A Thrupple of Couples

Gord’s Gold 1: Welcome My Gentle Listeners. My friend Joy is writing her thesis and posted this on Facebook. This is the song I need right now. I am listening to Stand in the River: by Moira Smiley and Voco on repeat while writing writing writing. As the song is on my songs to play queue, I took that as my cue to play it this week. I talk about Joy more on the air than any of my friends even though I never see her, she lives half a world away in New Zealand. She brings me new music that I wouldn’t otherwise here. I got permanent cred from her when I tipped her off to Hadestown long before I became a Broadway legend. Prepare yourself for bespoke harmony, you can’t find anything like it on the racks. You’ll feel the stress shed as you listen.

Moira Smiley And Voco – Stand in the River
Erin Ruth – Down to the River to Pray (w. Sara Remington)
Maisy Owen – My Youth is All For You
Simone Keane – Come Back

Gord’s Gold 2: After Stend in the River we continued bathing in healing waters with Erin Ruth’s rendition of Down to the River to Pray, harmonies courtesy off Sara Remington. I first heard of Tompkin Square records when they sent me Muireann Bradley’s album. Needless to say I take their recommendations seriously. They just sent me a song by another young woman, 22-year-old Nashville native Maisy Owen. I didn’t know you could be born in Nashville. I thought you had to become a musician before they let you move in. We heard My Youth is All for You. We then traveled to almost the exact antipode of Nashville, Perth, Western Australia to listen to a new song by Simone Keane. I love that I have a favorite musician from Perth.

Now let’s move on to not just a favorite musician but a good friend, Jim Infantino. He’s in the select group of friend that played in my house, when I had a house. Jim released his first album in years, Assemble Yourself. He kept up his creativity in the interim as a science fiction writer. Jim is as distinctive songwriter as you’ll find. Nobody else could have written Let Me Just Float an Idea.

Jim Infantino – Let Me Just Float an Idea
The Burnett Sisters Band – Easy Come, Easy Go
Eureka Shoes – How Long
Katie Beth Mihm – Voodoo Queen

Gord’s Gold 3: That was Voodoo Queen by Katie Beth Mihm. She’s a member of the Ojibwe tribe from the Texas Panhandle. Her Ojibwe name is Singing Waters. It seems silly but people life choices like career, and where to live are affected by their names. Women named Georgia really are more likely than other women to move to Georgia. Maybe her name influenced her career. Before that was heard the Brooklyn based supergroup Eureka Shoes play How Long. Then were preceeded by an ode to marching to a different drummer, Easy Come, Easy Go by the Burnett Sisters. We started the set with Jim Infantino’s Let Me Just Float an Idea.

Paul Cauthan is a singer/songwriter from Tyler Texas. Let’s listen to his Ain’t No Crime.

Paul Cauthan – Ain’t No Crime
Erin Mckeown – Details of the Crime
Alison Brown & Steve Martin – Girls Have Money When You’re Old
Susan Werner – Egg Money (The Confession of Irene Broghammer)

We followed Ain’t No Crime with Details of the Crime by Erin Mckeown. I first saw Erin 26 years ago. She’s a small woman with a big guitar and even bigger personality. She’s bursting with energy and creativity. We then moved on to the duo of banjo greats, Alison Brown & Steve Martin with Girls Have Money When You’re Old. That sounds to me lie something Susan Werner would write so we finished with Susan’s Egg Money (The Confession of Irene Broghammer). We just heard Alison Brown then Susan Werner, My sisters are named Alison and Sue, is that a coincidence? It wasn’t a conscious choice on my part but that doesn’t mean there was no influence.

We are going to hear a trio of songs by couples that just released new music, Barnaby Bright, The Whispering Tree, and The Young Novelists. Barnaby Bright’s Becky and Nathan Bliss had a child earlier this year and she inspired Everly’s Song.

Barnaby Bright – Everly’s Song
The Whispering Tree – Find a Man
The Young Novelists – Into Glory
John Gorka – Richard III

Gord’s Gold 5: After Barnaby Bright we heard Whispering Tree sing Find a Man. Then came the Canadian band The Young Novelist sing Into the Glory. We finished with John Gorka’s latest, Richard III, about Shakespeare’s favorite Plantagenet . I love songs that teach you history.

Thanks for keeping me company. Next week is the day before Halloween, The rare holiday I devote an entire show to.