Emma G brings together culture & family from all over the world, including Persia, Fiji, New Zealand, Iowa, and more. Her music is likewise expansive, including seeds of operatic voice training with a rock music emphasis.
Song of the Soul
Song of the Soul invites you to a soul-level encounter. Music has the ability to proclaim the soul's language beyond what mere words can speak. That's what we seek as we invite our guests to share their Song of the Soul. You will hear the music that has charted the steps of their spiritual journey, that has provided a touchstone in the soul's dark night, and sung the hearts awe and joy when come to the Light. As you listen to Song of the Soul, you are both witness and companion to our guest's spiritual path and sacred testimony.
Song of the Soul guests provide 20-23 minutes of the music of their soul, and Mark Helpsmeet explores with them the relevance and meaning of this music to their experience. Most guests are musicians, usually sharing their own music, but some guests are simply sharing music they've been impacted by, written and performed by others.
The theme song for this program is by Cris Williamson and is called "Song of the Soul". Please check out the wealth of great music Cris has gifted to the world.
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Bottleneck & Finger-picking Story-telling from Kill Devil Hills
Ruth Wyand, of Kill Devil Hills, NC, is a wonderful songwriter and performer, with magic in her tunes and lyrics, though it was really her guitar work that first riveted our attention, complete with soul-captivating finger-picking and bottleneck slide flourishes. Though of a genre all her own, she channels elements of blues, jazz, & Americana - and much more. In addition to her own musical creations, she breathes new life and identity into the tunes of other musicians, making them all her own.
Beauty, Activism, & Timeless Wisdom: Paulette Meier
We welcome back Paulette Meier, last with us in 2009. She's put out 3 albums since then, one around her activism and work for the world, and the other related to the timeless Quaker wisdom she has delivered in chant or plainsong. Paulette combines her beautiful voice with deep spirit and care for the world to share heart-mending and nourishing music from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Catholic, Community Christian, Quaker
Bob Dylan, Robert Frost, & Buddha's Minivan: Doug Alan Wilcox
Starting in high school, Doug Alan Wilcox has been in a variety of bands, including names like Black Jack, Logix, So What Band, and Friends, transitioning from pop/rock/dance (and much more) music to a solo performing singer/songwriter career around 2000. Doug's influences are far and wide, including Bob Dylan, Robert Frost, and Buddha's Minivan. He hails from Haggarstown, MD.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Lutheran, Unity, Non-affiliated
Singer & Playwright of the Wild Midwest: Katie Dahl
Katie Dahl's music is spirit-laden, rooted in a religious past which no longer fits, but which Katie still copes with through new lenses. Katie has been described as “a songwriter and playwright whose work is as expansive as Lake Michigan and as deeply rooted as its rocky coastal bluffs”, and that fits her well.
Moved by Funky Captain Danger
Aaron Steinberg is Captain Danger, flanked by Keith “E-Day” Eaddy & Roger “Joose” Benford. Aaron has done so much with music, starting very young with bands like The Studmuffins, Wabbit, Uncle Dad, and was he and is part of The Televisionairies whose role in life is to make music out of television theme songs that is part Dr Demento meets Gilligan's Island.
From Soul Songs School and To The Light: Anne Heaton
Anne Heaton has lived widely, pursuing a wide range of interests, in Chicago (IL), Washington DC, New York, Ann Arbor (MI), and now in Milwaukee (WI). She has all the classical piano cred you could want, but has also performed as part of a Harlem gospel choir, while her songwriting has been inspired by the likes of the Indigo Girls and Tori Amos.
Berkeley CA Meets Woodstock NY: Friction Farm
Back in 2020 and 2021 I discovered Christine Stay and Aidan Quinn who are known collectively as Friction Farm.
Riveting & Sisterly – Deborah Silverstein
Deborah Silverstein is a gem and a beacon. She started out musically in the heady early days of women's music, in the 1970s, as part of the Red Basement Singers, and the New Harmony Sisterhood Band.
End of Our Blues – Something Green from Kate Klim
Kate Klim enchanted me from the first with her songwriting and vocals and a talent which also thrust her into prominence when she was a 2010 Kerrville New Folk Winner. Over 4 years she dazzled the world with 3 albums, but then, with the advent of 2 children and then COVID, her muse was quiescent. The dry spell finally passed last year, with musical storm clouds and rainbows again appearing, stirring our imaginations and passions and delivering to us Kim's fourth album, Something Green.