Acoustic Harmony: News

Hey all,

Every year I like to look back on some of my favorite releases from the last year.... so, here's the note I just posted to the folkdj list regarding that. These are all great artists that are well worth checking out if you're not familiar with them.

"Hey Everybody,

I couldn't let 2009 slip away completely without mentioning a few of my favorite (mostly independent) new
releases that made frequent appearances on Acoustic Harmony last year. This is in no way meant to be
a "Best Of" list, but rather a list of some releases that for whatever reason really made an impression on
me. These are records and artists that might have been overlooked and ones I would highly recommend
to anyone who appreciates great songwriting and the artistry of musical creation.

Here they are in no particular order:

Robyn Landis - Many Moons
Sue Pyper - Tail Lights In The Rain
Jory Nash - New Blue Day
Lynn Miles - Black Flowers/Vol 1 & 2
Drew Nelson - Dusty Road To Beulah Land
Joe Jencks - Links In A Chain
Cheryl Wheeler - Pointing At The Sun
Vicky Emerson - Long Ride
Johnsmith - Gravity Of Grace
David Mallett - Alright Now
Alisa Fineman & Kimball Hurd - Faith In Our Love
Bow Thayer - Shooting Arrows At The Moon
Corey Brewster - Buffalo Street
Chuck Suchy - Unraveling Heart
Wyatt Easterling - Where This River Goes
Keith Greeninger & Dayan Kai - Make It Rain
Craig Bickhardt - Brother To The Wind

There were a couple other artists that although they didn't have new releases last year it was then that
I really became aware of their amazing talent. So I wanted to mention them as well:

Tom Pacheco - An incredibly prolific crafter of consistently important political, personal
and fictional songs. Simply an amazing storyteller.

Martyn Joseph - The epitome of a powerful performing singer songwriter. To see him perform live
is everything I love about the singer songwriter folk troubadour tradition who also is an amazing
songwriter.

Monika Nordli - An old songwriter's soul in a young body with an achingly beautiful voice.

There you have it, some of my favorites from incredible artists who helped keep the art of great
folk music alive in 2009. Artists that if I hadn't come across them myself, I would be very appreciative
to discover. The usual disclaimer pertains, I have no financial interests in any of the above mentioned
artists.

All the best on a frosty sub-zero morning from Northern New England!

Mark Michaelis
Host; Acoustic Harmony
WGDR Folk Music Director
www.acoustic-harmony.com

WGDR is community radio for central Vermont broadcasting from Goddard College at: 91.1FM
and online at: www.wgdr.org"

The great duo, Coco & Lafe will be my very special guests on Saturday 1/23, coming on to share some music and stories from the road before their 2 shows at the Black Door in Montpelier later that night. I’ve heard that the first show is already sold out so if you can’t make the late show, this will be a great substitute. Coco & Lafe have been true “road warriors” for the last several years, following the seasons specializing in appearing at Farmer’s Markets all across the country. Their harmonies are wonderful and each is a great singer songwriter in their own right. Both Coco & Lafe have ties to Vermont, but lately they’ve been splitting their time between the west coast and the Boston area, so this is a great chance to catch them for a rare appearance in central Vermont. Find more info about this great duo at: http://www.cocolafe.com

I am very happy to announce that my recent interview with the legendary singer songwriter, Tom Pacheco is now up on this site and available for your streaming pleasure. Tom treated me to some gorgeous solo acoustic new songs of his, truly a wonderful artist. Be sure to check out Tom and his music. You can find more info at his website at: http://www.tompacheco.com

This afternoon a very special pair of guests will be joining me live at the studio for a live appearance. Rik Palieri and Rebecca Padula, aka Rik & Bec have been playing as a duo for about a year now and each has had a long solo career up to this point. Their harmonies are wonderful and the stories should be flowing with these two. Tune in around 5pm to catch them live on Acoustic Harmony.

I am very excited to announce that the legendary singer songwriter, Tom Pacheco will be my very special guest this afternoon on Acoustic Harmony! Tom writes beautifully crafted songs that are guaranteed to speak to you, songs about life, love, loss and the world around us. Tune in around 5 pm to catch this fabulous artist.

Hey everybody,

Thanks to the great folks over at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, I am very happy to announce that we’ll be giving away 2 pairs of tickets for the full four day festival (includes camping!) on the next Acoustic Harmony broadcast. I won’t try to describe this incredible festival, instead see the press release below for festival details.

