Stereo Embers: The Podcast

"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.

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"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.

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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

"Don't You Push"

If Coleridge was right and friendship is a sheltering tree, then Julie Christensen lives in a very big forest. It's true. She knows a lot of people and she has a lot of friends. When you listen to us chat you'll hear organically how this Iowa native has moved through the world making friends everywhere she goes. Let's back up. Julie first landed on my radar when I was a high school DJ and SST Records sent our thrash metal radio station records by her band Divine Horsemen. The fiery post-punk outfit who even now bring to mind The Gun Club, are only part of the story, so I'll do what I can to fill in the gaps. After a stint in college and playing with the band Longshot who opened for John Prine and Asleep At The Wheel, Christensen left Iowa for Texas where she played with Passenger and did some more studying at the University of Austin. But it was her move west where things really picked up speed. She fell in with the rockabilly punk scene, joined Divine Horsemen with her husband Chris D of the Flesheaters, got divorced, found sobriety and then? You can tell I'm speeding along here because Julie tells her story far better than I can, but long story short, her old pal Roscoe Beck from Passenger became Leonard Cohen's Musial Director and he suggested Christensen sing with the legendary bard. And that's exactly what she did for nearly twenty years. Julie has a series of powerful solo albums like Love Is Driving and Where The Fireworks Are and her new single "Don't You Push" is a reaction to the darkness and frustration of what's currently happening in our country. As for her voice, well, putting it simply, Julie Christensen's delivery is as towering as it is graceful. Filled with equal parts muscle and finesse, her phrasing is poetic, precise and riveting. And she's a lovely person and just wonderful to speak to.

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"Draw The Outline"

The Irish-born singer/songwriter Sorcha Richardson keeps moving from strength to strength. Her debut First Prize Bravery was nominated for the Choice Music Prize, her second album Smiling Like An Idiot went top five in Ireland and her new one Draw The Outline is already being touted as one of 2026's very best. And for good reason. From Fake Venice to Illinois Again, Draw The Outline is a stirring, sonorous and lyrically impressionistic song-cycle about finding a stable place in a turbulent world. Effortlessly exploring connection and isolation the album is a moving blend of folk, pop and indie rock that's brave and bold, yet vulnerable and wistful. Over the course of her career Richardson has lived in Brooklyn, supported everyone from Villagers to Snow Patrol and had a number one album on the Irish indie charts. She's deeply gifted and with this new album asserting herself as one of the great songwriters on the planet.

www.sorcharichardson.com (http://www.sorcharichardson.com)

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

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