Shifting times indeed.

Autumn is always a season of change.  It is also a season of hope, of sharing, of community, of sharing stories and taking time for reflection.

All still true as times continue to shift.

Music is a fine companion for all that, through all the changes. That is still true, as well.

There is both comfort and inspiration, as well as respect for place, in the story Declan O’Rourke tells in his song Stars Over Kinvara.

Kinvara is a small seaside town in the west of Ireland. It’s a bit south of Galway, and as you will hear in the song, it is a town with a place in Declan’s family story, and in his heart. You will find it recorded on his album Arrivals.

Through these shifting times, it remains important to be clear about what one values, and to hold on to those values whatever comes.

Karine Polwart often draws on images and ideas from the natural world in her songs. Connection with nature is also part of the story of the Spell Songs project, with whom Karine recorded the song Thrift.

Thrift is a plant which grows along the seashores in Scotland. It is also called sea pink. Karine and several musicians who are part of the Spell Songs project come from or are based in Scotland.

Spell Songs/The Lost Words began when artist Jackie Morris had the idea to create a book of illustrations to go along with words that were set to be dropped from a popular children’s dictionary where she lives in the UK.

Jackie's illustrations, nature writer Robert Macfarlane’s words, two books, songs from seven musicians, three albums of songs, a series of concerts, and poster, educational material, and other items have resulted.

Back to the song Thrift, though: It’s a creative and powerful song about resilience.

You will most often hear and see the seven members of the Spell Songs Singers -- in addition to Karine Polwart, they are Jim Molyneux, Kris Drever, Seikou Keita, Beth Porter, Rachel Newton, and Julie Fowlis -- bringing their range of instruments as well as their voices to the music.

On tour a while back, though, they arrived at the venue where they were to play to find weather damage to the building. The show could not go ahead as planned.

Instead, they decided to offer the audience they could not greet in person this a capella performance of Thrift. Seemed right at the time, and this version holds in these times, too. You may have to turn up the volume slightly on this video, but it is well worth it.

You will find Thrift recorded on the album Spell Songs II: Let the Light In -- with the musicians playing instruments as well as singing.

There are times when a lament is needed, when music helps with sorrow.

During World War I, the ship The Hampshire set out from Scapa Flow in Orkney heading north. In rough seas and wartime conditions, the ship encountered a mine and sank. Only twelve of the more than 700 people aboard made it safely to shore.

There was a memorial stone set up on shore ten years after the event. Several years back, to mark one hundred years since the sinking, it was decided make a memorial nearby with the names of all those who were lost.

Kristan Harvey, who comes from Birsay in Orkney, was commissioned to write a tune for its dedication.

Fiddle is Kristan's instrument. You will hear her leading the music she composed.

Kristan is a member of the band Fara; joining her are her bandmates in Fara: Jeana Leslie and Catriona Price, also on fiddle, and Rory Matheson on keyboards.

You will find the music recorded as the track The Hampshire on Fara’s album called Energy Islands.

There have been, and continue to be, shifting times, to be sure. Greater shifts than expected in many ways and places, too.

The cycle of seasons holds its own shifts and changes also, challenged these days by climate change, but ongoing.

The cycle of farm life, the raising, tending to, and harvesting crops, is the story Molly Mason tells, a story leading to harvest. The song she sings (she wrote it, too) is called Bound for Another Harvest Home.

Harvest happens in many ways and many places. If you are marking the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, you may find this a good song to go along.

If Molly’s name does not at first ring a bell, you likely will have heard her music.

She and her husband, Jay Ungar (you hear him playing on Bound for Another Harvest Home, too), have written music for and played on the soundtracks of many films, among them projects from documentary film maker Ken Burns.

Molly’s main instruments are keyboards and guitar. Jay focuses most often on the fiddle. They both sing, compose music, and play other instruments. Molly is originally form the Pacific Northwest, while Jay comes from New York City. The couple have made New York’s Hudson Valley their longtime base.

Bound for Another Harvest Home appears the album Harvest Home. Jay and Molly have many other albums out, and you can catch them most Wednesday evenings US Eastern time playing live on their Facebook page with their concerts called The Quiet Room.

This autumn is indeed a time of challenges and shifts in many areas of life in many places across the world. Reflection, connection, resilience, hope, trust, courage:  these are some of the things needed especially.

You’ve met Carrie Newcomer’s music earlier in this series. The Indiana-based singer, songwriter, and guitar player was thinking about how to keep going in challenging times when she wrote her song Lean in Toward the Light.  

The shadows of this world will say
There's no hope why try anyway?
But every kindness large or slight
Shifts the balance toward the light.

is one of the ideas Newcomer offers in the song. It’s on her album called The Beautiful Not Yet. She offers a book of poetry of that same name, also.

Each of these pieces of music, and indeed other music from these artists, makes a good resources for these changing times. May they make good companions on your journey, this autumn and beyond.

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.

Music for Shifting Times

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.