Here's a skill testing question for you: about what percentage of the beef that is eaten in Newfoundland and Labrador comes from the province?  What do you think?  A quarter?  Less?  A tenth?  More?  I don't want to spoil the suspense for you, so for the answer you'll have to listen in to this week's "Fit to Eat: the NL Farm and Food Show,"  We meet Nelson Fagan Jr., of Foxtrap, Conception Bay South, who is doing his part every day in inching that statistic a bit higher.  We talk about tradition, land, pastures, the lure of farming, alt-meats, building a client base one door-knock at a time, beef genetics, the bright future for agriculture in the province, and beyond.  Pull up a bale of hay and join us.

Fit To Eat S2E10 Nelson Fagan

Here’s a question for you - If large numbers of us consumers want the taste and health benefits of wild foods, how can farmers replicate the growing conditions that such wild species require, on a large scale?  Take wild blueberries for an example.  In a natural forest, fire is a way to regenerate, to remove, to cleanse, to prompt new growth, including new and more productive blueberry patches.  But in today’s landscape, and with urban sprawl, working with nature to grow blueberries can be fraught with challenges.

Today we talk with Mark Bowering of Walsh’s blueberries about the challenges and joys of working with nature to produce wild blueberries.  He and his partners are helping to build a food sector that clearly fits our environment and landscape and climate.  A product and pastime that is deeply embedded within this province’s culture.  You see, waiting beneath the boreal forest lays a huge potential for blueberry growth, as long as we can grasp the unique strategy that nature has designed – to burn our way to food production.  

In early February Mark Bowering and I had planned to get together to chat about blueberry farming, maybe even walk a few of his fields.  But making this show is often as reliant on weather as food production itself is… there was an ice storm the morning we’d planned to meet up.  So we pivoted, and I fired up the steam generator to get the Zoom machinery grinding into action.  And a good story is a good story, whether it is told in a blueberry field or over a soulless computer screen.  Fire up your own machinery, and join us.

Season 3 of Fit to Eat is supported by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.

Fit To Eat S3E26 Mark Bowering

"It is best to start how you want to go on," as the saying goes.  Or it is something like that anyways.  I remember wise old folks saying it to me (in particular), though I never paid enough attention to catch the wording exactly-like.  I was neither wise nor old at the time.  But I guess the point was to, early on, set your directions and DO NOW what you want to end up doing.  At least that's what I took it to mean.  So much for the long, gradual process.  (By the way, don't bother letting me know if I was wrong - it's worked for me so far, and I don't find a need to re-jig my interpretation at this late date.)

Well, I love to do shows that ramble around different styles.  So it made sense to me to start out this Next New Year with a set of shows on January Rambles.  This episode of Routes & Branches & Beyond is the first of four such sets of Rambles.

You'll hear astounding sibling tunesmiths, a rather laconic b'y, ballad writers writing about ballad writers, the glories of work (as seen by folksingers), Big Land anthems, gothic chamber folk, Canadian bluegrass from the last century, everyday Hebridean lads, hand-picked guitar pickers, torch fiddle, the banks of Newfoundland (not TD or BMO or RBC, etc....), and a Venezuelan- Senegalese harp duo.  All from musicians like Qristina & Quinn Bachand, Ian F. Benzie, Lennie Gallant, John Wort Hannam, Rum Ragged, Harry Martin, Trapezoid, Heartbreak Hill, the Vatersay Boys, Gunning & Cormier, Anne Lindsay, The Punters, and Kadialy Kouyate & Leonard Jacome.  Stop looking at the new calendar and join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 308 2024 01 11

It is not uncommon to hear people talk about the important relationships that can be built between humans and non-human animals – often they are mammals, but there are a few fish fanciers and bird lovers out there as well.  And that isn’t even taking into consideration the folks who have developed endearing connections to plants.  The argument is that we clearly benefit from close relationships with non-humans.  It isn’t just pets, but there are a host of businesses doing horseback riding for folks with particular challenges, or goat yoga for those who find such things calming.  And I’ve also heard about tourist farms that let you hang out with a cow for awhile, just to get the blood pressure down.  Yours, that is.  Can’t tell about the cow, exactly.  Well, my guest today understands all about that.  He finds great comfort in being around his cattle.  As he told me at one point “cows just live in the moment; we all need to be just like cows; they don’t worry about where their food’s coming from tomorrow; they just eat the grass in front of them, and lay down.”