To enter into this contest, just send an email to Mark@acoustic-harmony.com with the subject Falcon Ridge and you’ll automatically be entered into the drawing! Winners will be drawn on air by my very special guest, the legendary Tom Pacheco, when he visits Acoustic Harmony for a live guest appearance on July 11th.

So, spread the word and don’t miss out on the opportunity to attend this wonderful folk festival for free, courtesy of WGDR and the great folks at Falcon Ridge! Email entries must be received by July 10th for consideration.

_________________________________________
PRESS RELEASE - Falcon Ridge Folk Festival July 23-26
VOTED BEST FOLK FESTIVAL OF 2008, FALCON RIDGE TURNS 21!

Since it's humble beginnings in 1988, Falcon Ridge has grown from a simple gathering of the tribes to a 4-day Mecca for the folk community, accommodating campers and day-trippers alike. Many attend solely for the sumptuous International smorgasbord, others for the eclectic Craft Village, others just to dance on the largest outdoor floor of its kind. Voted Best Folk Fest in 2008 by the International Folk Music & Dance Alliance, Falcon Ridge returns to the Dodds Farm in Hillsdale, NY July 23-26.

The 4-stage event has something for everyone. There is a bustling Activities 4 Kids Area, all-night song circles, a huge dance floor and an array of consumables to satisfy every palate from gourmet sautéed mushrooms on crostini to Caribbean curries, Middle Eastern, Thai & Mexican fare to good ole American burgers, veggie & regular, NY Cheesecake, death by chocolate and more. There's a village market with clothing, fabrics, jewelry, art, literature, toys, pottery, musical instruments, hand blown glass, herbals and other goods lining the midway. The Friday afternoon Emerging Artist Showcase is renowned for its discovery of new talent. Falcon Ridge is handicap accessible and ASL-interpreted.

Musical highlights include country queen Kathy Mattea, Boston's chamber grass ensemble, the Folk Arts Quartet, fest faves Nerissa & Katryna Nields, bluesman Bob Malone and the Afro-Celtic fusion of Eileen Ivers & Immigrant Soul. Lisa Haley & the Zydekats make their Falcon Ridge debut. Folk icons Susan Werner, Ellis Paul and Cliff Eberhardt join forces with folk legend Janis Ian for the Friday Night Summer's Eve Song Swap.

Performers run the style gamut from Cajun to Celtic to World to Blues to Bluegrass with the fest's trademark singer/songwriters at the epicenter. Artists from Texas, Vermont, Nashville, Atlanta, Chicago, LA and closer to home are featured. Some of the hottest buzz bands on the acoustic circuit, Gandalf Murphy & the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, Girlyman, the Refugees, Stonehoney and the Ryan Montbleau Band join the festivities.

The Dance Tent fires up Thursday with entry level Contra, Squares and Swing. Dancing continues all weekend. Kids of all ages sing, boogie, drum, play air guitar and share stories at the Family Stage. Workshop stage offerings include Blues is Still the News, It Just Takes Two and Our Roots are Showing.

The fest kicks off Thursday July 23 at 1PM with its Music Biz School where attendees can learn about promotion, booking, hosting house concerts, touring, performing and songcraft.

Hi everyone!

Wanted to let you all know that my recent interview with the wonderful singer songwriter Bernice Lewis is now posted on the website and available for streaming. Bernice was a fabulous guest and it was a thoroughly enjoyable chat with one of my favorites. Check it out over on the "interviews/playlists" page.

Hi everyone!

I wanted to let you all know about a few special programs coming up on Acoustic Harmony shortly.

First off, Jess Clemons, winner of the Burlington Songwriter's Contest for 2008 will be my special guest live on air today (Saturday April 18th). Jess is a great singer songwriter whose been out touring the country and now is back home in Vermont. She'll help WGDR kick off our annual spring fundraiser today, coming in to the station at 4:30pm.

Coming up in May, the fabulous Bernice Lewis will be making a guest appearance on Acoustic Harmony on Saturday, May 2. Bernice writes beautiful songs and has been a favorite of mine for many years. She'll be stopping by WGDR around 4:30pm on May 2nd before her house concert later that evening, part of the great Plainfield, VT Ocassional Concert Series produced by Mary, Karl and Lynne. You can get information about the house concert by contacting Mary at: kbmt@ezcloud.com

Finally, the incredible Tom Pacheco will be a guest on Acoustic Harmony on Saturday, July 11th. Tom has been making incredible music for over 40 years and has written some 3000 songs! Tom will be stopping by WGDR around 5pm prior to his appearance at the Langdon Street Cafe later that evening.

