From the Ridgeline

Welcome to From the Ridgeline, our free monthly "audio magazine", delivered either on demand as an MP3 or by subscription via podcast. Each month we share a few musical selections from our diverse catalog of contemporary and traditional acoustic music recordings around a particular theme, plus occasional interviews, performances, concerts and other special audio features, all delivered to your desktop from our home in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Each edition is hosted by a different artist from our label and includes handful of special features including Michael DeLalla's monthly "Notes from Falling Mountain", a particular artist discussing the next song "In Their Own Words", and a preview of the next edition.

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Naturally, we are new to this technology as well, so please let us know how this works for you. We'll provide new links as more good podcatcher options become available.

About Podcasting

It is hard to go anywhere these days without hearing people talk about podcasting. Podcasting is basically a subscriber service delivering audio or video programming, like streaming MP3 files of your favorite daily or weekly radio broadcasts, directly to your computer each time a new podcast episode is available via RSS technology. Rather than you doing the work of going and downloading or streaming an MP3 file, special podcatcher software (many free programs are available) allows you to subscribe to any particular podcast and receive it so that you can listen whenever you are ready, either on your computer or personal MP3 player like an iPod.

Podcasting is the latest technology these days, but we also see this is as a wonderful opportunity to share our music with you in a deeper context, with stories, audio essays, interviews and perhaps occasional live performances, and all on your schedule. We are very excited to share this new technology and lots of music with you and hope that you will subscribe to From the Ridgeline.

For more general info about podcasts, you can read these articles courtesy of PodcastAlley.com and PodcastingNews.com

An audio holiday card featuring some seasonal music from our catalog, several selections from our new Making Music Matter compilation CD, and a few of our artists sharing their own holiday traditions and joys of the season.
Guest (47 minutes, 32 MB)

Songs and albums featured (MMM denotes also on Making Music Matter):

• "Ding Dong Merrily On High" - Michael DeLalla, from There is One Story and One Story Only
• "Going Home for Christmas" - Keith & Joan Pitzer,from West Virginia Serenade
• "When Are You Coming to See Me?" - Madeline MacNeil and Ralph Lee Smith, from Across the Blue Ridge (MMM)
• "Schooner E.A. Horton" - Debra Cowan, from Dad's Dinner Pail (MMM)
• "Diary" - Andrew McKnight with Mary Byrd Brown, from Turning Pages (MMM)
• "1845" - Keith Pitzer, Randy Barrett and Andrew McKnight, recorded for Making Music Matter (MMM)
• "Big Road Blues" - wild carrot, from Defined (MMM)
• "Christmas Alleluia" - Randy Barrett, from Each & Every Day

Click the links to the artist page and to purchase any of these CDs.

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Past Editions

NOVEMBER 2006 "Endings: After the Leaves Are Gone" Features: Songs and humor to warm the long cold nights, Pam Temple from wild carrot "In Her Own Words" Guest hosted by Chris King, WAGE Radio (40 minutes, 28 MB) Songs and albums featured: "Bad News" - Andrew McKnight, from Turning Pages "Infinite Loops: See Loops, Infinite" - Michael DeLalla, from Soli "Living Out There" - Keith & Joan Pitzer,from West Virginia Serenade "Ne Bado Ket Atao! (This Will Not Last Forever!)" - The Unfortunate Rakes, from Rake's Alive "Tracks" - wild carrot, from Hope "The Long Grey Line" - Debra Cowan, from The Long Grey Line "Lights of Home" - Randy Barrett, from Lights of Home

OCTOBER 2006 "A Halloween Special" Features: Spookyy stuff from the Falling Mountain catalog in honor of the season of haints, goblins and mayhem-makers, Debra Cowan "In Her Own Words" Hosted by Randy Barrett (36 minutes, 23 MB) Songs and albums featured: "Bitter Blood" - wild carrot, from Hope "The Dreadful Ghost" - Debra Cowan, from The Long Grey Line "Cole Younger" - Randy Barrett, from Lights of Home "Burly Burly Banks of Barbry-O" - Debra Cowan, from Dad's Dinner Pail "Chemical Voodoo" - Andrew McKnight, from Where This River Runs

