Music

This is the first in a series of Galactic Travels podcasts that shines a light on the show's rich history.  Eventually, new podcasts will be added to allow listeners to relive special moments on Galactic Travels or to hear these moments for the first time.

This episode of Piano Jazz features the unique music of soprano saxophonist Paul Winter. He joins host Marian McPartland, along with bassist Gary Mazzaroppi and drummer Glenn Davis, for a set of ballads and originals. The set also features an additional special soloist — a humpback whale.

"It was very impressive," remembers McPartland. "And we don't often do a show so full of ballads. It was a different sort of show."

Dispatch formed in 1994, and quickly became a staple of college campuses and summer music festivals across the country. When members Chad Urmston, Brad Corrigan and Pete Heimbold decided to call it quits in 2002, fans knew the band would be missed.

The Georgia-based rock band Blackberry Smoke has been together for more than a decade, slowly building an audience the old-fashioned way by relentless touring — around 250 shows a year.

On the next Galactic Travels, I will conclude the month-long Special Focus on the Tangent Project.  The Featured CD at Midnight will be Surface.  I will also play music from one of the many artists who will be appearing at the upcoming electro-music festival being held September 7 to 9 at the Greenkill Retreat Center in Huguenot, NY.

Two weeks ago, we premiered the video for Lord Huron's "Time to Run," in which the group ran around in the desert simulating an old Spaghetti Western — and, with the help of its director, captured the washed-out look and feel of old film stock.

Swedish singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson is a modern-day troubadour whose crooning voice and acoustic folk songs often get him compared to Bob Dylan. Matsson recently released his third full-length solo album, There's No Leaving Now, under the moniker The Tallest Man on Earth.

Retro-voiced country singer Nikki Lane makes her first appearance on Mountain Stage. A high-school dropout, Lane left her native Greenville, S.C., for Los Angeles, and found herself dabbling in the fashion industry.