Today we are in Central Labrador, at Aldercroft Farm.  If you take Highway 520 out of Happy Valley Goose Bay, heading toward Sheshatshiu and North West River, and you take the correct turnoff, you may come across a herd of Scottish Highland Cattle.  You’ll want to get your camera out for that.  They are very photogenic.  I meet up with Darren Dinsmore.  He loves farming, and especially appreciates cattle, and has made it his mission to build a farm, and a herd of cattle, here in Labrador.  And speaking of missions, he is also a Pastor.  At some point, I’ll likely ask him about the connection between those two roles.  Here, put on some bear grease for the bugs, and join us.


Fit to Eat S4E6 Darren Dinsmore

This is a reprise edition of Routes & Branches & Beyond from four years ago - just at the end of the pandemic.  Remember that?  Regular programs resume in early July.

Remember those things we called "concerts"...? Remember the musicians on stage, with bright lights, eager audiences, and feedback from the sound system which came from trying to balance a harp and a bagpipes on the same stage? Yes, they are slowly coming back. Glory be! To hasten their arrival, "Routes & Branches & Beyond" has a series of shows, with tracks that were recorded live at festivals and concerts, called "Remember Concerts?" Join me for episode 1, with music from Beoga, Les Batinses, La Bottine Souriante, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, the Amsterdam Klezmer Band, the String Sisters, Capercaillie, the Blue Sky Boys, Calan and more. Join us. Just show us your wristband and you're in!

Routes & Branches & Beyond for 2025 06 12

In the middle of a hot day, a normal human body starts to close down - to protect key organs.  Kind of like when your laptop decides to upgrade right before that big cofernece presentation!  In some cultures, there is an attempt to ignore the body's pleas for rest, and people strive to produce at the same level as always.  On the other hand, in many civilized coutnries they close down for several hours every mid-day during the hot season, or sometimes massive numbers of workers take 4 or 6 weeks off during the hottest months.  So here on Routes & Branches & Beyond we are observing these laws of the universe by relaxing into our Summer on the Range series.

Today I'll have Atlantic Canadian moose avoidance fiddles, Irish poteen anthems, nordic folk noir, Danish world travelling music, bagpipe-driven blues, pleas for peace from the voice of the 60s, odes to the transfixing solitudes of northern Ontario, heart-wrenching Latinex love ballads and Scottish dance club jigs.  All from musicians such as Mark Sullivan,Viik,Baltinget,Altan,Back Alley John, Joan Baez, Hart Rouge, Rodney Brown & the Northern Roots Band, Maná, and Capercaillie.  Set up that hammock and join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 375 2025 07 17

And all of a sudden we are here in mid-summer.  We are now remembering to wear sunscreen everyday, and to pay close attention to the humidex readings and mabe already are counting the number of 30-degree days we'll still have to endure.  And maybe you're asking questions of the universe.  Like "when will my tomatoes start ripening" or "how is it that there are clouds, but not rain" or "why are the picnic tables at the park never in a shady spot" or "what will I listen to now that the record is over?"  I can't answer the first three questions, but I can help with that last one.  Just join me on this, the 377th episode of Routes & Branches & Beyond.

