We're headed out to Pennsylvania today, with hopes that we'll see today's guest in Wisconsin within a couple months. His name is Dann Pell (music on bandcamp), and he came to my attention from an email offer he sent to my local Quaker meeting of a tour he is planning for March.

We're headed to Whitefish, Montana, for a deep-end encounter with Jamie Wyman. Jamie was headed toward work as a lawyer, in the role of either a criminal prosecutor or a healthcare attorney, but, as she says, her Saturn Return radically altered her trajectory, and music became her pathway and vehicle to world betterment. She spent some time with the Sunraven Band, but most of her years creating & performing music has been as leader of the Jamie Wyman Band.

Cliff Eberhardt has performed with oodles of well-known performers I've loved, like Lucy Kaplansky, Dave Van Ronk, Richie Havens, and Odetta, generally of the folk-rock-Americana-acoustic varieties, and I'm so excited to have him here today.

Time today for some seasonal music, but, of course, with a twist. Sofia Talvik has joined us twice before, and with the release of her 2^nd compilation of her annual Christmas songs, songs which Sofia has written to explore the wider experience of Christmas, including the distressing and challenging sides of the holiday, we again reached out across the sea to her, to Berlin, Germany, where this Swedish-born folk artist sometimes lives when she's not touring the USA or living in her other home in Spain.

Today for Song of the Soul, we are straying far from my safe and well-known musical turf to the the wonderful works of Ivar Lunde, Jr, a prolific and accomplished composer, pedagogue, performer, and conductor. Born in Norway, educated in Norway & Austria, he has performed & taught in many corners of Europe & the USA, including 35 years teaching at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. His works have been performed by at least 7 different symphony & chamber orchestras in the US & Norway.

We're headed to the west coast today for a deep & touching visit with Frances Ancheta, a Filipina-American singer/songwriter and acoustic musician. Frances has a rich repertoire of thoughtful and eclectic indie folk/pop/rock songs. I hear tell that before long she may also share some of the music from her family's country of origin, The Philippines, but right now we'll be blessed with her US-born and inspired songs, again, from the tenderest and most vibrant of hearts.

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.

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.

Katie Dwyer is absolutely one of the top surprises & joys of 20 years I've been doing this program, no exaggeration. Katie is unassuming & modest, even though she has every reason to be proud of the wonderful music she creates & performs. She's all about real life, real pains and glories, all song with passion & compassion. Maybe it's fitting that she doesn't live among coastal elites, but right in South Dakota.

Though he tried a strenuous life on the music circuit in his 20s, Mike Green found a better path for him, at the time, was helping other musicians in organizing & scheduling their tours.

Lucy Kaplansky is, in some ways, very much a road-less traveled person. For example, after starting a successful career as performing Americana musician with the likes of Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, and many more, she detoured through a decade as a clinical psychologist. Her own inner work led her back to the path she most loves, music, and she has released a total of 11 albums, I think, the last 4 on her own, including avoiding streaming services and other devices that impoverish most musicians - another road less traveled.

(From left to right: Annie Patterson, Wendi Bourne, Lauren Janson)

Rebecca Pidgeon brings to her music influences as disparate as her early years in Massachusetts, life through early adulthood in Scotland, professional decades in England, then more than 20 years in Los Angeles. In addition to her singing/songwriting, Rebecca is an actress, and her ability to inhabit diverse minds and persons is reflected through her incredibly versatile songs and styles, all compelling.