Stereo Embers: The Podcast

"The Mask And The Mirror"

The Manitoba-born Loreena Mckennitt is one of the most singular artists on the planet. She's also one of the most decorated. The two-time Juno Award winning musician has sold close to twenty million albums, been nominated for a Grammy twice, has three honorary doctorates, is both an Appointed Office and Appointed Member of the Order of Canada, she's been awarded The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, she's an Appointed Officer and Knight of the Republic Of France, and she's an indcutee into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and The Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Trust me, when I say, there's more: like her appointment as Honorary Colonel of the Royal Canadian Air Force or her Billboard Music Award for International Achievement, 1997. I'll stop there, but I think you're getting the idea. Loreena McKennitt is a decidedly distinguished artist. Speaking of which, let's talk about that art. Over the course of her career, McKennitt has put out ten studio albums on her own Quinlan Road label, including Elemental, The Visit, The Book of Secrets, Lost Souls and 1994's The Mask And Mirror, which is being treated to a 30th anniversary edition. An international best-seller, The Mask And Mirror went to number one on the U.S. World Music charts. Like much of McKennitt's work, the album was influenced by her travels and as it searches for the meaning of spirituality and religion using 15th century Spain as its lens, The Mask And Mirror is stirring and affecting work. From numbers like "The Mystic's Dream" to the the riveting "Full Circle," The Mask and Mirror uses Yeats, Shakespeare and St. John Of The Cross as its lyrical spirit guides. It's remarkable work. McKennitt's brand of folk, world music and Celtic Fusion is wondrous and rousing and 30 years later, like all of her work, The Mask and Mirror sounds as timeless as ever.

www.loreenamckennitt.com (http://www.loreenamckennitt.com)
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www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com)
www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com)

IG +THREADS + BLUESKY: @emberspodcast
Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

"The Blood Of Others"

If you're job is to tell your audience a little bit about a titan like Bruce Cockburn, then you're job is not an easy one. But let's give it a shot. The Ottawa-born Bruce Cockburn is one of the most celebrated, revered, and beloved musicians on the planet. Let's just start there and work our way around. With just under 40 albums to his name, including High Winds, White Sky, Dancing In The Dragon's Jaws, Stealing Fire, Nothing But A Burning Light and his fabulous new one The Blood Of Others, Bruce Cockburn's five decade career is an endless stream of highlights. Let me give you a partial list: He's got 13 Juno Awards, 22 Gold albums, and six honorary doctorates. He's both a member and an Officer of the Order of Canada, an inductee to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame as well as the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame. Let's keep going: He's received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Earth Day Canada's Outstanding Commitment to the Environment Award and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Medal and he was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame. I'll stop there, but I think by now you're getting the idea. Bruce Cockburn is a rather decorated fellow. For his new album The Blood Of Others however, he turns his gaze to other decorated folks. Taking its name from the Simone de Beauvoir novel, the album is a striking compendium of covers of tracks that informed Cockburn's musical identity. Ranging from folk to pop to blue to gospel, the fifteen tracks on The Blood of Others range from numbers by Elvis Presley to Ian Tyson to Robert Wilkins to Johnny Mercer. It's a stirring collection that's not only invigorated by Cockburn's interpretive genius, it's also a respectful musical tipping of the hat that's deeply satisfying.

www.brucecockburn.com (http://www.brucecockburn.com)
www.bombshellradio.com (http://www.bombshellradio.com)
www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com)
www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com)

IG + THREADS + BLUESKY: @emberspodcast
Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

"Absence And Her Sister"