I have bagpipe fusion, Costa Rican reggae, women singing the blues (no doubt due to listening to too much "mansplaining") sensitive songwriters named Dave (who never "mansplain"), curious bluegrass riffs, explosive (in a good way) Canadian songstresses, Afto-Latin salsa, and session chestnuts for playing along.  All from musicians such as Rare Air, Baby Rasta Band, Native Culture, Suzie Vinnick, Tracy Nelson, David Francey, Dave Gunning, Eddie Adcock Band, Townes Van Zandt, Treasa Levasseur, Connie Kaldor, Ronald Rubinel’s Salsa Kolor, and Tim Thorne & Dave Weaver.   Keep that fiddle handy and join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 377 2025 07 31

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

Another weekend, another folk festival.  That's how the summer rolls here in paradise  as the days slowly get shorter and the future gets dimmer.  This week on Routes & Branches & Beyond I'm playing a very small slice of artists who I heard and saw at the 50th Summerfolk festival in Owen Sound, Ontario.  Now, I will admit a bit of a conflict of interest here.  Summerfolk has a particularly strong thread in my life as a festival.  I've attended off and on (but mostly on) over the past 45 years.  It is located not far from the homestead where I grew up; it is a festival where my kids experienced the joys of a weekend live music event; it is a touchpoint that I'd return to at the "end" of the year and the beginning of another.  (I was an academic, so my year always ended in August and rose from the ashes again in September.)  But it is a space, a geography, a tradition, a community - that tends to bring out the best in performers and all of us who attend.

You'll hear music from Ryan Young, Boreal, Al Simmons, Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Luke Wallace, Mary Frances Leahy, Kobo Town, Danny Michel, and The Barrel Boys.  Get out that lawn blanket and join me.


Routes & Branches & Beyond show #380 2025 08 21

Here on Routes & Branches & Beyond we continue with our series of "Summer on the Range."  Though, to be honest, there has been a nip in the air this past week, which portends that the end of another summer is imminent and we will soon be careening into autumn (my favourite season - well, one of my three favourite seasons).  I'm hoping that the cooler weather gives a message to my tomatoes and peppers to speed up and ripen while there is still some time to set their fruits and possible reproduce (so that I can tear those sweet and spicy fruits from their stems and imprison thm in jars for winter eating - it sounds a tad cruel when I put it like that, doesn't it?).  

Today we have precision Irish dual violins, Scottish bedlam, Newfoundland random jigs, Cape Breton twisty tunes, West Coast old-time odes to spiritual heroes, Quebecois fonctionnaire shanties, hybrid grand-yet-simple jigs, and the odd subliminal Buddhist koan.  All from musicians such as The Kane Sisters, The Dardanelles, Old Blind Dogs, Eric McDonald, Karine Polwart, Brenda Stubbert, Fish & Bird, Harry Manx, Bette & Wallet, Fásta, and Bill Heffernan.  Get a jacket and join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 381 2025 08 28

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

And the summer continues, here at Routes & Branches & Beyond!  This is episode 11 of "Summer on the Range," which you'll be excused for referring to as "the endless summer."  But there are just a couple more chances to ride the range before heading to more scripted theme shows.  So enjoy the freedom while you can.  I'll have stately morris marches, radically democratic folk rock, Eastern Ontario gopher fiddle, high-tech hoedowns, deperate pioneer Canadiana, west coast trombone revelry, geeky trad blues, post-communist Polish folk tunes, bittersweet country swing songs of relationship implosion (twice), and four Nordy lads with a Limerick lass.  From musicians such as Leveret, The Levellers, Gopher Baroque, Onion Honey, Yusef/Cat Stevens, Beoga, Oh Susanna, Chris Whiteley, Warsaw Village Band, Celtic Social Club, Arlen Roth, and Rick La Riviere and the Best Laid Plans.  Leave the salsa canning until tomorrow and join me.


