The Song Parlor with John Patterson

Lumbering Seasons to Celtic Journeys & Memories: This week, a lumbering-season excursion carries us along until we meet a banjo-picking girl -- among various engaging others -- and eventually finish off with a couple of Celtic-tinged journeys and memories.

Gatherings, Memories & Thanks as the Season Turns -This week we bring together a wide array of pieces old and new that involve musical gatherings of families and friends to share hopes and memories to seek light and give thanks as the season turns -- and we offer a brief set to honor Vermont musician Pete Sutherland, who died at the end of November.

From Autumn Crossroads to Scottish Dreams: This week we start out at the crossroads, move on to songs to remind ourselves that election day draws near, stir in a few pieces about attitudes folks do (or could) bring with them every day, and finish off with several dreams about life in Scotland.

Mostly New: Some Voices of This Summer & a Few Voyages - A few recent musical responses to some of the challenges of our times and several journeys out on the water are front and center on this week's edition of the Song Parlor.

Then & Now, Old & New: From Hard Times to Travels on Freedom's Road - This week, a few older pieces exploring 20th century hard times carry us on to some recent songs and tunes, and, finally, several classic pieces related to ongoing efforts to keep moving forward along freedom road.

Climbing Into May This week's show brings together an assortment of pieces that explore the idea of climbing (sometimes through challenging times) and/or traveling deeper into May and Springtime.

Navigating Seasons & Change + the Life Cycle of a Bold Outlaw - This week, as the season turns, we bring together a few pieces about navigating changes – seasonal and more – as well as several chronicles of encounters with Robin Hood.

International Journeys & Three Memorials: This week we begin with several pieces with Ukrainian connections, move on to a set that samples a few recent releases to take us on an international journey, and wrap up with three brief musical memorials.

Winter Scenes, Heart(land) Voices, Voyages This week: Wintry scenes old and new, advice from the heartlands, songs about the power of song, and several voyages.

Coming into a New Year & Finding Hope in Challenging Times: This week's show brings together some songs and tunes to help steer us into a challenging new year -- as well as a couple of retrospective sets that also involve forward-looking visions.

Another Turning of the Year - This week in the Song Parlor we bring together some songs and tunes to carry us through late December and on into the New Year.

Taking Flight and Seeking Light in Challenging Times: This week's show centers around songs and tunes that involve finding ways to come together, to seek light, to dance, sing and soar – even in difficult times.

Remembering Mother Earth – and Veterans - This week, as the Glasgow Climate Change conference continues and Veterans Day comes around, the Song Parlor features an assortment of songs and tunes that explore environmental issues as well as several that offer tributes and remembrances for veterans.

Halloween Spookiness – & Old & New Encounters Across Great Divides This week: Eerie tales for late October, a few ballads that chronicle old battles along the St. Lawrence and Champlain Valley corridor, and several recent pieces that explore the challenges and possibilities of surmounting our cultural and political Great Divide.

Indigenous People's Day, a Ride on the Railroad, Staying Upbeat in Challenging Times, and Moving (Musically) into Autumn As we ease into October, this week's show begins with several songs for Indigenous People's Day, then takes us on a memory-laden musical excursion on the railroad. After that, we sample several recent releases that explore ways to find happiness and a sense of well-being, before finishing off with a few pieces to carry us deeper into autumn.

Growing Old, Shades of Blue, & Unraveling a Few Riddles: Some songs and tunes about aging, a few shades of the blues, & a number of riddling pieces are front and center in the Song Parlor this week.

Little Critters -- & Some Recent Songs for Our Times As we move into September after a long and challenging summer, in this week's Song Parlor we check in with some little backyard critters, check out some recent releases, and briefly remember 9/11 as its 20th anniversary approaches.

Summertime & Two July Birthdays This week: Songs for summer times (and our times) & celebrating two July birthdays.

Three Special June Days: Juneteenth, Father's Day, & Yeats' Birthday This week's show features songs and tunes to commemorate three special days in June: Juneteenth, Father's Day, and the birthday of William Butler Yeats.

Memories – and Dialogues on the Golden Door This week songs and tunes that involve a varied assortment of precious memories – and the hopes, dreams, and challenges associated with them – are on parade in the Song Parlor.

May Scenes . . . and Some Trees & Traditions Songs and tunes that involve opportunities for getting out and about in springtime – among the trees, to an assortment of eateries, and so on – and that celebrate the importance of honoring and passing along traditions are at the center of things in the Song Parlor this week.

Working Toward Getting Out & About -- & Off to the Dance As we slip into May and get shots in the arm we're eager to head outside and move on into post-pandemic times, so that's what we're doing in the Song Parlor this week – with an assortment of songs and tunes, old and new, that will eventually carry us off to the dance.

