{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnew-sounds.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2F4970-songs-without-words-VQBSU2j8","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"#4970, Songs Without Words","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/035c95/035c957a-7f28-4f4f-b014-08c1e8d8cd81/81b2c5e9-26ef-439f-8260-ba76c8a013a9/bobby-mcferrin.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"<iframe src=\"https://player.simplecast.com/81b2c5e9-26ef-439f-8260-ba76c8a013a9\" height=\"200\" width=\"100%\" title=\"#4970, Songs Without Words\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>","height":200,"description":"There’s music from the great blues guitarist, Blind Willie Johnson - his most famous theme “Dark Was the Night.” Also, hear some of Phil Kline’s millennial mass “John the Revelator,” written for the early/new music vocal group Lionheart and the quartet ETHEL.  Listen to atmospheric sounds of the Mellotron (as well as its precursor, the Chamberlin), in work by American musician Ross Goldstein where the sounds of a choir combine with droning strings, wind instruments, and baroque tidbits (Pop Matters).\nAlso, hear wordless vocals in field recordings from Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan, made in the Parchman Farm maximum security facility in Mississippi. There were twelve men, ranging in age from 23 to 74; three are serving life sentences and six of them were newer arrivals or not on the debut album.  In the last song recorded that day, “Six of the men huddled together and improvised a sublime, wordless expression of their pain and longing,” (Bandcamp liner notes). There’s also music from a Dust to Digital collection, and an improvisation from Bobby McFerrin and his Circlesongs Ensemble, as performed at WNYC in 1997. That, and more. - Caryn Havlik\nProgram #4970, Songs Without Words (First aired 1/23/2025)\nARTIST: Bobby McFerrin & Circlesong EnsembleWORK: Improvisation No. 3 [1:00]RECORDING: Live at WNYC, 1997SOURCE/INFO: https://www.wnyc.org/story/best-wnyc-live-volume-one\nARTIST: Blind Willie JohnsonWORK: Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground [3:22]RECORDING: The Complete Blind Willie JohnsonSOURCE: Columbia/LegacyINFO: Available at AppleMusic, Amazon.com, Spotify, YouTube\nARTIST: Lionheart & ETHELWORK: Phil Kline: Dark Was the Night [5:50]RECORDING: John the RevelatorSOURCE: Cantaloupe 21047INFO: cantaloupemusic.com\nARTIST: Tonu Kaljuste, conductor; Swedish Radio ChoirWORK: Schnittke: Psalm XII [8:25]RECORDING: Psalms of RepentanceSOURCE: ECM RecordsINFO: https://ecmrecords.com\nARTIST: Ian Brennan/ Parchman Prison PrayerWORK: Parchman Prison Blues [2:27]RECORDING: Parchman Prison Prayer: Another Mississippi Sunday MorningSOURCE: GlitterbeatINFO: https://parchmanprisonprayer.bandcamp.com/album/another-mississippi-sunday-morning\nARTIST: Deacon Tommy Tookes & CongregationWORK: The Lord Is Risen [5:19]RECORDING: Art of Field Recording Volume I: Fifty Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum SOURCE: Dust to DigitalINFO: https://dusttodigital.bandcamp.com\nARTIST: Bobby McFerrin & Circlesong EnsembleWORK: Improvisation No. 3 [5:49]RECORDING: Live at WNYC, 1997SOURCE/INFO: https://www.wnyc.org/story/best-wnyc-live-volume-one\nARTIST: Meredith Monk & Vocal EnsembleWORK: Astronaut Anthem [4:56]RECORDING: Meredith Monk: The RecordingsSOURCE: ECM RecordsINFO: https://ecmrecords.com\nARTIST: Ross GoldsteinWORK: Obsidian Cat [3:44]RECORDING: TimokaSOURCE: Birdwatcher RecordsINFO: https://rossgoldstein.bandcamp.com/album/timoka\nARTIST: Gary Lucas, Dean BowmanWORK: Dark was the Night  [3:17]RECORDING: Chase the DevilSOURCE: Knitting Factory RecordsINFO: Available at AppleMusic, Amazon.com, Spotify, YouTube"}