Raye Zaragoza Archives | Folk Roots Radio

Folk Roots Radio Episode 560: Our Favourite Albums of 2020

Dec 27 2020

We’re getting close to the end of 2020, which means it’s time to announce our favourite albums of the year. After the challenging year we’ve all had, it’s tempting to just want to put 2020 behind us and move on to 2021 to what will, hopefully, be a much better year for everyone. And yet, despite everything, 2020 has actually been a great year for recorded music – especially for those us who tend to focus on music that artists release independently, or via small and boutique record labels. Many artists have actually been making excellent use of the lockdown time forced on them by the coronavirus pandemic to record some wonderful ‘Covid Tune’ singles, EPs and in some case, even full albums. We’ve had great fun sharing them with you this year. We’ve also been doing our best to keep up with regularly scheduled releases. It gives us great pleasure each year, once we have put holiday radio episodes to bed, to consider our favourite albums of the year. One of the best things about doing a radio show is getting loads of great music to listen to each week. One of the hardest things to do is to take all that fabulous music and narrow it down to your ten favourite recordings of the year. You can check out The Top 10 on Episode 560 of Folk Roots Radio. We’ll be playing more of our favourite albums on upcoming episodes of Folk Roots Radio. If you don’t see an album you really loved, that’s likely because it didn’t make it up on our radar because we didn’t receive a copy. Please consider sharing your favourite albums in the comments – we might even spin them on a future episode of the show. Listen to The Top 10 on this episode, and check out the full playlist and the rest of our long list below. Enjoy!

Folk Roots Radio Episode 538: We're All About The Music! (This Too Shall Pass Edition)

Sep 14 2020

We’re going all about the music again on Episode 538 of Folk Roots Radio as we hold back the interviews to bring you more great new releases, and this time around we throw some excellent new political songs into the mix. Join us for new music from Big Little Lions, James Lee Baker, Ian Gill, Shaye Zadravec, Westward The Light, Robert Cray Band, Si Kahn, Spook Handy, Richard Garvey, Raye Zaragoza, Melanie Brulée, Isabel Fryszberg, Andrea Nixon, Joe Nolan, Dirk Powell, Midnight Shine and Kari Lynn Hewett (with Roger Hewett). Check out the full playlist below.

Folk Roots Radio Episode 522: We're All About The Music! (Blendsday Edition)

Jul 05 2020

We’re holding back the interviews on Episode 522 of Folk Roots Radio as we bring you another hour of great new music. We’re subtitling this one the ‘Blendsday’ edition as we’re fairly sure that we’re not the only ones who have trouble working out what day it is – as we all try to cope with endless days at home during the Covid-19 pandemic. We don’t know who came up with the name Blendsday but it does seem to be the perfect way to describe the strange days we’re now living through. So join us for Covid tunes, songs about social justice and tracks taken from some fine scheduled album releases, with music by Fred Arcoleo, Don Bray, Owen Paul, Judy Collins & The Global Virtual Choir, Kevin K Gagnon, Skinner & T’witch, Tim Readman, Mike Glick, Don Johnston, Chastity Brown, Raye Zaragoza, Colleen Kattau, Carissa Kimbell, Katie Ditschun and Paul Kelly & Paul Grabowsky. Check out the full playlist below.

Folk Roots Radio Episode 507: feat. Tomorrow Bird & More New Releases

Apr 23 2020

Jen Bird and Simon Driscoll make music together as acoustic folk duo, Tomorrow Bird. They specialize in heartfelt songs that reflect on the human experience – and sing of hope, love, loss, courage and empowerment. Jen and Simon were due to be Canada this spring but because of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic they’ve had change their plans and are now keeping themselves safe at home. Because they can’t be with us this year, we’re pleased to bring an interview we recorded with them last year to Episode 507 of Folk Roots Radio. We also check out more of the great new music that’s come into the studio, and this time around we hear from Raina Krangle, Forest Sun, Brent Mason, Raye Zaragoza, Ewen Henderson, Jeffery Straker, Mattie Leon and Ayla Brook & The Sound Men. Stay safe and well everyone! We’ll get through this… together and apart. Check out the full playlist below.