The Little Engine That Could is a gritty, roots-driven anthem of perseverance and determination. Inspired by the timeless children’s story, this track reimagines the uphill climb as a real-life struggle — a fight to reach the summit against all odds. With rolling Americana grooves, a touch of outlaw country grit, and heartfelt storytelling, the song paints the picture of a small but determined engine pulling its weight (and everyone else’s) toward the gold at the mountaintop.

It’s a story for dreamers, builders, and fighters — anyone who’s ever been told “you can’t” and proved them wrong. The Cedar Knob backdrop gives the narrative a real-world anchor, a symbol of the ultimate goal that’s worth every ounce of coal and every mile of track.

The Little Engine that Could

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Electric Dad - Front Porch Dub [FREE DL]

What a joy it is to have festival season upon us once agin!  Sure, any time of the year is good for going to concerts and rejoicing in the ability of our species to extract pleasing (and sometimes emotionally bracing) sounds from all manner of objects, including their own voices.  But there is something special about summer music festivals.  As we lay out our blankets on warm grass or struggle to set up our lawn chairs, ever joyful in the sun and mildly grumpy in the rain, gathering as a community of music lovers.  (And why do I see that same old guy with the tie dyed shirt and white straw fedora at every festival?  Maybe that old guy is me...?)   So this week, I'm playing tracks from artists I saw this past weekend at the Celtic Festival in Goderich, ON, a lovely community-infused, human-scale festival with dandy music.  

I'll play songs and tunes about larks, meadows, false lovers, long houses, midnight robbers, birthdays, police requests, wild nights, Christmas Day weddings, the coming of spring, and transatlantic proposals.  From musicians such as The Kane Sisters, Fiárock, Rachel Davis & Darren McMullen, Conor Mallon, Grosse Isle, and Rachel Hair & Ron Jappy.  Get out the patchouli incense and join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 379 2025 08 14

Heart’s My Kingdom is an earthy, festival-ready world fusion anthem. It blends the mountain soul of Appalachian Americana jamband roots, the warmth of soulful R&B, the color of smooth jazz horns, the pulse of world rhythmic percussion, and the fire of psychedelic funk guitar.

This track crowns the listener with rhythm — love not as city polish, but as a river, a mountain, and a kingdom built on soul. With wide jam sections, it’s designed for live improvisation under the stars.

Heart’s My Kingdom

Lake Natron is an instrumental soundscape that channels the eerie stillness and spiritual mystery of Tanzania’s blood-red salt lake. Known for its calcifying waters that preserve animals like stone sculptures, Lake Natron holds a paradoxical energy — deathly and haunting, yet profoundly beautiful.

The music mirrors that duality: deep drones form the lake’s ominous undercurrent, while desert blues guitar bends and Appalachian fiddle phrases trace the fragile outlines of life and memory. Percussion is sparse and ritualistic, echoing like distant thunder across glassy surfaces. Layers of synth shimmer reflect the lake’s mirrored waters, pulling the listener into a trance of both dread and wonder.

As part of Songs of the Sacred Earth, this track becomes a meditation on time suspended — a reminder that even in silence and stillness, the Earth carries songs of power, reflection, and transformation.

Lake Natron (Tanzania)

Whispers of the Lake is an instrumental meditation that captures the mystery and stillness of a sacred waterscape. The piece flows with subtle textures — drones that hover like mist, gentle guitar lines that ripple like reflections, and light percussion that echoes like footsteps along a silent shore.

Rather than movement or climax, this track is built around presence. The instruments breathe in open space, speaking in hushed tones as if carried by the wind across water. Each note drifts and fades, leaving silence as part of the composition, creating a soundscape where the listener can hear what lies beneath the surface.

It is not a song of declaration, but of invitation — an offering of atmosphere, mood, and spirit. Whispers of the Lake evokes the quiet power of still water at twilight, where voices seem to rise from the depths and dissolve into air, leaving behind a sense of reflection and awe.

Whispers of the Lake

Desert Mirage is an journey that drifts between illusion and reality, echoing the trance-like visions born from heat and silence. Where Whispers of the Lake and Lake Natron move with watery reflection, Desert Mirage carries the listener into arid vastness — a soundscape of shifting sands, wavering horizons, and hidden spirits that appear and vanish like smoke.

Built on deep drones and hypnotic percussion, the track weaves desert blues guitar bends with Appalachian fiddle cries, blending roots with mysticism. Subtle synth textures ripple like heat waves, while the rhythm locks into a steady trance groove that pulls the ear forward. Every layer is both real and unreal — a melody that rises only to dissolve back into haze.

At its heart, Desert Mirage is a meditation on perception: the line between what is seen, what is felt, and what is imagined. It extends the journey of Songs of the Sacred Earth into the endless desert, reminding us that sometimes the truth lies in the shimmer, not the stone.

Desert Mirage

"what'll it be, fellas?" ahh beat

Lyrics: Jore
Music: Suno

Karskin miehen ilon pitoon kuuluu karhunraudat,
Kaksi viikkoo vapaata, rynkky, juoksuhaudat
Viinaa pari korillista, iltaisin ois sauna
Autollinen kavereita, poissa kaikki kauna 
(Juu saunaan mentäis! Ilman muuta!)