RBB 383 2025 09 11

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

Yes, I'm that guy. You've likely seen me in used CD stores. That guy looking at the lower shelves where they keep the celtic material, or the shelves at the back where you need a ladder to get to the world music, or maybe that dusty shelf beside where the cat sits where they keep the bluegrass and appalachian material. Yes, I'm that old guy in the used CD stores. And today, on "Routes & Branches & Beyond" this is the first of three shows on what I've found on such neglected shelves over this autumn. There'll be Irish trad royalty, plooboy laddies, cluckin' old hens, Breton gavottes, jazzy folk laments, retrofitted chestnuts, stark European political klezmer, pig foot BBQ tips, Galician dance hall tunes, sublime concertina mastery, deep south Peterborough blues and new age buskers. From artists like The Bothy Band, Écosse, Joel Fafard, Dougie Maclean, Jean-Michel Veillon, Lily Come Down, Crabtree & Mills, Daniel Kahn & the Painted Bird, We Banjo 3, Marful, Noel Hill, Jackson Delta, Mark Knopfler and Nightnoise. Bring your curiousity and join us.

Routes & Branches & Beyond for 2025 09 25 from 252

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

Have you ever noticed that in many thrift stores the shelves of CDs are almost entirely inaccessible? They may be behind a table that is filled with extremely fragile glassware of no apparent function whatsoever. Or else they are on a bottom shelf in a corner where you'll need a flashlight and a magnifying glass to see the titles! If you think of the demographics of people who buy used CDs - old folks like me - they should display them at eye level near a bright light source!

Nevertheless, today on "Routes & Branches & Beyond" I have another crop of used CDs from this Autumn's harvests. There's Irish slippery sliding, Scottish fishwives, Newfoundland bakery shanteys, southern sad songs, Italian everlasting accordions, Sami yoik dancing, Cuban Convent jazz, wise old market women, cheesy chord organ swing, perilous gravel roads and cowboy songs of the Wild East. With bands like Matt Cranitch & Jackie Daly, Malinky, Dave Penny, Alison Kraus & Union Station, Filippo Gambetta, Moenje, Bomba!, Teresa Doyle, Arrandale, Steve Palmer, Horse Radio, Steve Dawson, Tom Leighton and Trio Dhoore. Don't look at the price, just join us.


Routes & Branches & Beyond for 2025 10 09

Time was, a city wasn't really a City until it had a good used CD store. I think it was a municipal regulation of some sort. The country was dotted with such stores. They were generally independents, set up by entrepreneurial types who cared more passionately for the music than for the strict clang of the cash register. They were little communities. Gathering places for both true believers and doubting searchers.

Alas, with the advance of late capitalism, most of these are gone. A few have survived as used book stores, some are back selling vinyl again. And a few remain. This week on "Routes & Branches & Beyond," I have another crop of music from such holdout stores. There's blistering bluegrass families, darkly hypnotic pre-radio sounds, Atlantic songwriter angst, american primitive guitar, modest Gaelic funk fusion, octave-spanning gymnastics, fanciful harps, Australian protest sentiments, neo-medieval branles, modal Irish guitar, gospel aeroplanes and the foreboding fiddles of post-Brexit times.

All featuring groups like the O’Connor Band, the Crooked Jades, Dave Gunning, John Fahey, Capercaillie, Yodelling Slim Clark, Maeve, Eric Bogle, Skarazula, Bob MacLean, Old Crow Medicine Show, the Watersons and Lankum. There's room for all - c'mon along.



Routes  & Branches & Beyond 2025 10 16

Given the time of the year at the moment in the land where I live, I am focussing on "Honouring the Spirits." I play songs and tunes that refer to that ethereal dimension. I have piano-driven Irish soul, exhibitionist celtic pagan spirituality, Hebridean progressive trad, Oxfordian dance abandonment, a classic from the days when gospel met psychadelic rock and had a child, stewed tomatoes in a love march, an ode to the NL Ghost Rider (Joey Smallwood), high-octane bagpipe punk, exuberant blues positivity, and a remake of a grunge classic that smells like ... nap time.  All from musicians such as Oliver Schroer & The Stewed Tomatoes, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Hothouse Flowers, The Waterboys, Seelyhoo, Magpie Lane, Mike Ford, Tim O’Brien, Dropkick Murphys, Taj Mahal, Eric Bibb, and Rockabye Baby. Curious? Better listen then!

