eTown

eTown with Valerie June / Mick Flannery - plus Anne Rolfes (Louisiana Bucket Brigade)

Memphis singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Valerie June joins us in this “back by popular demand” rebroadcast. Her unique sound is a mixture of folk, blues, gospel, soul, country, Appalachian, and bluegrass. Singer and songwriter Mick Flannery, who hails from County Cork in Ireland, is our other terrific musical guest. And we’ll hear from this week’s eChievement Award winner, the founder of an environmental health and justice organization based in New Orleans which works with communities to help them hold state oil refineries and chemical plants in their neighborhoods accountable for following clean air standards.

eTown with Rising Appalachia, Ramy Essam, & Joseph Teipel

This week, we welcome Rising Appalachia, led by sisters Leah and Chloe Smith. It’s worth tuning in just for those incredible sibling harmonies alone; but you’ll also be moved by our other musician guest, Egyptian rock musician Ramy Essam, known as “The Singer of the Egyptian Revolution.” The finale collaboration between Nick, Helen, and our musical guests this week is one of the most inspiring ever done on eTown. We round things out with an eChievement Award story about a man who’s helping folks in ‘food desert’ designated neighborhoods to obtain healthy food by establishing their own gardens.

eTown with Ron Pope, Pieta Brown, & Award Winner Martin Tyner & Scout the Eagle (Southwest Wildlife Foundation of Utah)

Talented singer/songwriter Ron Pope joins us, bringing some of his more recent original songs; plus the elegant performer and singer Pieta Brown returns to eTown after several years to share some of her well-crafted tunes. And a golden eagle named Scout appears on the eTown stage in person with his “personal human” (and dear friend) who has been single-handedly saving injured wildlife in Utah for decades.

eTown Holiday Special: The Indigo Girls, Robert Earl Keen, The Subdudes, & More

It’s eTown’s brand new Holiday Special: to get you in the mood for the holidays! A look back on performances by the likes of The Indigo Girls, Robert Earl Keen, The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Subdudes and many more. Join Nick and Helen Forster for some holiday cheer and memories!

eTown with Rufus Wainwright, Joan Osborne, & Jeff Orlowski

eTown welcomes Grammy-nominated artist Rufus Wainwright, who’ll talk with Nick and also share songs from his latest album release (nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album) called “Unfollow The Rules.” Other musical guests include the remarkable singer/songwriter Joan Osborne. Plus, we’ll feature a special one song collaboration between Rufus and Brandi Carlile. And our accomplished filmmaker friend Jeff Orlowski (of Chasing Ice and Chasing Coral fame) returns to etown to talk with Nick about his newest film The Social Dilemma.

eTown with Nathaniel Rateliff, Colin Butfield of WWF, & More

Longtime eTown friend and talented artist Nathaniel Rateliff joins us for a stunning private performance at eTown Hall, featuring several beautifully written songs from his most recent musical project. Plus, he and Nick have an up close and personal conversation. We’ll also feature musical samples from various iconic New Orleans artists from a Soul Jazz Records compilation that Nathaniel highly recommends. And Nick chats with Colin Butfield, WWF’s Executive Producer of the Our Planet documentary project. Colin is also a member of the WWF UK executive team. He shares information about The Earthshot Prize, a new global project designed to incentivize innovative environmental change to help repair the planet over the next ten years.

Strand of Oaks / Anna Burch / Award: Murray Fisher (Billion Oyster Project)

One of our all time favorites, Strand of Oaks, returns to the eTown stage this week. This dynamic, gifted writer and singer (and one of the genuinely nicest people you’ll ever meet) brings his full band this time around. Coming solo to play with the eTones and Nick for the rest of the musical portion of the show is talented young Anna Burch of Detroit, Michigan. And, for this encore broadcast, we’ll have an eChievement Award story of a young man who’s come up with a truly unique and natural way to involve kids of all ages in cleaning up the polluted waters of New York Harbor.

The Waifs / Jim Lauderdale / Award: Andreas Karelas of RE-volv

When this eTown episode first aired last year, our musical guests had one thing in common: They were all returning to the eTown stage after many years. They include the dynamic Australian band The Waifs, which normally consists of sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson and their longtime collaborator Josh Cunningham; and gifted singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale, whose songs have been recorded by a Who’s Who of country and pop music stars over the years. Plus, we’ll hear from the young founder of a nonprofit that, he feels, will help with global warming while acting as a bridge to heal the political division re: climate change in this country.

eTown Special: From Our House to the White House

This week on eTown, after a very long election season, we wanted to think about the White House in a different way – as the people’s house – and celebrate music being a part of it for decades. Many of the artists who’ve joined us at eTown have played for Presidents, too, and we’ll revisit their eTown performances along with some memories of their visits to the White House. We’ll hear from folks like Loretta Lynn, who played for every administration from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama, Mavis Staples, Tedeschi Trucks Band, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Los Lobos, Doc Watson, Judy Collins, Keb Mo, Christone Kingfish Ingram. eTown Host Nick Forster talks with Bill Flanagan, who recently wrote the screenplay for Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President. Nick also chats with James Taylor, who played frequently at the real White House, and once at the fictional White House in the TV series The West Wing, with a rendition of A Change Is Gonna Come.

Tyler Childers / The Suitcase Junket / Chad Bernstein (Guitars Over Guns)

This week on the eTown airwaves we’re joined by Americana, country singer-songwriter Tyler Childers. Tyler fuses gritty original song lyrics with the folk, bluegrass and rock influences of his Appalachian upbringing. Also with us is “one-man-band” The Suitcase Junket, with his one of a kind sound created from an array of instruments all played at once. Rounding things out, we have a conversation with eChievement Award winner Chad Bernstein, founder of Guitars Over Guns, an organization that provides mentoring to at-risk youth through music and arts education as an alternative to the negative and harmful influences that typically dominate their environments.