You couldn’t get two drummers more different than Stu Nevitt, the drummer with Shadowfax and Klaus Dinger, who percussed for Kraftwerk and Neu

The 50th Annual Grammy Awards happen this Sunday, February 10. The Grammy’s wouldn’t appear to have much relevancy for Echoes listeners or most people interested in non-commercial or alternative music. And as far as the TV spectacle goes, you’re right. There hasn’t been an interesting non-Rock act on there since forever. The […]

Is Echoes a haven of acoustic guitar or an outpost of electronic music?
I ask that question because at a Loreena McKennitt show in Harrisburg, PA that Echoes hosted with WITF, a listener walked up to our table and stated simply, “Less electronic music. More acoustic guitars.” I glibly responded, “I hear you, but that’s […]

I hope many of you enjoyed our seasonal programming this year with Sonic Seasonings, An Echoes Christmas and An Echoes Winter Solstice. WEXT in Schenectady ran 30 straight hours of Echoes Christmas programming. WXPN in Philadelphia scattered at least 8 hours of programming throughout Christmas day.
These programs tap into a more […]

Ever wonder what happened to Shadowfax? This instrumental band, named for Gandalf’s horse in the Lord of the Rings, started as a progressive rock group with leanings toward the acoustic chamber sound of Oregon in the 1970s. After Will Ackerman resurrected their careers on Windham Hill they became leading exponents for an evocative, […]

As I put together our Celtic Soundscape for St. Patrick’s Day, I was struck by the dearth of new Celtic music coming out. Now, let me be clear. There is still a vital Celtic music community with lots of discs being released. However, not too much of it is in the Echoes […]

On Wednesday, February 14, you’ll be hearing Echoes of the Heart, A St. Valentine’s Soundscape. We’ve been doing these shows pretty much since the beginning of Echoes and the movement in time can be marked by relationships memorialized in song, but which no longer exist. How many albums feature dedications to the significant others […]

I was recently on an arts panel judging musical acts that ranged from one of the best-known orchestras in the world to a protest folksinger and all points in between. I can’t mention the names because the process is still in progress. On the panel were classical musicians, scholars and academics, one […]

I just received the sad news from Jeff Johnson that Micheáll Ó Domhnaill, the guitarist and composer with The Bothy Band and Nightnoise passed this weekend after suffering from a heart attack. He was only 54.
I first heard Micheáll in the 1970s when The Bothy Band was among a host of groups kick-starting a […]