Autumn in to winter: a season of change, a season of reflection, a season of preparation.
That reflection might include ways to focus and refocus on what matters, what’s important, what is of value as the next challenges and opportunities present themselves.
Aoife Scott lives in Ireland, where autumn can be lovely, with clear, crisp days. It may equally hold days filled with rain, the gentle kind or the rain and wind sort. Aoife celebrates this time of year in her song Sweet October, which she wrote with her partner Andrew Meaney. There’s a celebration of change and encouragement, too.
In this song, Kathy Mattea considers relationships and connection, especially in times when circumstances are changing or uncertain. Shifting times, that is. The song is called A Few Good Things Remain. It was written by Jon Vezner and Pat Alger. Kathy is based in Nashville. She maintains her ties with West Virginia, where she grew up, too. You will often find her hosting the West Virginia-based radio program Mountain Stage.
A train journey while she was on tour in Germany “at the edge of November” is what provided the spark for Carrie Newcomer’s song The Season of Mercy. She uses vivid images from that journey, both from within her train car and what she sees through the window, to inspire questions and reflections.
How much did I miss or forget to remember
Here at the edge of November
With all we've gained and lost...
is part of what she sings.
Newcomer is based in Indiana.
Making it through dark times, especially the dark of night, is what the Scottish group Fara explores in Song in the Night.
They took the words of Orcadian poet Duncan J. Robertson and created music to make them into a song. Three members of the four piece band, Catriona Price, Jeana Leslie, and Kristan Harvey, come from Orkney. They each play fiddle. Keyboard player Rory Matheson is from Lochinver in the north Highlands. That’s Jeana on lead voice in this song; all members of the band sing, though, and they all write music, as well.
Pieces of music with no words, tunes as they are known in Celtic and Americana music, can be good ways into reflection and insight. Here is one of those: The Volunteer, written by Natalie Haas. That is Natalie on cello in this video, and her sister Brittany Haas on five string fiddle.
The sisters do not often have the chance to play together, as they each have flourishing careers in different sorts of music and are based in different parts of the world, Brittany in Americana and bluegrass music from her base in Nashville, Natalie in Celtic music from her base in Spain. They did carve out time not long ago to record an album together, though. This is a track from that recording process.
To draw this episode to a close, another song from Aoife Scott. You’re Another Reason is a song she and her partner Andy Meaney wrote for the birth of their eldest niece a few years back. It serves well as a reminder and encouragement through changing situations.
May the creativity of these artists be good companion as you make your way through these shifting times.
Thank you for staying with us through this journey. Below, you'll find a link that will take you to an article which has a bit more backstory on the series. It also has links to a number of the stories, including ones called Listening for Community, Music for Winter's Changes, and The Geography of Hope.
Kerry Dexter is Music Editor at Wandering Educators.
You may find more of Kerry's work in National Geographic Traveler, Strings, Perceptive Travel, Journey to Scotland, Irish Fireside, and other places, as well as at her own site, Music Road. You can also read her work at Along the Music Road on Substack.