It's a Loreena McKennitt Birthday extravaganza this Week on Come by the Hills!

Anyone who knows anything about me and my love for Celtic music will know that it all started when I heard the music of Canadian artist Loreena McKennitt back in my teens. If it hadn't been for her music, I likely would have enjoyed the Celtic music I heard, but would never have had the courage to try singing it for myself. I can't exactly say why this is, but it is. She was my doorway.

Well, her birthday is on February 17, and in honour of that, I set out to do a show this week that would feature some of her songs. However, as things have turned out, we're doing an all-Loreena special in honour of this great occasion, because every time I added one song, another and another kept occurring to me. So, we've got some of her studio recordings, but this time, we're going to focus a lot on her live albums. We are fortunate to have a lot of live McKennitt material around, and I'm happy to feature it this week. We'll also have some great Loreena/related commedy by a very funny Canadian sketch troupe.

So, come celebrate with me! Catch the show on Sunday night after Bruce and The Early Years, or on Friday morning after Jonathan's dose of The Daily Fibre! Happy birthday, Loreena, and may you have many more!