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Click to hear episode #110 (time = 48:33, size = 66.7 mb)

The next couple of “Songs and Stories” episodes feature artists performing at this year’s American River Festival, September 16-18, in Lotus CA. I’ll be up there again, hosting the Friday night Showcase at the American River Resort, as will Paul Kamm and Eleanor MacDonald, two fine singer/songwriters I was able to use this podcast – and my favorite festival – as an excuse to finally sit and chat with.

I met up with Paul and Eleanore recently and chatted with them about “From the Fire” their latest (and eighth!) CD, the differences of doing the acoustic songwriter thing vs a full-on electric band, and how each of them brings something different to their songwriting process. (Paul’s the writer; Eleanor’s the editor.) They also talked at length about the late Utah Phillips, who was a good friend of theirs and encouraged them to add music to his song “Ship Gonna Sail”, which you can hear in this episode. This CD version features the amazing Joe Craven doing his human beatbox thing. I highly recommend you take a listen. 😉

Paul and Eleanore sing “To Let the Light In” off “From the Fire”

At this year’s festival, Paul and Eleanore will be doing a Friday night show at Earthtrek. On Saturday, they’ll play the main stage in an in-the-round with Keith Greeninger and Dayan Kai (who last visited this podcast in episodes #85 and #86.) To learn more about Paul and Eleanore, visit their cool new web site at kammmac.com and Eleanore’s blog, Notes From an Endless Sea.

Note: The early-bird ticket discount runs until July 15th. For more information, head over to americanrivermusic.org.