The Most Awesomest Song of the Day: “Matriarch of Nature” by Strawberry Heritage!!!

I want to emphasize mostly, relatively newer music, just like on my Monday night show, “Prime Time Theme Attic.” (Monday nights 8PM-10PM ET when it returns. Here’s the link for when that day comes: http://rdo.fm/r/4qntu )

I don’t intend to say too much about the selections. Just a few short, sweet sentences.

I’m not even sure if I’ll do it everyday.

But I can promise this: I will not force my selections. If something doesn’t hit me, I won’t post one.

Everything I do has always been about shining a spotlight on the artist and their music.

Now I will have the potential to shine 365 more spotlights if I want to!

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Today being Earth Day, I selected a song by an artist that has local roots.

Strawberry Heritage is basically a one-man band.

John Hanson has been putting out tranquil music with beautiful layered harmonies for many years. Strawberry Heritage is a multi-Philby Award winner and I have been playing them almost as long as I’ve had a show! I always look forward to a new album.

Well, I don’t have to wait any more because the latest one, “Light Magic,” was just released!

It features a fresh batch of melodic songs that are often about nature!

The album is an Earthwork Music release, a label that has many incredible artists that sing about nature!

Since today is the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day–I always do an annual show on Mt. Dearborn ;), I am happy to announce a brand new track as The Most Awesomest Song of the Day: “Matriarch of Nature” by Strawberry Heritage!!!

Since this is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, here’s a bonus song.

The first time I ever ran across a John Prine song was on John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High-a favorite album of mine!

At the time, there was a major battle going on in Colorado with some people trying to bring the 1976 Olympics to Denver. The environmental fight was on, and John Denver (Man there’s a lot of Johns in this post! And a lot of Denvers!) even had a verse about it in the title track of the album.

He already had a tie to the Appalachian mountains and West Virginia with his first hit, “Take Me Home Country Roads.”

Since there were plans to change the mountains by adding a village and all of the other Olympic requirements, John Denver identified with John Prine’s “Paradise” song about damaging the eastern mountains and relating it to the Rocky Mountains.

The city of Denver rejected hosting the Olympics showing that environmentalists did have strength in numbers!

A young impressionable listener noticed that the song was written by John Prine. And he eventually learned that John Denver had covered him before-but that’s another story. Sometimes you don’t know how you end up in a situation, and Denver remained a strong environmentalist-even though he had his own personal issues maintaining his stance.

Here’s John Prine’s version of “Paradise”:

And finally, I’ll end this post with a song I play every Earth Day: “I Wanna Be Green” by Joanie Leeds and The Nightlights from her “I’m a Rock Star” album.

It’s the happiest song about recycling that I’ve ever heard!

So do what you can to help the planet this Earth Day and every day! The smallest gesture is often multiplied by billions!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!