Routes & Branches & Beyond for 2025 10 23

Autumn is a grand time to ramble.  After all, you are much less likely to sweat, the bugs are fewer, there is the calming sound of walking through fallen leaves, there is the poignant sky that just makes you want to devote your life to do oil painting en plein aire, and it is a chance to walk off the excesses of the summer before the excesses of the solstice season begins.  So today on Routes & Branches & Beyond we start a series of Mid-Autumn Rambles.  I'll play iconic Irish, incomprehensible Gaelic, Calgary celtic, Australian convict heroes, Haligonian indie folk rock gets mellow, trans-Atlantic chamber folk, stormy Canadian pioneer odes, Quebec jazz d'hiver, tickles & kissing, and old greasy stringbands.  All from musicians such as Planxty, Annmarie O’Riordan, Fraid Knot,Nancy Kerr & James Fagan, Black Pool, Skye Consort & Emma Björling, Red Moon Road, Christine Tassan & Les Imposteures, Greg T. Brown & Jeremy Keddy, and Red Hen.  Set aside your doubts and join me.


Routes & Branches & Beyond show #385 2025 10 30

Indeed, we are now in the time of year here in Canada when our bodies start to crave root crops.  I'm not quite sure about the science of it all, but we seem to have evolved to yearn for the earthy goodness of beets and turnips and potatoes and parsnips and their ilk as the weather turns cold. 
And the sooner you give up resisting these cravings, the happier you will be as you stir your soup stocks.  And to assist you with that, here is another episode of Routes & Branches & Beyond (#386) with a set of mid-autumn rambles.  You'll hear songs and tunes about cold haily windy nights, ten penny bits, ladies & captains, sorrows away, Irish banks (the fishy kind), religious persuasion, shared beds, blarney pilgrims, and fair & faithful love.  From musicians such as Tüna, Eleanor Shanley, Clannad, Andy White, Cathie Ryan, The Poozies, Scott Macmillan & Colin Grant, Prairie Oyster, Brother, Steeleye Span,Tempest, Shirley Eikhard, and Paul Winter & Friends.  Turn the soup on low and join us.


Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 386 2025 11 06

How boring it must be to live in a land where the weather is the same almost every day.  Sun up and down at the same time, predictable rains (or droughts), and a mostly constant temperature throughout the year.  Those of us in what are called "temperate" regions may go to such predictable lands with constant climates for a brief time, but there is always relief in returning to a land that changes over the year, and even from day to day.  Leaves on the trees one day, the ground the next, and covered with snow the next, and so on...  Thus, today on Routes & Branches & Beyond we have a set of mid-autumn rambles.  You'll hear happy session tunes, intense ballads, languid hornpipes, quirky songs about frogs and mice, laments on the passing of time, foggy politics, rocking stars, fathers & sons, smooth jazz liberties, old school ties, North African blues, and Celtic harps.  

From musicians such as Sean Nua, Touchwood (Christine Crawley & Kerstein Blodig), Eileen Ivers, Miaghread & Triona ni Dhomhnaill & Donal Lunny, Nanci Griffith, Chieftains & Sinéad O’Connor, MacKeel, Cat Stevens, Strung-out Troubadours, Billy Bragg, Djélimady Tounkara, and Alan Stivell.  Let those leaves rake themselves and join me.


Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 387 2025 11 13

Here in my area we are in the midst of the race to change our tires to the snow-friendly variety before the roads get too icy.  The tire shops are busy and the lineups of last-minute motorists (such as myself) snake around the block.  Some of you ay scoff, saying "hey, I've got all-season tires, I'm fine!"  Fair enough, I'll be sure to watch out for you on the roads (and in the ditches).  As they say, an all-season tire is the same as a no-season tire.  But all of this puts me in the spirit of the season to have a few more mid-autumn rambles.  We'll listen to twisty tunes, soppy sentiments. brazen ballads, frank folkies, audacious Aussies, saucy sailors, fanciful fiddlers, quirky quebecois, peripatetic pickers and wrangly reels.  All from musicians such as Patrick Street, Cherish the Ladies, Reeltime, Mick Moloney, Gordie MacKeeman & His Rhythm Boys,  Redgum, Maggie Sansone & Sue Richards & Bonnie Rideout & Ensemble Galilei, Ray Legere, Labess, La ligue du Bonheur, Roy Forbes, and Steve Gilette & Cindy Mangsen.  You can change your snow tires later, join us.

