El Kleiner does music from the deeper side of the pool, with profound imagery, and with sensitive sensitivity and insightful sight into the way we look below the layers of meaning of our lives. El does not define or box-in our beliefs, but creates a shifting mosaic of perception that allows the listener to flow beyond the usual constraints of analysis, all of it delivered through haunting, enrapturing, heart-opening voice, lyrics, & melodies.
Song of the Soul invites you to a soul-level encounter. Music has the ability to proclaim the soul's language beyond what mere words can speak. That's what we seek as we invite our guests to share their Song of the Soul. You will hear the music that has charted the steps of their spiritual journey, that has provided a touchstone in the soul's dark night, and sung the hearts awe and joy when come to the Light. As you listen to Song of the Soul, you are both witness and companion to our guest's spiritual path and sacred testimony.
Song of the Soul guests provide 20-23 minutes of the music of their soul, and Mark Helpsmeet explores with them the relevance and meaning of this music to their experience. Most guests are musicians, usually sharing their own music, but some guests are simply sharing music they've been impacted by, written and performed by others.
The theme song for this program is by Cris Williamson and is called "Song of the Soul". Please check out the wealth of great music Cris has gifted to the world.
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Full-Length Episodes |
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Podurama | Pandora | PodcastAddict |
Weighty Matters: Minneapolis, Self-image, & Birds
First Air Date
We welcome back Katie Dahl for Song of the Soul today, plunging deeper into the soul-sharings she gifted us with just over 2 years ago. Immediately after the murders of citizens in Minneapolis, Katie wrote and recorded A Song for Minnesota, which made it urgent to welcome back this Minnesota-raised Wisconsinite. With typical Minnesotan modesty, she looks deep within, looks boldly at the world around her, and she transforms these into heart-opening music, and into theater.
The Silver Lining of Love: Efrat
First Air Date
We're headed over to Metuchen, New Jersey, today, for a visit with the amazingly talented Efrat. Efrat showed her musical gifts from a tender age, with the Oak Ridge Symphony at age 10, than with the Knoxville Youth Orchestra at 11, along the way with her dad in a Mexican Jewish band, and on and on. Though she shines powerfully in classical and jazz music, and she's top notch in klezmer, blues, & swing, she found a special place in folk & pop music.
Fire, Blood, Booze, Lust, Spirit, & Yoga with Ethan Eckert
First Air Date
Ethan Eckert is a player of music in a wild variety of genres, including folk, jazz, hip-hop, hard rock and just about whatever you can imagine. He's a drummer, keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist, and he writes songs on the creative edge. He will help raise you up, just as he does with his sourdough bread and his songs will answer your thirst, as does his mushroom tea. Ethan does all of this and more in Kansas City, Kansas.
Visions While Flying Toward the Setting Sun: Anne Hills
First Air Date
This is the third visit of Anne Hills to Northern Spirit Radio, and she brings together for us stirring visions of our past, present, and future, often glimpsed from on the wing. Anne has a rich history of writing and performing folk music, on her own, and with the likes of folk greats like Tom Paxton, Michael Smith, David Roth, and others.
Going Wild with Nature & Claire Dacey
First Air Date
Claire Dacey is a wonderful gift of music, too-little known. Her arrival on the folk music scene was delayed, in part, by her studies in Biology, Botany, Field Naturalist, and finally, Ph.D. studies at Harvard in Physiological Plant Ecology. Twas near the end of these studies when she realized her passion for music could be her chosen path, alongside her work of introducing folks to the more-than-human world and neighbors.
Songs to Ground and Lift: Dann Pell
First Air Date
We're headed out to Pennsylvania today, with hopes that we'll see today's guest in Wisconsin within a couple months. His name is Dann Pell (music on bandcamp), and he came to my attention from an email offer he sent to my local Quaker meeting of a tour he is planning for March.
The Road, the Reason, The Destination: Spring 2020 Song of the Soul
First Air Date
A visit to a rich variety of musicians featured on Song of the Soul in the early days of the pandemic, highlighting themes of The Road, The Reason, The Destination, with songs by Spook Handy, Andi Renfree, Laura Marie, Ksenia Mack,
Unveiling Humankindness, Outliving & Loving: Jamie Wyman
First Air Date
We're headed to Whitefish, Montana, for a deep-end encounter with Jamie Wyman. Jamie was headed toward work as a lawyer, in the role of either a criminal prosecutor or a healthcare attorney, but, as she says, her Saturn Return radically altered her trajectory, and music became her pathway and vehicle to world betterment. She spent some time with the Sunraven Band, but most of her years creating & performing music has been as leader of the Jamie Wyman Band.
The Long Road from Dad's Boots to Your Face: Cliff Eberhardt
First Air Date
Cliff Eberhardt has performed with oodles of well-known performers I've loved, like Lucy Kaplansky, Dave Van Ronk, Richie Havens, and Odetta, generally of the folk-rock-Americana-acoustic varieties, and I'm so excited to have him here today.