Also, as I mentioned, WGDR starts our annual spring fund drive today. I do hope you can help support one of the best, truly independent, free format, locally produced community radio stations around! Call in anytime this week at 802-454-7762 or pledge online at: http://www.wgdr.org

I do hope you get a chance to check out some of the great guests coming up on Acoustic Harmony!

You can stream our live feed at: http://www.wgdr.org or listen locally at 91.1FM.

Thanks and Happy Spring!

Mark

Very excited to have the fabulous Anais Mitchell appearing live on Acoustic Harmony! Anais will be stopping by WGDR before her benefit concert for the Marshfield Jacquith Library.

I wanted to let you all know that my interview with the wonderful Meg Hutchinson is now available for streaming over on the "music" page. Meg had recently signed with Red House Records when she stopped by this past summer to record our interview and we talked extensively about her great new record, "Come Up Full". Don't miss the fabulous solo acoustic songs that Meg treated me to! You'll want to check this one out soon!

Very excited to let you know that Lui Collins will once again be a guest on Acoustic Harmony! Coming up this Saturday, Sept 20, Lui will stop by for a live appearance prior to her benefit for the Aldrich Public Library. Tune in around 6PM to catch one of the most beautiful voices in the folk world today! And if you can't listen in to this one, you can always stream the interview that I recorded with Lui last year over on the "music" page..... an in depth conversation about her great record, "Closer".

Hi Everybody,

Once again some exciting news for this week’s Acoustic Harmony!

The great folks at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival have been very kind and given WGDR full festival passes to giveaway again this year. We’ve got two pairs of passes for the full four-day festival, which runs from July 24 – July 27th, and these passes include camping! It’s the 20th anniversary for Falcon Ridge and the lineup is stellar as usual, including such amazing artists like Dar Williams, Eliza Gilkyson, Chris Smither, John Gorka, Lori McKenna, Eddie From Ohio, Patty Larkin, Janis Ian… I could go on and on! As usual, the festival will be held at the Dodds Farm in Hillsdale, NY, about an hour south of Albany.

I’ll be giving away one pair of these tickets tomorrow, Saturday July 12th at around 5 pm on Acoustic Harmony to one lucky caller. Don’t despair if you don’t win tomorrow’s passes, there’ll be another chance to win on Wednesday, July 16th with Cam on the next New Folk Revival on WGDR.

And if that isn’t enough, we’ve also got a pair of tickets to the Sunday event at this year’s Champlain Valley Folk Festival. This fabulous festival on the shores of beautiful Lake Champlain in Ferrisburgh, VT has to be the most beautiful setting for folk music anywhere. This year’s festival runs from August 1st to August 3rd and features performers that include Brooks Williams, The Kossoy Sisters, Hungrytown (Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson), Si Kahn, Hanneke Cassel and many other fabulous artists. For a chance to win tickets for this festival for Sunday Aug 3rd, send your name, phone number and mailing address in an email to: Mark@Acoustic-Harmony.com with the subject line being “Champlain Valley Folk Festival”. The deadline for entering is Thursday July 24th, so get those emails in! The winner’s name will be drawn live on the air, on July 26th by my next very special guest, Lissa Schneckenburger. Lissa’s an incredible fiddler with a beautiful voice whose new release called “Song” is a wonderful collection of some wonderful but largely forgotten songs and tunes from New England that she uncovered through archival research and contains ten timeless ballads that go back as far as the eighteenth century that she set to carefully crafted modern arrangements.

So, be sure to tune in to WGDR at 91.1 FM in the local area or online at: http://www.wgdr.org on Saturday, July 12th at 5pm for your chance to go the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival for FREE! And get your emails in for the Champlain Valley Folk Festival giveaway!

As always, thanks for tuning in!

Mark

Once again the great folks at Falcon Ridge have donated two pairs of full festival passes for us to giveaway on WGDR. Saturday, July 12th, I'll be giving away the first pair of passes (full festival passes including camping for the entire festival, over $140 value!) So, tune in to Acoustic Harmony and around 5:00pm, I'll be doing the giveaway on air. Then Cam will be giving away the second pair of passes on her show the following Wednesday, July 16th on New Folk Revival, sometime after 7 pm. Two great opportunities to get a chance to head over to one of the best folk festivals around. Big thanks to Anne at Falcon Ridge for once again providing such a fabulous giveaway!

