We don't usually have a lot of cowboy content on Song of the Soul, but this week we'll at least get a piece of that with the music of Dusty James & Abalone Pearl, with Pearl as our guest. Dusty and Pearl have just released their first album, after about 9 years of performing together, and it's a mix of their original songs with traditional and public domain covers.

We're headed today to the enchanted realm summoned by the flute of Peter Phippen, now accompanied by the magic of Ivar Lunde Jr and Paulina Fae. Some of you may remember Peter, who has been with us on Song of the Soul a few times before, mostly in the musical manifestation connected with his wood flutes, though Peter's alter ego also plays the bass and guitar as part of Virginia Steele and in other groups.

We'll dive deep in the Afro-Colombian music of Lucas Silva, pioneer of Champeta. Founder of Palenque Records (or on Facebook) via today's guest-host Patricia Stansbury (AKA Sunny Gardener).

I got news this past week that Bob Franke, one of my favorite musicians, died on October 16^th this year, and it was a real blow to my heart. I'm sharing with you today the interview I did with Bob back in July 2009, for which I am very grateful. Bob had an amazing ability to vividly capture the experience of the human heart and spirit, and some of his best songs are included in the wonderful Rise Up Singing songbooks.

For a number of years, Sage Cook was part of Elephant Revival, and toward 2014 Sage and Aera consciously moved toward a more subsistence, closer to the land, lifestyle, and continued to make music as part of We Dream Dawn. Their metamorphosis has continued, with a stronger acoustic folk flavor, as they mostly now perform as Sage & Aera.

Today's guest, Maria Requena, is also known as Sunflower Summit, and they answer to both, so take your pick. What attracted me first was the singing, but I quickly became intrigued when I saw comments like “Chicago based queer Latinx artist and producer” and “with a mission to support their community through music and mental health discussion” and, finally, “music that hits right in the feels”.

Andrea Prichett's musical career started in Zimbabwe, where she taught, and it was with the group Novisimos. Her activist music grew further during the many years she performed as part of the trio Rebecca Riots, and other synergies have been explored with the musicians of Wildcat Canyon, and with the Shake It Booty Band.

It's been 20 years that Northern Spirit Radio has been broadcasting, and to celebrate that milestone we've set up a John McCutcheon concert event both streaming online and right here in-person, in Eau Claire, WI, on Sunday October 5^th, 2025, starting at 6:30 pm Central Time. Get more info and tickets on the NorthernSpiritRadio.org website. I've interviewed John several times, including live at a Quaker gathering at Grinnell College in Iowa on July 4^th, 2019.

Though Kris Angelis is a long-time resident of LA, California, she joins us today from her new home in Okinawa, Japan. There is so much about Kris that will intrigue & enrich you. She has an identical twin, Alex, and both of them are singers, and both have been actors, Alex more than Kris. But Kris is queen in the indie singer-songwriter role, with a rich tapestry of music mostly painted in colors of the heart.

Linda Allen was called to my attention by Peter Alsop. Linda has all the credentials that speak to me. She has 5 decades of experience as a people's musician. She combines a piercing mind & and capacious heart, with room enough for all. And she won her Doctor of Ministry degree with a dissertation called, “The Bridge Between the Earth and Sky: The Spirituality of Voice”, leading to her ordination as an interfaith minister in 2006.