09-24-26 Gaea Star Crystal Radio Hour #686 is an hour of dynamic, visionary acoustic improvised music and songs by Mariam Massaro played by The Gaea Star Band with Mariam Massaro on vocals, 4- and 8-string ukulele, acoustic guitar, crystal bowl, Celtic harp, harmonica and mandolin, Bob Sherwood on piano and Craig Harris on congas and Native drum. Recorded live at Singing Brook Studio in Worthington, Massachusetts in mid-September of 2026, today’s show begins with the intense, powerful “Oh Holy Ground” before easing into the classically-inflected folk of “Many Seeds Have Fallen”, a charmingly formal song with a beautifully simple and uncolored vocal from Mariam. “Thunderbeings” is a powerful, driving storm song with throbbing Native drum and chiming acoustic guitar and “Restore” is a rich, sacred love song to the Earth and a powerful prayer to sustainability. “Spirit Of Fire” is a powerfully spiritual song from Mariam that reveres the elements with a dancing, energized rhythm built around Mariam’s driving ukulele strums and reverent, soaring vocal and featuring a gorgeous coda decorated with Mariam’s evocative Native flute. “Let’s Open To Our Own Majesty” opens as an exotic, psychedelic excursion that shifts into a pretty, peaceful song with lovely chord motifs and a lilting vocal from Mariam. Mariam strums her evocatively flowing Celtic harp over heartbeat Native drum and minimalist piano for the rich, affecting “Goodbye Forest We Love You” and “Mighty Are The Wings Of Love” is made exotic and mysterious by the minor chord figurations of Mariam’s tart, rhythmic mandolin and Bob’s modal piano work. “We Call In The Wind” is another powerful prayer to the elements originally recorded for Mariam’s “Vision Quest” LP and the band presents it with precision and power. “I Am The Mother Earth” is another “Vision Quest” track that the ensemble expands and stretches in intriguing, imaginative ways before closing today’s show with the tight, groovy blues rocker “Oh The Magical”, a driving Ray Charles-like workout with throbbing drums and chiming ukulele.
Learn more about Mariam here: http://www.mariammassaro.com