Celebrating Two Birthdays (Pete Seeger & John Muir) & Earth Day! Musical birthday cards frame our Song Parlor podcast this week – one is for Pete Seeger (b, May 3, 1919) and the other honors John Muir (b. April 21,1838). Considering the pivotal roles these two creative visionaries played in championing environmental causes, it seems only fitting that in between we should bring together a few songs and tunes to mark the 51st anniversary of Earth Day on April 22nd.

Springing Into April This week in the Song Parlor we Spring into April!

We Were There: Some Women's Places & Voices As we race through March – Women's History Month – it seems appropriate that women's voice predominate in the Song Parlor this week. Along the way we'll hear from some old time gals, listen to a few songs about women at work, sample several recent recordings, and meet a number of talented sisters.

Changing Times & Some Arrivals This week we begin with sets that involve Great Changes and Time Changes before moving along to songs and tunes that explore Asian-American, Mexican-American and Irish-American experience and traditions, challenges and artistry – through pieces that carry us from California to New York island and beyond.

Struggling to Rise & Be Free -- & Heading Out to Sea This week, as we move deeper into Mid-February, songs and tunes that involve the struggle for freedom -- and the impediments to achieving it -- will occupy much of our attention before we embark on a musical journey that will take us out to sea.

Winter Weather & Coming Together – in Community & in Love This week's show begins with wintery weather and then moves on to songs and tunes that involve coming together in community and (as Valentine's Day draws near) in love.

Old Scenes & Ceremonies, Fresh Starts, and Two Birthdays This week our opening set carries us from the world of George Washington to the inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt with various stops along the way, and we follow that with several songs and tunes that in one way or another seem to offer fitting post-2020 election perspectives and hopes. Then, in the second half of the show we offer musical birthday cards for Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Burns.

Into '21: Moving Forward (and Looking Back) Turning the calendar page to a new year provides an irresistible moment for moving ahead (and looking back). On this week's show we do that through songs and tunes – some new and a few from the distant past -- that in various ways consider the delights and challenges of change and being on the move. We also save some time in the second half of our show for a set of old and new animal songs as well as an assortment of pieces about season's turning celebrations from Scotland and England.

Seasonal Celebrations: Finding the Light Through Long Dark Nights As we approach the longest night of the year, move through the holiday season, and head on toward the dawn of a new year, in this week's Song Parlor we've assembled a cornucopia of seasonal songs and tunes old and new!

Moving From November to December in Pandemic Post-Election Times + A Bite to Eat & a Jog Around Scotland for St. Andrews Day This week's show begins with three sets of songs and tunes – many from new or recent releases – that in one way or another seem appropriate as November slides into December in this drawn-out pandemic and post-election season. Then, later on, we'll take time for a bit of food-related stuff, including a new (old) recipe and some gravy, before heading off for a jog around Scotland in honor of St. Andrews Day.

Some Conversations in November After a long and tumultuous election season, this week's show brings together a bunch of songs and tunes that might be thought of as an extended musical November conversation – a number of pieces that seem to offer opportunities for oblique commentary on the events taking place around us, a few songs about our dreams of freedom and justice and the challenges we face, several songs for the season (as days grow short and birds take flight), and, finally, several bits of advice -- including a call for the music of healing.

Deeper Into Autumn – Toward Halloween & Election Day As the calendar inexorably leads us deeper into autumn and Halloween draws near, this week in the Song Parlor we start out with a few spooky encounters (old and new), follow up with some songs and tunes that come to mind as Election Day approaches (including reminders to vote), and finish off with more music for the fall season as we move on into late October and November.

Our Times (Old & New) -- & Some Moon Songs This week our opening sets feature recent songs and tunes (with a few older pieces stirred in along the way) that address issues with which we wrestle in 2020 – the ongoing struggle for social and racial justice in America, trying to navigate our way through various pandemic problems, managing environmental and political challenges, and so on. Then, later on, since this October opened with a Harvest Moon and will end with the arrival of the Hunter Moon, it seemed only fitting to save a little time for some Moon songs.

Mail, Flames, Hopes & Dreams This week we start out with a musical visit with Uncle Sam's Postman (a tempting topic with the challenges of mail-in voting so much in the news these days). Later on, we move on to several sets of songs and tunes that explore other contemporary issues (and their background), many of them centering around the environmental challenges that are so apparent as fires rage through the American West.

Late Summer Issues & Memories . . . & Going Fishing This week we start out with a few mostly new or recent songs that speak to aspects of our season as we head into September 2020. After that, a few late-Summer memories – and then we're off to go fishing (and we'll encounter several mermaids along the way).

