sarahillis's blog

Since Valentine's Day is coming up in a few days, I thought we'd devote this week's Come by the Hills to music about love. There will be songs about romance, seduction, and even marriage. We won't have any of our usual features this week, just lots of music in honour of Valentine's Day. So if you're feeling romantic, tune in on Sunday night after The Early Years or on Friday morning following The Daily Fibre!

Well, it's a new month and another weekend, and it's time once again for Come by the Hills, the Celtic Music Show! We'll have three hours of great folk music from hither and yon, and we'll have all our usual features as well. so, if you're keen for Celtic music this week, then join me on Sunday after The Early Years, or catch the replay on Friday morning after Jonathan's Daily Fibre!

Grooves? Well, alright, so I'm borrowing a bit from Paul Simon perhaps, but I think that Celtic music is groovy, so if you're tired of kicking down the cobble-stones and aren't getting anywhere talking to lamp-posts, and if you're looking for good solid folky fare, then tune in this week for Come by the Hills! I've recently purchased a few of the "Rough Guide" compilations and so have infused my Celtic collection with some interesting artists I have never heard before. We've got our usual features back again this week, and well, it'll just be a fun time, I tell you.

Yes, Robby Burns Day is this coming Thursday, so we're celebrating it tonight on Come by the Hills! We'll have Burns and Burns-esque music, some information about Scotland's national poet along with some of his most well-known poetry, and we'll even pipe in the Haggis! But don't worry. It's only a virtual haggis. the point is that we're going to have a great time celebrating the life and work of this man who has become over the years a very important cultural, even global, figure.

Yes, Come by the hills is back for another week, and in our "Celtic Covers" feature, we'll be exploring the ballad of The Cruel Sister. We'll explore the more mythical version of the song which involves transformation and other interesting things, and we'll play a version by Old Blind Dogs and another song based on that ballad by Loreena McKennitt called The Bonnie Swans. We've also got a bit of a musical education for you in "Fiddlin' Around," and lots of great music from amazing artists as always.

Well, the holidays are over and a new year has begun, but some things never change. If it's Celtic music you're looking for, then look no further than mushroom FM and Come by the Hills, the Celtic Music Show! Our usual features are back again this week and of course there's lots of amazing music! So join me on Sunday at 8:00 Eastern right after Steve Cutway and The Early years, or catch the replay on Friday at 4:00 AM Eastern, 9:00 AM in the UK and Ireland!

Yes, the new year is upon us with all its trials and triumphs, resolutions and randomness, and we'll be celebrating it in fine Celtic style here on Come by the Hills! We've got songs about whisky and its attendant intrigues, some wassailing songs, a version of John Barleycorn and several versions of Auld Lang Syne. But don't worry, the melody you'll be hearing will not be the one we all know and love, so I don't think I'm jynxing anything by playing it before midnight Eastern.

Merry Christmas!

I hope the holidays are being kind to you. I myself am going back and forth over the next while, seeing family and planning a New Years party for friends and such, so The Sara Hillis Show will be taking a break for a few days. I'll be back on January 2 with a new year of music from our four decades of magic mushroom memories though, so in the meantime, I hope you have a very happy new year and I'll see you in 2018!

The holidays can be very busy, but if you've got some time while you're toasting the season, and perhaps your toes, by the old yule log, why not hang out with me for a Celtic Christmas? We've got music from a lot of great Celtic artists and groups and in the second hour, there's a special treat: a reading by Dylan Thomas himself of his beautiful collection of Christmas memories called "A Child's Christmas in Wales." I always enjoy listening to this story on Christmas Eve, and this year, I thought I'd share it with you.

Yep, if you love Christmas music and love The Carpenters, you'll definitely enjoy Thursday's Sara Hillis Show! It'll be four more sleeps till Christmas by then, and I've decided to crack open this great collection of music and to go through all 31 songs on the two-disk set. (Well, alright. They're not disks here, but you know what I mean.) I have very fond memories of The Carpenters Christmas Portrait album, and we'll be going through it in the first hour of the show.