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 388 2025 11 20

Ah, the allure of the recent, the novel, the new combination of old sounds, the joy of human creativity here in these days of the ascension of the bland authoritarian straightjacket of AI...  Yes, this week on Routes & Branches & Beyond we start a little series of music that is "Relatively New and Itching to be Heard."  I'll play frosty Manitoba fiddling, crispy cello-violin duets, barnstorming ballads, infectious free-reed verve, variable geometry ensembles,  and brand new nostalgic songs.  All from musicians such as Jocelyn Pettit & Ellen Gira, Scott Duncan, Michael Darcy & the Atlantic Tramps, Jane Cory & Kyle Burghout, Oktoecho, Sussex, and La Déferlance.  Join me here in this AI-free space, at least for now...

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 389 2025 11 27

You hear it every day down at the corner coffee shop.  A person comes in and is greeted by a couple of friends with "hey pussycat, what's new?"  Not "what's old and comfortable and well-worn?"  Or "what has been around for awhile, but you've just recently discovered it?"  No, they ask, "what is new?"  I'm as guilty as anyone to sometimes privilege the new over the old, even at my advanced age!  So on this episode of Routes & Branches & Beyond (#390), I have another set of music that is Relatively New and Itching to Be Heard.  If you've joined us before, you know the drill.  I'll have a bit of prog-trad, a touch of neo-cape-breton, a tad of quebecois acadian, a smattering of ottawa valley magic fiddles, a helping of haligonian harp, and a full dose of singer-songwriters.  From musicians like the Aerialists, Cassie and Maggie, Garçons à marier, The Fitzgeralds, Adrianna Ciccone & Ellen Gibling, Celtic Routes, The Southern Residents, and Scott Duncan.  Shine up those wireless ear buds and join me.


Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 390 2025 12 04

The thing I like about the celebrations at this time of year is that they are such a jumble of different origins and meanings and implications.  But somehow, a wide variety of people are able to get some meaning out of these times of celebration.  Here in the northern hemisphere, the rituals stretch back 4,000 years, give or take, with roots in various parts of the world - wherever humas were paying attention to the weather around them and the path of the sun and the earth.  Despite attempts by some to restrict or prohibit or outright condemn bits that they don't like, the modern celebrations of this time still bear the imprint of many cultures and worldviews.  Including yours, whatever it is.  Welcome to the world of humans and the ways that they make meaning out of their lives and experiences!  May it always be so.

So on this episode of Routes & Branches & Beyond (# 391), I have the first of a series called "The Season of Deep Winter Celebrations."  There are songs and tunes about wrens, colcannon, a million stars, solstice bells, joyous chimes, chimneys, rum, logging camps, and Christmas at the Ale House.  All from musicians such as Dordán, The Revels, The Irish Rovers, St. Agnes Fountain, A Winter Union, The Albion Christmas Band, Carollers from the Fountain in Ingbirchworth, Christine Tassan et les imposteurs, The Barra MacNeils, The Ennis Sisters, Kim Robertson & Virginia Kron, the Good Lovelies, Rum Ragged, and Tamarack.  Put down that holly and shortbread and join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 391 2025 12 11

