Song of the Soul

My guest today is Kat Moore, and she's bringing us the music of the Super Saturated Sugar Strings from Anchorage, Alaska. Words fail in terms of describing the power and energy of their songs, though the phrase orchestral alternative folk-rock captures at least part of it. We're talking about band members playing multiple instruments at the same time, while the music sails and dives and soars and ambles in creative and moving ways.

In December I interviewed Chuck Brodsky about his song, On Christmas I Got Nothing, which introduced me to Chuck's wry sense of humor mixed with cultural insight, Today we'll get a full chance to explore the range of his songs, complete with tinges of Bob Dylan's tones, mixed with heart-tendering stories, irony, and inspirational vision. And let's not neglect the imprint of the stories of baseball, present on every album of the 13 albums Chuck has produced.

Though Tim Case's musical career began more than 15 years ago, it went quiescent for much of the intervening years. It has now come fully back to life. Tim says his policy for writing a song is to feel the ones that make him cry, to know they are the songs to be shared.

David Lamotte returns today for Song of the Soul. If you've listened to our previous visits with David, you'll know why we were eager to welcome him back. Through his music that is so clearly rooted, both in place, in meaning, and in Spirit, David enchants.

Down-home music is what you should expect from Jake Soha of the duo Rock Creek Song Dogs. Jake makes some banjo-spicy music with his wife, Dani Jo Soha, and they self-describe their music as “a little folk, a little rock, a little gritty with a hint of bluegrass”. You'll also find him on stage with Tim Case and Ramblin' Lou Carver. Jake Soha brews his eclectic melange in Mondovi, Wisconsin.

We interviewed Tom Paxton & John McCutcheon back before Christmas about their jointly written and performed album called Together. We're talking about an overabundance of music creation skills by two folk musicians who have released over 100 albums between them.

Ben Cook-Feltz is an Iowan boy who got lost and wondered north to the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Ben has found a stable and fertile place to grow and make music in the Twin Cities, enough so that he does that at the same time he's parenting a 4-year old.

Audra Kubat is deeply connected to the Earth, and her rootedness grows, blossoms, and sometimes weeps through her beautiful music. She is a talented multi-instrumentalist, but there is exceptional power in her voice and in her profound and moving lyrics.

Second part of Songs Beyond the Norm for the December 2023 Holidays, focused today on Christmas, but with twists both deep and heavy, and still moving toward Light.

First part of Songs Beyond the Norm for the December 2023 Holidays, with humor and humility, for Hanukkah, Solstice, & Christmas, in ways you'd never expect.