sarahillis's blog

As my Apple Watch informs me, the days are getting longer and longer, and this coming week will be the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. This day has traditionally been called Midsummer's Day and has been a time of dancing, bonfires and general merry-making to honour the high-point of the growing season. We're going to celebrate this on Come by the Hills this week with a few songs about summer for your enjoyment. We'll have a summer-themed "Celtic Cover," another one of my "simple singles" in our feature called "Me Music," and a whole lot more.

Before I tell you about this week's show, I want to thank everyone who wrote or tweeted in about the Stan Rogers show I did last week. I heard some lovely stories about the man whom I was never able to see perform which only reinforced my high opinion of his music and his legacy for Canada and humanity in general. I managed to impress some pretty knowledgeable folkies with my Stan picks. That's a pretty tall order as I myself should know. It's hard to be a folky sometimes, because so many radio stations stick to a few well-known songs from any particular artist.

Friday, June 2, marked the 34th anniversary of the tragic and needless death of Canadian folk singer-songwriter Stan Rogers. He died at the age of 33 when a plane he was on caught fire after making an emergency landing. He was a prolific artist, working steadily from 1970 till his death, which occurred while he was flying back to Canada from a folk festival in the US. He wrote songs about Canadian life, songs that were inspired by Canadian history and songs that told great stories. We'll be saluting him this week on Come by the Hills with a special tribute in the first hour.

Yes, Spanky and Our Gang said it all. However, little did they know their prophetic powers, because now that Mushroom FM has Celtic music on Sunday nights right after The Early Years and before Moon Dreams, your Sunday, gentle listener, really will never be the same again!

Alright, so here's what happened. I was sitting around all week procrastinating and wondering what I wanted to do for this week's episode of Come by the Hills, and then, like a firework streaking across the sky, it came to me. Since this is along weekend in Canada, why not do another "long songs" episode? (For my purposes, "long" means a duration of over 5 minutes.) So, that's what we're going to do.

It's time for another Celtic music extravaganza on Come by the Hills! Join me on Sunday at 8:00 PM for music from all over the Celtic world. We've got music from Wales and music made by Whales. We've got fiddles, harps and every instrument you cann think of! We've got a "Celtic Cover" in which Judy Collins meets Newfoundland folk group Ryan's Fancy, we've got music from the movie Titanic, and of course some great ballads and even some Celtic comedy.

Yes, it's all very exciting! In less than six hours, Come by the Hills is coming your way with another three hours of the best in Celtic music from around the world. We've got "Me Music" in the first hour, "Fiddlin' Around" in the second, and a really neat "Celtic Cover" featuring the scottish folk-rock band Wolfstone in the third hour.

As Monday is May 1, I thought we'd pay some attention to that fact in fine Celtic fashion on Come by the Hills. May Day or May-time was for a long time in European history associated with the end of planting and the beginning of summer. yes, summer used to begin much earlier than June 21, which is why that date is still known as Midsummer's Day in England. The Equinoxes and Solstices used to mark the mid-points, rather than the beginnings of seasons. So, May 1 was the beginning of summer in the old agricultural calendar.

I forgot to blog last week, but now that there's a lovely description of Come By The Hills in the schedule, I think I need to be extra vigilant from now on.

We've got an interesting song in "Celtic Covers" this week which, though often thought of as traditional, was written in the 20th century and whose tune has an interesting classical connection! I picked it at random because I had two versions of the song, and then I googled it and all this interesting information came out. I love it when that happens.

Come By The Hills is coming your way again this week with three more hours of the best in Celtic music from around the world. We'll have a good selection of jigs and reels, a balad or two, an amazing Celtic harp experience, and a "Celtic Cover" which is recycled but which is no less interesting for that.

So if it's Celtic music you crave, tune into Mushroom FM on Sunday night at 8:00 PM Eastern for Come By The Hills! The show is replayed every week on Friday morning at 4:00 AM Eastern, 9:00 AM in the UK and Ireland.