July 4, 2025: some music

Not much going on today here on our little island. It’s a cool summer day, sunny and clear with a steady inflow wind. This evening we’ll probably head out for a paddle, but for now, here’s some music I’m enjoying this morning from my regular feed of music sites that feed me good stuff. If you’ve ever been in one of our Harvest Moon online courses, you’ll know that the music we play during the sessions is an important and curated part of the program. These are a few of the places I find that music.

• Samba Toure, a protégé of Ali Faraka Toure, has a profile of his career at World Music Central today. This might be the whole soundtrack for the weekend.
• Gillian Welch and David Rawlings released a beautiful album last year, and a couple of days ago they did a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR with four songs off the album. Gosh, Rawlings’ melodic lines are so very sweet on this whole record.
• Maria Popova posts a timely reflection on joy featuring a Nick Cave written after the death of his son.
• My favourite Canadian jazz guitarist, Reg Schwager, has just made all of his music available on Bandcamp for $63. I already have most of it, but his latest release there, In Between, features 8 original compositions in a classic jazz organ trio setting, with Michel Lambert on drums and Steve Amirault on organ. Beautifully produced to bring out the best of Reg’s tone and swing.