Whistling In The Rain

It's May and my memories of May sunshine find little
reference in these rain-soaked days we've had lately.
Not only rain, but cool weather. Odd to reach the long
weekend of Victoria Day and look forward to getting
back indoors to cocoa and the furnace coming on.

Martha Wainwright comes from that wonderfully odd
coupling of Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III.
Rufus (Is A Tit Man) Wainwright is her brother, and both
of them have eclipsed their parents' fame in a very short
time, if not their notoriety. Martha's debut, eponymously
titled, is a marvellous and idiosyncratic record. What else
would one expect?

Shelby Lynne's new one, Suit Yourself, is due out next
Tuesday, May 24th. I've played Shelby's last one, the
personal and powerful Identity Crisis, on the show many
times. I've heard very good things about the new one!

Amer Tewfiq is an Iraqi singer whose songs graced Sinan
Antoon's documentary, About Baghdad. If you have been
wanting to hear some beautiful Iraqi music to improve the
quality of your mercy experience, be sure to take a visit to
http://www.aboutbaghdad.com and allow the intro to play.
Also, Masters Of Persian Music on the World Village label is
a hypnotic disc of Iranian improvisations that I've been in
the trance of lately. Also on the World Village label is the
Warsaw Village Band, their People's Spring a knockout.

On last week's show, after playing Mickey Newbury's
An American Trilogy - which comes with some of its own
rain sound effects - lightning struck near the radio station
and caused a power failure. I remained on the air, but the
station was in blackness except for two emergency lights.
I soon realized how much by-feel my operating of the show
is. I guess it's like in your own house when you have to visit
the bathroom in the middle of the night - you don't bother
turning on the lights because you know the way in the dark.
I didn't stub my toe once in running the next 20 minutes
of the show, until the lights, one by one, came back on. I
enjoyed the experience so much I may turn the lights out
on a regular basis. Better Days by candlelight!

It's three weeks until I head to Europe, for visits to Iceland,
England, Norway, Ireland and Scotland. I'm excited to get
away to the old world again. The memory there is longer,
and my intelligence feels honoured when I'm there. Looking
forward to seeing Thordis Gudmundsdottir in Reykjavik;
she's taking me up north to a Rimur festival, a celebration of
an ancient oral tradition. I'll also visit Magne Hellesjo in
Norway to do some recording. American songwriter-guitarist
Mike Beck will be joining us. Later, I'll go to Scotland to visit
recently-married songwriter Karine Polwart and catch her
homecoming concert in her town, Walkerburn; Karine will
perform along with Eliza Carthy, Old Blind Dogs, and
Incredible String Band.

Lots of stories to share when I get home!

DL