Highway 89 BYUradio

The tale of our guests today begins, perhaps, in a home in which the father, a painter, exchanged some of his paintings for musical instruments. His sons, soon to be a harpist, a fiddler, and a guitarist, grew up to be Kirkmount, a Celtic band that, when the boys were still very young, kept up a rigorous schedule performing at festivals and in concert halls, making recordings, and they even won A Prairie Home Companion's "Talent from Towns Under Two Thousand" contest. Two of those brothers, Harpist Alex Bigney and fiddler Sam Bigney join us in the studio for an hour of medleys featuring traditional tunes and original pieces.

Songs featured: Late Summer Aire, Home on the Columbia, Homecoming, Jerry's Jigs, Rosey's Waltz, Wandering.

Anton Nel enjoys a remarkable and multifaceted career that has taken him to North and South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. Following an auspicious debut at the age of twelve with Beethoven’s C Major Concerto after only two years of study, the Johannesburg native captured first prizes in all the major South African competitions while still in his teens, toured his native country extensively and became a well-known radio and television personality.

As recitalist he has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum and the Frick Collection in New York, at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, Davies Hall in San Francisco, and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

Eager to pursue dual careers in teaching and performing he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin in his early twenties, followed by professorships at the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Michigan, where he was chairman of the piano department. In September 2000, Anton Nel was appointed as the Priscilla Pond Flawn Regents Professor of Piano and Chamber music at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches an international class of students and now heads the Division of Keyboard Studies. For the past two years he has been presenting a series of masterclasses in piano and chamber music at the Manhattan School of Music in New York as Visiting Professor, and also teaches regularly at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto. He is a Steinway artist.

Repertoire: HANDEL Air and Variations from Suite No. 5 "Harmonious Blacksmith"; DEBUSSY Suite Bergamasque (Prelude, Menuet, Clair de lune, Passepied); SCHUMANN Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26, Mvt. 1 "Allegro"; SIBELIUS Romance in D-Flat, Op. 24, No. 9; BEETHOVEN Sonata in C major, Op. 53 "Waldstein", Mvt. 1 - Allegro con brio.

The New Time Ensemble plays traditional Irish tunes on unconventional instruments with porch-jamming earthiness. Leslie Ann Harrison (flutes), Frederic Pouille (guitar, banjo, vocals) and Liz Davis Maxfield (cello) met while studying music at the University of Limerick in Ireland. They recorded an album “A Year in Ireland” at the end of their studies and have toured in Ireland, Scotland, England and the United States.

Singer/Songwriter Paul Jacobsen has performed with Sheryl Crow, the Jayhawks, John Hiatt, and many others. He’s been a finalist in both the Telluride Bluegrass Troubadour and Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriter contests, is a regular member of The Lower Lights, and has release 2 solo albums with one on the way.

Tonight he plays all original music, including multiple tracks from his yet-unreleased new album, and chats with host Steven Kapp Perry about twins, Neil Young benefit concerts, and spontaneous Wyoming meteor showers.

Songs featured: Two Headed Heart, Some Amazing Grace, Western Skies, You're the Song, The Same Night's Waiting for us All, Muslin Dress, and Time.

From the Sawtooth mountains of Stanley, Idaho to downtown Nashville, Tennessee to the city limits of Austin Texas, Micky and the Motorcars spend 200 days a year jamming in every nook of the nation. They've released 7 full-length records so far, their latest of which is "Hearts from Above."

Micky and the Motorcars is normally a five-man group, but today we got a special unplugged three-man performance. Tour bus malfunctions can't keep the music down! Brothers Micky and Gary Braun and guitarist Dustin "Sunshine" Shaefer perform acoustic versions of some of the band's top hits, including the title track from their newest album.

Host: Steven Kapp Perry

Songs featured: "Hearts from Above," "Carolina Morning," "Long Road to Nowhere," "Led Me the Wrong Way," "Long and Lonely Highway," "Fall Apart," "Casino."

We didn’t make Camille Nelson bring all of the instruments she plays into the studio today, which is a good thing – there may not have been room for them all. Camille Nelson is a classically trained artist whose new album, "Lead Me Home," can be found near the top of a number of different Billboard charts.

For Camille, studying violin at age 6 was the doorway through which she stepped to develop a close relationship with the guitar, and then piano, banjo, mandolin, and more. All of that have given her the ability to experiment with classical, folk, pop, and new age sounds, and all of those influences have found a comfortable home in her recordings. She has distinguished herself as an athlete, a public speaker, an educator, an author, and more.

Camille has lived in South Africa, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, and she speaks German and Italian fluently. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Utah and her Ph.D. from Gonzaga University. She currently teaches MBA courses in management, communication, and leadership. She is also the sister of Steven Sharp Nelson, the cellist in The Piano Guys.

Songs Featured: Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, Be Thou My Vision, Be Still My Soul, Israel Israel God Is Calling, Come Come Ye Saints, Lead Me Home, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Count Your Many Blessings.