SEPTEMBER 2006 "Bringing in the Harvest" Features: a salute in story and song to the field hands and freight haulers, millers and markets that bring the bounty of the land to our tables, Randy Barrett "In His Own Words" Hosted by Andrew McKnight (44 minutes, 30 MB) Songs and albums featured: "Dancing in the Rain" - Andrew McKnight, recorded live at River City Folk (also from Traveler) "Bringing on the Rain" - wild carrot, from Hope "Land of Promise" - Madeline MacNeil and Ralph Lee Smith, from Across the Blue Ridge "Hard Times in the Heartland" - Andrew McKnight, from Beyond Borders "Halifax Hills" - Randy Barrett, from Lights of Home "When the Squirrels Come to Dine" - John Rickard, from a collection from Falling Mountain Music "The Wild Geese" - Michael DeLalla, from Soli

AUGUST 2006 "Working Folk: Songs For Labor Day" Features: paying tribute to all manners and means of work in anticipation of Labor Day, union coal miners from West Virginia "In Their Own Words" Hosted by Debra Cowan (54 minutes, 37 MB) Songs and albums featured: "McGinnis Gets a Job" - Debra Cowan, from The Long Grey Line "Wear a Tie So I'll Know You" - Michael DeLalla, from And Then ... Or Somewhat Later "Cole Younger" - Randy Barrett, from Lights of Home "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" - wild carrot, from Defined "Maddie's Garden" - Madeline MacNeil "Keepers of the Mountains" - Elaine Purkey, from Moving Mountains: Voices of Appalachia Rise Up Against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining "Song for Mother" - Mike Morningstar, from Moving Mountains "For Greener Pastures" - Glen Simpson, from Moving Mountains "Down in Nashville" - Keith & Joan Pitzer, from The Long Journey "Bargeman" - Andrew McKnight, from Where This River Runs

JULY 2006 "Salute to Independents" Features: a celebration of independent artists and labels, and the music fans that make them possible, Oxymora "In Their Own Words" Hosted by Pamela Temple from wild carrot (45 minutes, 31 MB) Songs and albums featured: "Good Things Matter" - Andrew McKnight, from Beyond Borders "City of Lost Souls" - Randy Barrett, from Lights of Home "Hope" - wild carrot,from Hope "Hot Day in July" - Keith & Joan Pitzer,from West Virginia Serenade "June Apple/Dusty Windowsills" - Wolf Creek Session,from Between Two Shores "Siguiriya" - Oxymora, from the forthcoming reissue of Thundering Silence "Piece for Steel Drum" - Michael DeLalla,from Soli "Song for Mother" - Mike Morningstar, from Moving Mountains: Voices of Appalachia Rise Up Against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining "For Greener Pastures" - Glen Simpson, from Moving Mountains

JUNE 2006 "Traveling: The Road Outbound, the Path Inward" Features: a special nod to physical (and metaphysical) travel and travelers, Andrew McKnight "In His Own Words" Hosted by Michael DeLalla (45 minutes, 31 MB) Songs and albums featured: "Le Marchais du Malaucene" - Michael DeLalla, from Soli "Bits & Pieces" - wild carrot, from Defined "Recuerdos de Calahuayo" - Tabby Finch, from Cloud Cover "Blue Highways" - Randy Barrett, from Each & Every Day "Beyond Borders" - Andrew McKnight, from Beyond Borders "The Long Grey Line" - Debra Cowan, from The Long Grey Line "Off to California/The Peacock's Feather" - The Unfortunate Rakes, from Rake's Alive "Weekend in the Country" - Andrew McKnight, from Traveler "Carnival" - Oxymora, from the forthcoming reissue of Thundering Silence

May 2006 "Of War and Remembrance" Features: Music and narrative around Memorial Day, veterans and honoring those who have come before Hosted by Andrew McKnight (58 minutes, 40 MB) Songs and albums featured: "The Road to Appomattox" - Andrew McKnight, from Turning Pages "Lament for Ron" - Linda Hickman, from The Windy Day "Flowers in My Yard" - Andrew McKnight, from Beyond Borders "The Poor Soldier" - Debra Cowan, from Dad's Dinner Pail "Columbia Seven/The North Trenton" - The Bog Wanderers, from Here's to You "Nova Scotia Farewell/Dinky's" - Wolf Creek Session, from Between Two Shores "Do You Hear Them?" (spoken word) - Andrew McKnight, from Beyond Borders "The Eagle's Whistle" - The Unfortunate Rakes, from Rake's Alive