Tim Eriksen and Peter Irvine first came onto my radar in the late eighties when I was a college radio DJ and I was super into their band Cordelia's Dad. Formed while the two friends were studying at Amherst, Cordelia's Dad's raucous mixture of folk and punk showed up weekly on my radio show in between the Pogues and The Replacements. Because they were such an unategorizable outfit, over the course of their ---- album career, Cordelia's Dad opened for both Doc Watson and Nirvana. After the band broke up, Eriksen dove deeper into the music of the world, plunging into East African Gospel, Bosnian folk, South Indian Classical Music while completing his Ethnomusicology PhD in the process. Hailed by everyone from T. Bone Burnett to novelist Nicholson Baker, the Grammy Award-nominated Eriksen's wide range of interests find him just as inspired by Bad Brains as he is by Yugoslavian Folk. From albums like Soul of the January Hills and Every Sound Below, his solo output is rich, varied and wonderful and his work has been covered by everyone from Alison Krauss to Joan Baez. As for Peter Irvine, the percussionist worked as a lawyer for years, but in between he joined Eriksen to play on the Oscar-Winning Cold Mountain soundtrack as well on Eriksen's solo work and for Cordelia's Dad reunion gigs. The two longtime collaborators' new album Absence And Her Sister is steeped in folk minimalism and Gothic Americana as it surveys the ancient songs of their native New England. Spare and arresting, raw and immediate, Absence And Her Sister flows with quiet urgency as it sails through the geography of a place that is both real, imagined and eternal. It's a riveting listen. Eriksen and Irvine are on tour this month, and they were kind to chat with us between gigs.

www.soundkeeperrecordings.com (http://www.soundkeeperrecordings.com) www.bombshellradio.com (http://www.bombshellradio.com) www.steroembersmagazine.com (http://www.steroembersmagazine.com) www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com)
Stereo Embers: THREADS + BLUESKY + IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

"One Last Heist"

A singer/songwriter, a Professor, an author and the creator of the beloved cabaret-style multi artist extravaganza Cabinet Of Wonders which has featured everyone from novelist Rick Moody to Kristin Hersh to Steven Page, Wesley Stace is a man who, as the expression goes, wears many hats. The British-born, Cambridge educated Stace first came onto my college radio radar in 1989 under the name John Wesley Harding. I was immediately on board--his songs were literate, urbane and cheeky, but also heartbreaking, self-aware and wise. The John Wesley Harding character put out close to twenty marvelous albums including Here Comes The Groom, Why We Fight and Adam's Apple. Reverting to his birth name, Stace has put out just under ten albums, including his marvelous new one, One Last Heist. Satirical, soulful and catchy as ever, One Last Heist is a brilliant blend of witty pop smarts and atmospheric ballads. Over the course of his career Stace has recorded with Springsteen, Lou Reed and Roseanne Cash, written international best-selling novels and taught at Princeton.

www.wesleystace.com (http://www.wesleystace.com)
www.bombshellradio.com (http://www.bombshellradio.com)
www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com)
www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com)

Threads + Bluesky+ IG: @emberspodcast
Editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

"One Last Heist"

A singer/songwriter, a Professor, an author and the creator of the beloved cabaret-style multi artist extravaganza Cabinet Of Wonders which has featured everyone from novelist Rick Moody to Kristin Hersh to Steven Page, Wesley Stace is a man who, as the expression goes, wears many hats. The British-born, Cambridge educated Stace first came onto my college radio radar in 1989 under the name John Wesley Harding. I was immediately on board--his songs were literate, urbane and cheeky, but also heartbreaking, self-aware and wise. The John Wesley Harding character put out close to twenty marvelous albums including Here Comes The Groom, Why We Fight and Adam's Apple. Reverting to his birth name, Stace has put out just under ten albums, including his marvelous new one, One Last Heist. Satirical, soulful and catchy as ever, One Last Heist is a brilliant blend of witty pop smarts and atmospheric ballads. Over the course of his career Stace has recorded with Springsteen, Lou Reed and Roseanne Cash, written international best-selling novels and taught at Princeton.

www.wesleystace.com (http://www.wesleystace.com)
www.bombshellradio.com (http://www.bombshellradio.com)
www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com)
www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com)

Threads + Bluesky+ IG: @emberspodcast
Editor@stereoembersmagazine.com