Weekly broadcasts of the
Best of Bound for Glory
Every week we feature a recording from our archive of live
Bound for Glory shows. Spend Sunday nights with us
on your radio at 93.5 FM or through the Internet.
Click here for ways to listen to the show.
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On your radio June 1—Bill Staines
Originally broadcast 4/15/12
Anyone not familiar with the music of Bill Staines is in for a special treat.
For more than forty years, Bill has traveled back and forth across North America, singing his songs and delighting audiences at festivals, folksong societies, colleges, concerts, clubs, and coffeehouses. A New England native, Bill became involved with the Boston-Cambridge folk scene in the early 1960’s and for a time, emceed the Sunday Hootenanny at the legendary Club 47 in Cambridge. Bill quickly became a popular performer in the Boston area. From the time in 1971 when a reviewer from the Boston Phoenix stated that he was “simply Boston’s best performer”, Bill has continually appeared on folk music radio listener polls as one of the top all time favorite folk artists. Now, well into his fifth decade as a folk performer, he has gained an international reputation as a gifted songwriter and performer.
Singing mostly his own songs, he has become one of the most popular and durable singers on the folk music scene today, performing nearly 200 concerts a year and driving over 65,000 miles annually. He weaves a blend of gentle wit and humor into his performances and one reviewer wrote, “He has a sense of timing to match the best standup comic.”
Bill’s music is a slice of Americana, reflecting with the same ease his feelings about the prairie people of the Midwest or the adventurers of the Yukon, the on-the-road truckers, or the everyday workers that make up this land.
On your radio June 8—Ken Kolodner
Originally broadcast 1/18/09
“When Ken Kolodner plays the hammered dulcimer, something special happens; he makes it sing.”—Irish Edition
Ken Kolodner is a major part of the rebirth of the hammered dulcimer in the United States, and is recognized as one of today’s most accomplished and musical hammered dulcimer artists. He’s also received considerable recognition in recent years as an old-time fiddler.
Without any formal music background, Ken began learning to play the fiddle at age 23 by listening to recordings of bluegrass and American Old-time or Appalachian music. A few years after picking up the fiddle, Ken discovered the hammered dulcimer while in graduate school. Ken’s interest in the two instruments developed into an ever-expanding musical appetite beginning with Celtic music and eventually into music spanning many cultures ranging from South American music to Chinese music.
As a member of the trio Helicon (with Chris Norman and Robin Bullock) and Greenfire (with fiddler Laura Risk) and in solo appearances, Ken has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe and has been featured in nationally broadcast concerts on NPR, German National Radio, The Thistle and the Shamrock, the CBC, Performance Today, All Things Considered, and on the Voice of America, as well as countless television and radio broadcasts around the U.S.
On your radio June 15—John Gorka
Originally broadcast 9/8/13
“…the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement.”— Rolling Stone
We often talk about our performers as having opened for John Gorka, or recorded with John, or compared to John, but it’s been over twenty years since we’ve been able to tell you about this prolific songwriter and performer himself. Now a world-renowned singer-songwriter, John Gorka got his start at a neighborhood coffeehouse in eastern Pennsylvania in the late ’70s, following in the footsteps of such folk-inspired acoustic musicians as Stan Rogers, Eric Andersen, Tom Paxton, and Claudia Schmidt.
John moved on to New York City and Jack Hardy’s legendary Fast Folk circle. Folk meccas like the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas (where he won the New Folk Award in 1984) and Boston followed, and his stunningly soulful baritone voice and original songwriting began turning heads.
After several successful years at High Street Records, John returned to his roots at Red House Records. His most recent recording, “Red Horse,” is a collaboration with Eliza Gilkyson and Lucy Kaplansky. We can’t wait to see him and hear what he’s been up to.
On your radio June 22—The Flywheels
Originally broadcast 9/1/19
The Flywheels are an old timey band. Except when they’re not. The Flywheels are a traditional bluegrass band. Except when they’re not. Cap Cooke (banjo and vocals) Liz Pickard (guitar and vocals), Sam Schmidt (fiddle and vocals), Jason Zorn (bass) make up The Flywheels.
Cap Cooke got his first banjo from his parents for his 13th birthday and found a liking for old-style bluegrass and old-time music. He has played with Barham Lashley’s Hilltoppers, Aaron Lipp’s Mount Pleasant Stringband, Uncle Joe and the Rosebud Ramblers, and other bands.
Cap met Sam Schmidt, when he first filled in with the Hilltoppers. They learned a lot playing together in the Hilltoppers, and had an idea to start their own band once that band disbanded. Cap met Liz Pickard at the Grassroots Festival, and was soon blown away hearing her old-school guitar playing and singing. They became friends, and Cap soon invited her to join their new band.
For the better part of a year, the three rehearsed numerous times and played a few gigs. They were also on the lookout for a bass player. Cap knew Jason Zorn played the bass as well as old-time fiddle, and after Jason played with them a on a couple dates became the fourth member of the band.
Their first digital album, The Back Porch Recordings, is available on their website.