From Dog Days of August to Thoughts of Flowers This week's show carries us from the Dog Days of August to some Thoughts About Flowers (mainly from the British Isles) with stops in between to hear a number of pieces, many from new and recent releases that somehow seem to speak to this extraordinary summer season. Along the way, we save a few minutes for several songs by Michael Smith, the great songwriter who died early in August.

Summer Scenes & Songs This week's show features a varied assortment of songs and tunes involving summertime thoughts and activities – starting with a few memories and dreams, then moving on to encounters with some pesky critters that tend to make their appearance in the summertime. Later on, after a couple of sets that sample several new and recent releases, we'll finish off with a few summertime rambles through England and Scotland.

Singing Our Times, Celebrating a Birthday, Off to a Dance This week's show begins with several recent releases that in various ways speak to the challenges and hopes of our times. Then we move on to a couple of sets honoring Woody Guthrie, the great chronicler of American life who was born on July 14, 1912. After that, a quick musical excursion that with help from several new releases carries us around much of the world, before we finish off with a few pieces that take us to dances in Wales and England.

Down the River/To Waterloo & Beyond In late June, it really seems like time to get outdoors, so this week in the Song Parlor we're spending much of our time with songs and tunes that take us out on a river -- before finishing off with a few pieces than in one way or another evoke thoughts of Napoleon Bonaparte and carry us on to Waterloo and beyond.

Free & Equal Blues, Our Times, & Some Family Connections In the wake of the anguish, turmoil, and waves of protest that have followed the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, this week's show begins with two sets of songs that seek to offer musical perspective on racial injustice and the struggle for civil rights, justice, and equality over the past 80 years or so. Then we move on to a set of new releases that in one way or another seem right for the times and season, before finishing off with several pieces that showcase strong family connections.

Old Dreams. New Visions and Getting Through Hard Times in the Spring In this week's mini-edition of the Song Parlor, we start out with a set drawn from new releases that offer an assortment of old dreams, new visions, and community-building affirmations. After that, a few songs, old and new, that explore some challenges and possible responses to hard times and unemployment. And, finally, we finish off with several songs and tunes that feature springtime thoughts and memories.

Getting Out? . . . Planting Seeds . . . Sailing With (& Remembering) Pete This week's mini edition of the Song Parlor begins with a set that features pieces to help us move from self-isolation indoors to reentry into the world outside and then on to Springtime planting. After that, a set to honor and remember Pete Seeger, a great sower of the seeds of peace and justice – and a creative champion of generations of sailors singing out for clean and golden rivers.

Getting Exercise in Home Sweet Home – and Riding the (Fantasy) Range With millions of families spending their time working from home and sheltering in place, keeping physically active can definitely be a challenge – and imagining being somewhere else might often seem appealing. So this week's mini-edition of the Song Parlor brings together several songs and tunes that offer opportunities for getting exercise in Home Sweet Home -- and we follow that with a set that involves riding the (fantasy) range.

Climbing Up Through Trials, Imagined Rambles, & Journeys Home As we all try to move as gracefully as we can through this extraordinary time and hang together in spite of the ongoing necessity of “social distancing,” here's another mini-edition of the Song Parlor to encourage us along the way, one step at a time. . . . Now for a little walk and a couple of other tasks, then on to the audio. . . .

A Few Songs & Thoughts for This April Here's a new Song Parlor mini-session that brings together a few songs and tunes and thoughts to help us through this extraordinary April. Hope you guys have managed to get outside on this genuinely Spring-like day!

Here's a Song Parlor mini-session to help us through social distancing and difficult Coronavirus times.

Flu? + Stepping into March & Looking Toward St. Patrick's Day Since the spread of the coronavirus has been so much on our minds, it seemed only fitting to start this week's show with a few pieces about the flu and various other health-related conditions. Then, as we move on into March, several new and recent releases that include songs and tunes for the season seemed irresistible. Later on, in the second half of the show, we'll celebrate the approach of St. Patrick's Day with several sets of pieces with Irish connections.

Mid-February Feelings + Ballads Old & New This week we begin with a couple of sets of songs and tunes – mainly from new or recent releases – that in one way or another seem to capture this year's mid-February mood. Then we move on to a bunch of big ballads – including several versions of a classic American tale, plus a number of pieces (some comic, some tragic) that offer variants of stories from long ago that are included in Francis James Child's monumental collection, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads -- along with one recent ballad that unfolds a powerful contemporary tale.

Groundhogs, Trials & Love This week, as we head into February, we begin with a few groundhog-related pieces + a couple more involving controversies surrounding the current occupant of the oval office -- along with several songs about moving on in challenging times. After that, with Valentine's Day looming on the horizon, we focus mainly on songs and tunes related to courtship, love and constancy – taking us eventually on a musical journey with brief stops in Sweden, Scotland & England.