April 2006 "Celebrating Earth" Features: A collection of songs and essays on the season and our relationship to our world, activist Larry Gibson "In His Own Words" Hosted by Keith Pitzer (51 1/2 minutes, 35.4 MB) Songs and albums featured: "Living Out There" - Keith & Joan Pitzer, from West Virginia Serenade "The Other Way" - Andrew McKnight, from Where This River Runs "Waterbound" - Madeline MacNeil and Ralph Lee Smith, from Across the Blue Ridge "Halifax Hills" - Randy Barrett, from Lights of Home "Company Town" - Andrew McKnight, from Turning Pages (also appears on Moving Mountains: Voices of Appalachia Rise Up Against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining) "Underneath a Blackened Moon" - Keith & Joan Pitzer, from West Virginia Serenade (also appears on Moving Mountains) "The Most Beautiful Place in the World" - Mary Anne Hitt, from Moving Mountains "Shavers Fork" - Keith & Joan Pitzer, from West Virginia Serenade

March 2006 "From Around the Celtic World" Features: Music from around the Celtic diaspora, Joan Pitzer from Wolf Creek Session "In Her Own Words" Hosted by Jesse Winch of The Bog Wanderers (46 1/2 minutes, 32.1 MB) Songs and albums featured: "The Faery Reel/Pigeon on the Gate/The Cameronian" - The Bog Wanderers, from Here's to You "Shebeg and Shemore" - Michael DeLalla, from Soli "Ne Bado Ket Atao!" - The Unfortunate Rakes, from Rakes Alive! "Breton Dance Tune/Cooley's" - Wolf Creek Session, from Between Two Shores "Slip's Jig/The Banister" - Linda Hickman with Tabby Finch, from The Windy Day "The Parting/The Windy Day/Andrew Gillespie's Reel - Linda Hickman, from The Windy Day "Cumba Mhic Mhic" - The Unfortunate Rakes, from The Strayaway Child "Here's to You" - The Bog Wanderers, from Here's to You

Feb. 2006 "For Hopeless (but Discerning) Romantics" Love songs old and new, Andrew McKnight "In His Own Words" Hosted by Pam Temple from wild carrot (37 1/2 minutes, 25.8 MB) Songs and albums featured: "Real Love" - wild carrot, from hope "Do Still Waters Still Run Deep?" - Keith & Joan Pitzer, from West Virginia Serenade "The Rose You Wore for Me" - Debra Cowan, from Long Grey Line "Hold Me Forever" - Randy Barrett, from Each & Every Day "Shenandoah Moon" - Andrew McKnight, from Where This River Runs "Eadaraibh a huinn O/'Sioma rud tha dhith orm" - The Unfortunate Rakes, from The Strayaway Child "Somebody's Tall and Handsome" - Madeline MacNeil, from Across the Blue Ridge

Jan. 2006 "A Dram for the Singer" Features: Traditional and contemporary vocal music, Randy Barrett "In His Own Words" Hosted by Debra Cowan (41 minutes, 28.1 MB) Songs and albums featured: "Shenandoah" - Madeline MacNeil, from Across the Blue Ridge "Lily of the West" - Keith & Joan Pitzer, from West Virginia Serenade "Bay of Biscay" - Debra Cowan, from Long Grey Line "How High the Mountain" - Andrew McKnight, from Beyond Borders "Herman and Harriet" - Randy Barrett, from Lights of Home "Rivers of Texas" - The Bog Wanderers, from Here's to You "These Songs" - wild carrot, from hope

Dec. 2005 "Winter Holiday Edition" Features: Music for Christmas and the Winter Holidays, Debra Cowan "In Her Own Words" Hosted by Michael DeLalla (36 minutes, 24.7 MB) Songs and albums featured: "Here We Come A-Wassailing/Good King Wencelas" - Tabby Finch with Seth Austen, from When The Snow Lay Round About "Going Home for Christmas" - Keith & Joan Pitzer, from West Virginia Serenade "Ding! Dong! Merrily on High" - Michael DeLalla, from There Is One Story and One Story Only "To Juan at the Winter Solstice" - Michael DeLalla, from There Is One Story and One Story Only "Star in the East" - Debra Cowan with John Roberts, from Dad's Dinner Pail "Christmas Day in the Morning" - Tabby Finch with Seth Austen, from When The Snow Lay Round About "Christmas Alleluia" - Randy Barrett, from Each & Every Day