s Oldest Family Fair…146 Years of Agriculture Fun!”

Also on Tuesday we welcomed author Daniel Dain to the show. His new 800-plus page book is “A History of Boston”. The renowned Peter Vanderwarker provided some terrific photography for the book.

Artful Living welcomes back Allison Messier. Allison is a classical contralto who grew up in Manchester, but currently lives and works throughout New England.

You are invited to join our interesting musical conversation!

Joey Clark is a New Hampshire native who became a songwriter in Nashville. Since his return to NH, Joey has been featured on Granite State of Mind and played on New Hampshire Public Radio. Joey performs solo at various venues including the Currier Gallery of Art in Manchester as well as with his band, the Big Hearts. Joey is a lyric focused writer, with rhythms borrowed from swing, bluegrass, old-time country and folk-rock with memorable melodies and words.

He is joined in the Big Hearts by a pair of incredibly talented musicians, Larry Houghton on the upright bass and Mac Holmes on the Dobro. The trio has a wonderful new ten song CD which will be available soon! It’s called Cats on the Frontier Live which, in fact, was recorded live in front of a very appreciative audience at the West Street Ward House in Concord on March 25, 2023!

Todd is a poet, songwriter, dramatist and fiction writer. He is the author of three collections of poems, Strange Land (2010), No Other Gods (2015) and Crows in Eden (2022). In addition, he’s written a number of plays and essays as well a novella, Do Geese See God? (2021).

Todd’s first full-length studio album is Border Radio (2021), featuring thirteen original songs in the Americana and folk/folk rock tradition. A second studio album, Yodelady, featuring fifteen original tracks, is set to debut is November but we have a sneak peak on this segment with Todd. I think you would have to call Todd a true renaissance man.

He lives in Exeter and teaches literature and writing at Phillips Exeter Academy!

This week on Facing the Future, we examine the possibility of a government shutdown. If Congress fails to agree on funding levels for the next fiscal year, which begins on October 1st, many government offices will need to close their doors. With less than two weeks to go, negotiators seem far apart and it's not just Democrats vs Republicans. Division among House Republicans has also been a problem.

We discuss the state of play with Jon Lieber, managing director of the Eurasia Group and a former senior advisor to Senator Mitch McConnell.

We welcome Brendon Shapiro, Executive Director of Boston Singers Resource. This organization is dedicated to offering services and resources to emerging classical singers.

Jane and Brendon are sure to bring you an informative but fun conversation. Join us!

From a musical household in Chichester, Ryan’s mom, Andrea, bought him his first guitar from a pawn shop. It was that guitar on which Ryan spawned his musical roots. Andrea replaced the pawn shop guitar with an update a number of years later which Ryan still owns today.

At the age of 12, Ryan suffered a serious brain injury which caused memory loss and curtailed his music pursuits for a while as he had to learn to sing and play guitar all over again but he persevered and came back and continued his love of singing and songwriting. He is very open about his background and some of the personal battles he’s had to deal with and eventually beat. Blessed with a truly amazing voice and playing an extremely melodic guitar, Ryan is set to release his first EP.

The multi-genre artist can be heard on a regular basis at Tandy’s and the Teatotaller in downtown Concord where he is always open to tell his story and be an inspiration to so many.

What you don’t know about people is sometimes the thing that is the most fascinating!

Doris Ballard and her husband Norm are amazingly resourceful people. Start a clown school? Sure why not! Start a standup comedy school? Sure why not! Tired of doing shift work? Why not startup a novelty store and ice cream stand? Check, check and check.

While I consider all episodes “must listen to” shows, this one in particular is downright fascinating.

Wyn was nominated “Female Performer of the Year” by the New England Awards the first year she took the stage to perform solo. Wyn was classically trained in voice from a young age and competed internationally with choirs, singing in the Sydney Opera House in Australia and Carnegie Hall in New York. She was selected as one of thirteen songwriters to work with Ben Folds at a songwriting retreat in California. That retreat ultimately would lead to the release of her debut EP a in 2019.

With the addition of Lucia Jean (who appears with Wyn of this segment) on bass abs vocals and Heidi Tierney on drums and vocals, Wyn has expanded into a new chapter under the name of Wyn Doran and The White Light. Their live act has taken flight, selling out their first performance in Boston!

Jane welcomes Jimmy McIntyre on Artful Living and they will discuss the world of Cryptocurrency. How does this match with Artful Living? Join us and find out all about the opportunities cryptocurrency can offer and learn a bit about this exciting world.