Karen Impola

Here’s a collection of five newly-written songs by midwestern folk musicians.

Sunday is Mother’s Day. Music, especially Folk music, is often passed down in families. Here are five examples of mothers making music with their grown children.

May brings warm weather and blooming flowers here in the northern hemisphere. In folk songs, it also brings courtship. Countless traditional ballads in the English language (and other languages as well) begin by specifying that the action takes place in May. Some end happily, some not. Here are a few of them.

Here’s a collection of songs from Midwestern artists, most of them newly recorded from wherever the artists find themselves these days. As the weeks of sheltering-in-place go by, IPR's Karen Impola encourages you to continue to seek out new music to listen to, and to sing, play, and dance to. 

On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day was observed to call attention to the need to protect the environment. Ironically, the current pandemic crisis has had its ecological benefits. With factories shut down and less car and plane travel happening, people around the world are reporting the clearest skies and lowest pollution levels in decades. As we celebrate the 50th Earth Day, here are some folk songs for the occasion.

This is Holy Week, the most meaningful time of the year for Christians. Whether you are a religious believer or not, the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection is part of our culture and has been reflected in many ways in music, art, and literature through the centuries. 

The story of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is common to both Jewish and Christian traditions. It is found in what Jews call the Torah and what Christians call the Old Testament. Whether you are a religious believer or not, this story is an important part of our culture and has been reflected in diverse ways in folk song and custom over the centuries.

As you've probably heard, singer-songwriter John Prine passed away Tuesday, after being critically ill with COVID-19.

Since his first album was released in 1971, Prine's gentle humor and way with words have been an inspiration to many. Some members of IPR's staff each picked a favorite John Prine song to share.

Musicians, just like everybody else, are staying home as much as possible these days. Fortunately, because of modern technology and the internet, we can still hear new music from them. The following is a selection of five songs that have been recorded and shared since the COVID-19 outbreak began. Some are newly written in response to the pandemic. All are by midwesterners, some of whom live or used to live right here in Iowa.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has disrupted everything. IPR's Karen Impola, who hosts the Folk Tree, says she finds music a big source of comfort and has some recommendations.

Beth Wood is a modern-day troubadour and believer in the power of song. Her exceptional musicianship, crafty songwriting, and commanding stage presence have been winning over American audiences for eighteen years. Beth’s music is soulful, organic, intelligent, barefoot, high-energy communication of joy.

David Stoddard is a songwriter and teacher living in the snowy wilds of Western Minnesota. He tours sporadically throughout North America and plays mostly concert venues, living rooms, and other dedicated listening environments.

During the 4:00 hour of The Folk Tree on Sunday, April 17, Iris DeMent talks with IPR's Karen Impola about her roots in the Arkansas Delta, her emergence as a songwriter, and her most recent album, The Trackless Woods, on which she put music to the poems of Russian writer Anna Akhmatova. Iris will be performing on Thursday, April 21 at the Temple for Performing Arts in Des Moines; opening the show will be her daughter-in-law, Pieta Brown.

Click here to hear a song from The Trackless Woods.

When it comes to compiling a Halloween playlist, there are the staples like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and “The Monster Mash” sung by the theatrical Bobby Boris Pickett. Oddly enough the 60s and 80s created a lot of the music that has ended up being played at nearly every Halloween event, but then every decade has produced some uncanny tracks. And for inspiration we’ve brewed up a short list of some of our favorites to spice up your Halloween festivities.

Scarlett Cerna, host of Studio One:

The band Scythian (pronounced SITH-ee-unn - they’re named after a nomadic Eurasian tribe) has an unlikely combination of influences.  Three of the members are siblings: fiddler Alexander, guitarist Danylo and cellist Larissa Fedoryka are from a family of Ukrainian immigrant, and were classically trained.  Bassist Josef Crosby, who also doubles on fiddle, was classically trained as well. Drummer Tim Hepburn started out in jazz, and banjo player Ben-David Warner grew up on a diet of Celtic music via NPR’s Thistle and Shamrock.

Lily Henley’s “Words Like Yours” is the latest CD to arrive in my mailbox, seemingly out of nowhere, and knock my socks off.  It actually arrived from New York, by way of a promoter in Seattle, but its roots span continents. 

This Sunday, April 20, during the 3:00 hour, The Folk Tree presents live music from Jon Hogan and Maria Moss.   Based in Austin, Texas, Hogan and Moss are purveyors of rollicking roots music and trad-inspired originals, which they describe as “primitive-modernist music that will break your heart and blow the doors off your Ford.”

Join us in IPR’s Cedar Falls studios, on the third floor of UNI’s Communication Arts Center (map here), or tune in and listen for some high-energy music.

Every once in a while, folk music pokes its way out of obscurity and gets noticed by a wider public. Filmmaking brothers Joel and Ethan Coen shone a spotlight on music of the American south in their 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou, and they’ve done it again with this year’s Inside Llewyn Davis.  The movie is a fictionalized account of the Greenwich Village folk music scene of the early 1960s, when baby boomers discovered traditional music, and the oxymoronic concept of the “professional folk singer” took root.

Winter keeps dragging on, and here at Studio One we've got Cabin Fever! While we wait out these last few weeks of cold and snow, here are the top songs and bands keeping us warm and thinking about summer!

The world lost a great treasure on Tuesday, when Pete Seeger passed away.  From the early 1940’s until just last year, Pete inspired audiences with his singing, his enthusiasm, and his conviction that the world can become a better place.  Mark Moss of Sing Out! Magazine had this to say about him:

Every Sunday afternoon from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., The Folk Tree examines the various roots and branches of traditional and acoustic music.  Join us this Sunday, October 13, when the show includes exclusive Iowa Public Radio recordings of earthy singer-songwriter William Elliott Whitmore and bluegrass from Mr. Baber's Neighbors.  You'll also hear from new releases by the Vinegar Creek Constituency and Robin and Linda Williams, and old favorites Dave Van Ronk and the Bothy Band.