Kukaan mies ei käyttelisi harjaa taikka luutaa
Kuntosali, oma järvi, saisi paljon huutaa
Desibelimittarikin pikku kisaa varten
Juomanlaskijoina pieni joukko kaunotarten 
(Aah, kauniita naisia!)

Siksi emme keskitykään nyt moiseen turhuuteen
Iloa voit löytää satsaamalla vanhuuteen
Menet vapaaehtoiseksi hoitolaitokseen
Kuulet sekohorinoita päivästä toiseen
(Joo, horinoita, jee)

Ilonpitoa - Jore w/Suno

A letter to Gaza from Appalachia.  Pictured is Razan Al Najjar, a nurse and medic who was killed while tending to the wounded and trying to help others.

Track features banjo and guitar and vocals by me, minus live drum tracks which at this time are only played for live shows.  Original everything else.  I hope you listen deeply, close your eyes and feel.  Go there in your mind, and send a prayer each time you listen or dance.

Razan

Song of Cedar Knob

It's another day on the range here at Routes & Branches & Beyond.  Saddle up and join us for Atlantic Coast blues, middle-aged musicians playing tues from the Middle Ages, Donegal neo-pioneers, the dark soul of Americana, the community of Klezmer, Ukrainian nu-folk from former street buskers, Estonean accordian-driven folk orchestras, bluegrass from the Cloak and Dagger, Cape Verdean island blues, Appalachian friends, everyday kindnesses, and Venezuelan harp from Newfoundland.  All from musicians such as Altan, Hot Toddy, Ensemble Anonymus, Mary Gauthier, Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, Ludy Dobri, Tuulelõõtsutajad, The Barrel Boys, Gabriela Mendes, Si Kahn, Joël Fafard, and Gayle Tapper.  Get your sunglasses and join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 382 2025 09 04

What do windy mornings, farmer's daughters, shepherd lads, lemon trees, hedgehogs, beau gallants, shetland reels and the end of summer have in common?  All are on this episode of Routes & Branches & Beyond.  It is now the dozenth show of our Summer on the Range series for 2025.  (I'm not sure if "dozenth" is a word, but I trust that you'll let that slide through.)  To help us with this, we have music from Rawlins Cross, Skye Consort & Emma Björling, Heidi Talbot, Daoirí Farrell, Njacko Backo & Kalimba Kalimba, David Celia, Dave Swarbrick, Old Blind Dogs, Capercaillie, Heron Valley, Les Mechants Maquereaux, and Silly Wizard.  Pack up those cricket bats and join me.


Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 384 2025 09 18

Original song featuring samples of Nimrod Workman, a coal mining Appalachian folk singer from Kentucky, USA.  Track includes original banjo by me and sound design in Ableton with a few other gadgets here and there.

Throughout his coal mining career, Workman was active in union politics and United Mine Workers of America organizing. In 1920–1921 he worked alongside the union activist Mary Harris "Mother" Jones in West Virginia, and participated in the Battle of Blair Mountain uprising. In later years, he advocated on behalf of black lung victims, and was able to receive union compensation for his own health problems in 1971.

This track was created for debut live at the All Souls Music event November 1, 2025 exclusive collaborative performance with headliner DrumSpyder

Oh, Death

The first song made by a young Appalachian artist AA with k3mpah1. 

Way Back Home

This week on "Routes & Branches & Beyond," we acknowledge the season with a show called "Songs of Turkey and Pumpkins... and Beyond." I have tunes for turkeys (the bird) that are blythesome, with an Irish swagger, or a gypsy jazz finish. I have tracks from Turkey (the country), including a band whose members have been arrested over 400 times (must be some kind of a dubious record), as well as the Paul Anka of Turkey. Songs of pumpkins, both frosty and funky. Also, an Algerian version of a Clash song that was likely inspired by Algerian music (did you follow that?). And electric ceilidh music, Swedish fiddle music to cook to, and celtic-american songs about bad news at the best of times. Whew! All from musicians such as Máire ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman, The Albion Band, The Foggy Hogtown Boys, Ian Tamblyn, The Shuffle Demons, Grup Yorum, Mustafa Sandal, Rachid Taha, Random, Plommon, Maura O’Connell, and Joe Craven.   Join us.

Routes & Branches & Beyond for 2025 10 02

Here's my soulful rendition of the Crowbar Classic PLANETS COLLIDE

Planerts Collide (Crowbar Acoustic)

This site can be seen as a musical tale of the members of the band called The Mescaline Smugglers: Davy McGowan, Jore Heikkila and Tuomas Laitila. But it also includes their other bands, and bands in which they play together in different combinations or solo projects, before and after The Mescaliners. Listen to one track a day and maybe you'll have heard everything after 5 or 6 years. That should make you feel better - money back guarantee!

You Will Really Like This Guy

Join my discord! https://discord.gg/wCNjRw9q9h

Currently a solo project, only recording music. I’m looking for anyone in the Morgantown, WV /Pittsburgh, PA area to fill out a live band to start playing live. 
Check out my YouTube page for more URSUS related content. 
https://youtube.com/channel/UC_NHQB_hekqxpUpYV9fQruw

formerly megaloler
producing since april 2025

New tracks tagged #appalachian