I am so excited that Erica Wheeler will be my very special guest on Acoustic Harmony, Saturday, May 3rd at 4:30 pm. Erica's songwriting has deep roots with nature and the earth we live on and has long been one of my absolute favorites. She'll be dropping by the station before her show Saturday evening at the Haybarn Theater at Goddard College in Plainfield. Local favorites, Susannah Blachly and Lewis Franco will open the evening. Don't miss either one. Tune in at 4:30 pm to 91.1 FM or online at: http://www.wgdr.org and then get out to see a great show, which also happens to be a benefit for the Earthwalk Vermont organization.

Very exciting news indeed! The fabulous Rod Picott will be appearing live on Acoustic Harmony on April 19th. Rod cowrote the song, "Broke down" with Slaid Cleaves and has become one of my favorites. Rod will be accompanied by the amazing Amada Shires, so it should be fantastic. Tune in at 5pm for Rod and Amanda on WGDR, Community Radio for Central Vermont, listen live in the local area at 91.1 FM or online at: http://www.wgdr.org

Very excited about the chance to record an interview with Rosemary Phelan. Rosemary will be stopping by on April 12th to record a session for Acoustic Harmony Presents which we'll get on the air sometime in the next few weeks. Rosemary's new release, "Avalanche Lily" is a wonderful collection, should be a lot of fun!

You can learn more about Rosemary at her website at:
http://www.rosemaryphelan.net/

Had to post a note about the recent guests that have been kind enough to appear on Acoustic Harmony.

Central Vermont singer songwriter Diana Winn and her daughter Jessamine Levine came by on March 22nd to talk about Diana's new release. We featured several cuts off of "Turning Back Beautiful" which features many of Vermont's fabulous women vocalists covering some of Diana's great songs. Then Jessamine treated us to a couple of her own songs live. What a treat!

Then on April 5th, the great folk duo, "Folk By Association" came by for an appearance before their show later that evening at The Skinny Pancake. Karen Krajacic and Jill Cowen are Folk By Association and they make beautiful music together, great acoustic interplay and the harmonies... Wow! Their voices blend with such smoothness, just fabulous!

Check these great artists out!

Just a quick note to let you know that Saturday, April 5th, I’ll be joined in the studio for an interview and live performance by the great folk duo, Folk By Association. Karen Krajacic and Jill Cowen are the two amazing musicians that comprise Folk By Association. Karen and Jill cite influences like The Indigo Girls, Simon & Garfunkel and The Story, so you can just imagine how these two approach music. Their vocal harmonies and acoustical interplay (guitar and mandolin) are incredible. They’re coming in at 5 pm before their show later at The Skinny Pancake. So, tune in and check them out, you’ll love them, guaranteed!

That’s Folk By Association, this Saturday, April 5th at 5 pm. Listen live in central Vermont on WGDR at 91.1 FM or online at: www.wgdr.org

As always, thanks for tuning in!

Mark

Hey everybody, hope everyone has had a great winter and is ready for spring…. it is coming isn’t it?!?! I just saw the first red wing blackbird, that's a great sign!

Coming up this week on Acoustic Harmony a special extended show. I’ll be covering the time slot before my regular spot, so 5 hours of great acoustic music is on tap for this Saturday, March 22 starting at 2:30 pm! Then coming in around 5 pm for a guest appearance is the great central Vermont singer songwriter Diana Winn. Diana’s new release is called, “Turning Back Beautiful” and it’s a lovely collection of Diana’s songs recorded by some of Vermont’s great singers. Tammy Fletcher, Sandra Wright, Patti Casey, Anais Mitchell, Diane Zeigler and others! What a great collection. We’ll get the story behind the coming together of this release as well as hear many of these great songs. Also, a special live performance by Jessamine Levine will top things off! You can learn more about Diana and her work with Rebop Records at: http://www.reboprecords.com/

Again, the interview with Diana starts at 5 pm, but the great music will start at 2:30 pm, so mark your calendar and tune in early to one of the best community radio stations out there! That’s WGDR, at 91.1 FM and online at: www.wgdr.org

I just had to put a note in here about the best live show I've seen in a long time.

I just saw Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell, together at the wonderful Barre Opera House! What a fabulous show. Lucy has one of my absolute favorite voices and hearing her sing harmony with Richard live was unbelievable! If these either of these two great singer songwriters are ever in your area, do yourself a real favor and go see them, you won't be dissapointed!