John Dios and Jessica meditate on mortality and the First Sorrowful Mystery in the time of the extremely real pandemic. Featuring Br. B, a friendly handyman, Gabriel, Eleanor, and music by John, Wafers 3D, and Bri of Many Rooms.

THE HOLY AGONY 001 - YOU'RE GONNA DIE (The Feast of Saint Justin, Martyr)

John and Jess do the work of honoring their fathers. Featuring @_artistsrifles, @plainte_calme, Br. B, @token_blue, music by Wafers 3D (https://wafers3d.bandcamp.com/) with a guest appearance by the Dios kids.

THE HOLY AGONY 002 - FATHER, WORKER, TERROR OF DEMONS (The Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker)

Jessica & John experience miraculous visions while trying to understand the mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ. Featuring music by @plainte_calme, @carmelittles, and Wafers 3D

THE HOLY AGONY 003 - IF IT'S A SYMBOL, TO HELL WITH IT! (The Feast of Corpus Christi)

ON FALSE GODS: Join John Dios and friends for the official Holy Agony midsummer's eve party. Among the guests who stop by to throw false idols into the bonfire are @danXthrall and @CultWineGrinch. Featuring original music by Mike G (https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/3UDTA).

THE HOLY AGONY: DE FALSIS DEIS (ON FALSE GODS): The John Dios Midsummer Holiday Special

"And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars"

-The Apocalypse of Saint John, Chapter 12

Featuring Br. B, @TaraAnnThieke, @plainte_calme, @briesslewis, @_selfoptimizer, music by Wafers 3D.

THE HOLY AGONY 004 - THE WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN (The Feast of Our Lady's Assumption)

Jessica and John turn the sword on themselves and declare war on that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, enlisting Saint Michael and a heavenly host:

@jitotweets [12:24] 
@danXthrall [28:48]
@_artistsrifles  [33:45]
Br. B [51:18]
@cmmorris95 [1:04:06]
@StilNotHavin_It [1:06:02]
@nealjclark1 [1:09:00]

Original music:

Mike G (https://soundcloud.com/meet-the-griswolds)
Carmelittles (https://carmelittles.bandcamp.com/)
Modern Life (https://modernlifemusic.bandcamp.com/album/center-of-your-own-universe)
Gabe (@plainte_calm)

THE HOLY AGONY 005 - DEFEND US IN BATTLE (The Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel)

In this very special crossover episode John and Jessica pray for the poor souls in purgatory and make a visit to THE PERFUME NATIONALIST where they meditate on the four last things (Death, Judgement, Heaven, Hell)with Jack (@lotus__point) and Orant (@0rt_nt_per). Music is a full original setting of the latin requiem mass by John Dios.

The full conservation with Jack and Ortant can be found at: https://theperfumenationalist.libsyn.com/

Featuring poetry by Hayden (@ghostofolson) a Psalm reading by Elanor (@follyb4god)
and remembrances by @ofvalleypeople, @joshuaofgr, Fr. John Maria Devaney. Eulogy for Ry written by @tintagelpot, read by @lapsedheretic

THE HOLY AGONY 006 - REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE DUST (The Feast of All Souls)

John Dios explains the meaning of the Christmas to his kids during a walk through the woods of Southern New England, then brings them to the mall where he slips into a hallucinatory reverie and is visited by the many ghosts of Christmas Twitter. After attaining MANDATORY JOLLINESS, the Dios Family returns home to a small town Christmas Tree lighting and musical finale.

THE HOLY AGONY: MANDATORY JOLLINESS: The John Dios Family Christmas Special

1) Intro: Nightfisher's Waltz (Northern Friends)
2) The River
3) Wreck on the Highway
4) If This Place Were any Worse it Would Be Worcester
5) Section 8 Blues
6) Old Saint James
7) Lonesome Whistle
8) South Hadley
9) Seasons of My Heart
10) Saint Anne's Reel
11) Tears of Saint Anne
12)Swamp Yankee Rose
13) Gethsemane 
14) Bonne Nuit, Roseline
15) Outro: Nightfisher's Waltz (Adolphe)

Northern Swing (Rough Cut)

Daughters, fathers, forgiveness.

Featuring @nealjclark1, @dragonkazooie, @big_papi33, @AnarContrarian, @tuna_ape

"Your baby grows a tooth, then two,
and four, and five, then she wants some meat
directly from the bone.  It's all

over: she'll learn some words, she'll fall
in love with cretins, dolts, a sweet
talker on his way to jail.  And you,

your wife, get old, flyblown, and rue
nothing.  You did, you loved, your feet
are sore.  It's dusk.  Your daughter's tall."

EP001 - A Little Tooth/Tender Mercies

"New England begins at the pines and ends at the tundra. New England is the first America, the best America. New England is my home."