One of the miracles of this time of year is that so many of the various traditions that continue to be celebrated all seem to arc toward radical hospitality, the sharing of one's goods, the overthrow of old and tired hierarchies of power, and the saving balm of community.  It is a tall order for a time of year when sunlight can be at a premium, at least where I experience life most years.  I trust that the miracles of this season of year continue to ring out and inspire and comfort.  So on this episode of Routes & Branches & Beyond, I have another set of music from deep winter celebrations.  There are frolics, bells, carols, wrens, merriment, burritos (not the fast food kind), winter wonders, and more wassailing than you can shake a snowshovel at.  All from musicians such as Horslips, Melrose Quartet, House of Doc, Lynn & Will Rowan, Kate Rusby, Jan Luna, Grupo Folklorico Navideño, Dan Crary, Brave Combo, Saffie, Maddy Prior & the Carnival Band, The O’Pears, The Clancy Brothers, The Once, Ricky Skaggs, and Simon Shaheen & friends.  Get yourself a hot drink and join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 392 2025 12 18

We are in the midst of a deliciously complicated ritual period here in the northern hemisphere.  Like many of you, I've had a variety of responses to this season over the rippled contours of my life.  But throughout, I've maintained an interest in the customs of the season.  Something like 50 years ago now I read the first (of many) books about the diverse roots of this season.  I was intrigued by the glorious drama and expansive historical backstories of what has become solstice/christmas/new year's/ etc.  So despite what is happening around me, I try to learn something new about this season's ritual history every year.  Of course, I forget most of it each summer as well, but that's fine.  One result of this is an increasingly-ecumenical embrace of lots of traditions and ideas, and a disinterest in trying to argue for which one is most correct - or the one to adopt over all others.  So on this episode of Routes & Branches & Beyond (#393), I have a set of music from this season of deep winter celebrations.  Joy, mystery, delight, transcendence, profane and secular intertwined.  All with music from Jethro Tull, Eliza Carthy & Jon Boden, Terry McDade & the McDades, Nowell Sing We Clear, Cassie & Maggie, Great Big Sea, Bobby Rodriguez, Finest Kind, Loreena McKennitt, Waterson Carthy, Inshallah, Ensemble Choral du Bout du Monde, Jim Payne & Fergus O’Byrne, Boreal, and the Kubasonics.  Grab a symbol of some kind and join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 393 2025 12 25

The dutiful consumer that you are, you know how it is with old things - once used up, we throw 'em out & bring in the new, or at least the "new-to-you." Today on Routes & Branches & Beyond we do that same exercise, playing a bunch of tracks that have "new" as a theme. Join me for things new, whether they be a morning, a ruckus, a set of shoes, a chance, a garden field, a baby, a family waltz, a set of pants - even new Math. We'll hear from bands like the Slocan Ramblers, Valdy, Tony Rice, Magpie, Jaron Freeman-Fox, Kornog, Woody Guthrie, Coco Love Alcorn, Tom Lehrer and the Pine Leaf Boys. Join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond for 2026 01 01

This week on Routes & Branches & Beyond we take one more dip into the body of songs and tunes about "new" - new post offices, barn dances, cheaters' promises, souls, copper plates, songs, rigged ships, burying grounds and even new car smells. From artists like John Doyle, the Saw Doctors, De Dannan, the Holmes Brothers, Burning Bridget Cleary, Edward II, the Duhks, the Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group, the Arrogant Worms, Montcorbier, Billy Bragg and even some African Disco from Mixed Grill. Join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond for 2026 01 08

This time on "Fit to Eat," we head back to the Agriculture University of Iceland for another show.  At every step, we learn how the situation in Newfoundland and Labrador is somewhat similar to that in Iceland - in terms of the challenges around local food production, the need for secondary production, and the crucial imperative to stop importing so much of what is required for survival and sustainability.  We may be making somewhat different choices, at points, but Iceland and NL were separated at birth.  After all, the first farmers in NL were Icelanders - Vikings, who travelled with farm animals, in order to have food for sustenance.  Too bad they only stayed for about three years, and then left.  Otherwise, we'd be eating skyr and ptarmigan and speaking in Icelandic (the first European language to be spoken in NL).  Join me as I chat with several folks about the current situation in Iceland.

Ivan Emke

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