Featuring (in order of appearance): 

John Dios & Family (@fibromyalgiadad)- ON THE DEFINITION OF NEW ENGLAND
Boiltowl (@nealjclark1)- ON THE YOKEL 
Going Godward (@goinggodward)- A SOUTHERNER'S IMPRESSION OF NEW ENGLAND
Scratchy (@scratchyjohnson) - ON YANKEE UNFRIENDLINESS
Mike (@LombardTrucking) - ON SUMMERS IN MAINE
Robbie (@ActiveShootrRob) - ON LIVING FREE AND DYING
The Cloutier Women - ON THE FRENCH DIASPORA
@thallasocrat - ON POACHING TROUT
Mike (pt. 2) - ON THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY MUSIC SCENE
Blake - ON THE HIPPIES OF BRATTLEBORO
Anarcho-Contrarian (@AnarContrarian)- ON THE OLD-TIMERS
Mrs. Dios - ON SWAMP YANKEES

EPO02:  Take Heart, Northern Friends Pt. 1 (An Appeal to God)

Take heart, friend
LIFE does not end
It’s only yours that can

LIFE is forever
An unfrozen river 
Whose tedious tides end and begin

Featuring (in order of appearance): @Det_Wolfman @MartianOrthodox @luso_brendan @twistall @briesslewis @nealjclark1, (Refrain by @nealjclark1)

EP003 -  Endless Sleep (Sometimes I Swear That Man is Out to Get Me)

Family & friends join me in the swamps of New England for song, cheer and DEEP DARK CRINGE. Warm up with us by the fire on the darkest day of the year.

Featuring @AnarContrarian @luso_brendan @joeclark @habit_of_being @HOLYFOOLS_2666 @ActiveShootrRob @roseanneluver18 @nealjclark1 @RizomaAt and MANY MORE.

EP004 - A Swamp Yankee Christmas Special (MANDATORY JOLLINESS 2022)

A tribute to the Queen of New England Country, the French-Canadian Kitty Wells. Colonel Parker offered her fame and fortune and she refused, returning to Lewiston to raise her children and work in a shoe factory. 

Featuring long-unavailable recordings and forgotten interviews.

EP005 - The Queen of Lewiston (A TRIBUTE TO BETTY CODY)

The original radio drama by John Dios that spawned THE HOLY AGONY and Cathedral in the Pines. A psychedelic telling of Our Lord's passion in musical form.

LENTEN RE-BROADCAST: Passiontide '65

"When I awoke, the dire wolf
Six hundred pounds of sin
Was grinning at my window
All I said was, 'Come on in'"

In this episode, we ask the HIPPY question.

Featuring John Dios, Lafayette Lee, WaysYouCanStay, Poetry by Donald read by Ashley Rizoma, Mimi Stockland, Matt Himes, Patrick Rizoma, Nate, and Neal Boiltowl.

EP006 - The Dire Wolf Collects His Due (ON HIPPIES)

From the parade to the bonfire, from Maine to Memphis, John and friends spend the long holiday weekend talking about God and country. It's summertime in America, and the living's easy! Hurrah for the Glorious Fourth!

Featuring (in order of Appearance): @LombardTrucking, @RealJohnDios, @WaysYouCanStay, GORD THE TRUCKER, @cmmorris95, Billy, @joeclark, @RizomaSchool, @nealjclark1, @RizomaAt, @RolandGunnTN, and Mimi Stockland.

EP007 - It's Summertime in America (And the Living's Easy)

John and Emile drive to midnight mass, and as they struggle to stay awake they are visited through the car radio by three spirits of New England Christmas past : THE GAELIC, THE GARLIC, AND THE GALLIC.

EP008 - MANDATORY JOLLINESS 2023: The Gaelic, the Garlic and the Gallic

In this episode we attempt to silence the nay-sayers and sweet tea-swillers south of the Mason-Dixon with a deep dive into the unique world of Yankee country music. Take heart, Northern Friends...The Baron, Lone Pine, Betty Cody, and Hillbillies at Harvard await!

1) Dick Curless - Ragged but I'm Right featuring Lenny Breau (1956)

2) Hal Lone Pine and Betty Cody - Keep Your Shirt on John (1953) 
3) Betty Cody - The Way you Treated Me (1978)
4) Tina Welch - Keep an Eye Out for Charlie (1977)
5) Rick Robinson and the Bayou Boys - One Drink Closer to Heaven (Live at the Loudon Country Hall 1980)
6) Lucky Look - Bangor Bound off These Tears I cry (1973)

7) Reel de Ste-Anne - Isidore Soucy (1950?)
8) Aida Est Une Rogue/Coast of Maine - Trail Riders, Don Calvi & Tumbleweed Kid (1950)
9) Charlie Bailey and his Happy Valley Boys - Darling Nelly Across the Sea (1956)
10) Ralph Page Trio - Darling Nelly Gray, contra dancing version recorded 1950
11) Betty Cody - I Yodel All Day Long (1978)
12) Stompin Tom Connors - The Canadian Lumberjack - Bud the Spud (1973)
13) Yodeling Slim Clark - A Cowboy Takes a Square Dance (1951)

14) Al Hawkes - Everybody's Waiting (1975)
15) Al Hawkes & Fred Pike - Downeast Guitar Pickin Man (1980)
16) Les Seevers and the Oaks - Wooden Angels (1958)
17) Curtis Johnson - Baby Baby (1957)
18) Ricky Coyne - Little Darleen (born in Boston) (1959)

19) Wendell Austin and the Country Swings - LSD (1968)
20) Hal Lone Pine and Betty Cody - Pale Moon (1953)
21) John Lincoln Wright (as Pine Tree John and the Designated hitters) - The Red Sox Song (1976)
22) Larry Flint with the Sour Mash Boys - It's Lonely in Braintree With You In Methuen; It's Almost like living in Lowell (1977)
23) Dick Curless - Tater Raisin Man (1965)

24) Dick Curless - Loser's Cocktail (1971)

EP009 - Never Been North of Bangor (New England Country Music Showcase)

The Cathedral in the Pines Radio Hour broadcasts on the WSYN Radio Network at 162.525 Megahertz from the summit of Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

Popular tracks by Cathedral in the Pines