Snowprayers Radio

As long as I can remember, Autumn has always been my favorite of the four seasons. The leaves changing colors, the temperature dropping low enough for sweaters, the possibility of seeing one’s breath turning to fog in the brisk air, or my favorite: the anticipation of the first snowfall. For me, it just cannot be beat.

There is a specific sound or feeling in the music that I listen to around this time, with a certain type of melancholy that just goes hand in hand with the season. To some it may seem sad or depressing. But for me it’s uplifting, and completely relevant to the changes in our surroundings. This is mostly what this podcast series will put a spotlight on.

Way back in autumn of 2000, I started a shoutcast station that broadcast 24/7 out of the basement of my home in Ferndale, MI. I would just run it via a winamp playlist and invite people to tune in, and sometimes I would even DJ for my friends who were working 9-5 jobs. For a couple of years I did this until the first snowfall and maybe a few weeks after, and then for some reason, never again. I’ve always wanted to revisit this but never really could justify using the bandwidth when I was living in New York.

These days with podcasting being so accessible I figured now would be a great time to revisit this dream, and add to the experience by releasing a mix for download once a week throughout the next year. I think Sunday evenings around 9 PM (Berlin time) would be a perfect time, something to wind down with after a crazy weekend and that, if subscribed to, will be waiting for for you whenever you are ready to listen. While I feel this music and mood is best suited for the Autumn months, I certainly do not feel it is inappropriate for certain settings year round and as the seasons change, so will my mixes.

Most of the episodes will be done by yours truly, but from time to time I will have featured guest DJs. The guests will range from close personal friends who are (or are not) DJ’s or producers, to old friends from many many years ago who have influenced me musically in some form or another. Hell, if I thought she could pull it off, I would ask my mother to do one!

One thing is for certain: this podcast will NOT be about anyone trying to outcool anybody else via musical knowledge. There really is nothing off limits for being too “commercial.” The only theme here is a specific mood.

Most of the songs will be lyric-based, so (for now) there won’t be tracklists published. If something grabs your attention, then by all means pick out a line or 2 from the lyrics and toss them into a Google search. As the motivation for these sessions isn’t playing obscure tracks, I'd be willing to bet you’ll find your song. And in the process, you could end up learning a bit more about its origin. You can ALWAYS feel free to email me at info@snowprayers.net and I will gladly pass along any info I can for you.

Another underlying reason for not posting the tracklist is that these days too many of us listen to things solely based on whatever songs we may already know in a given tracklist. This podcast isn’t about that. My hope is that once a week, you put this on in the background and take some time to just kick back and relax. Maybe it will fit the mood for you and it can be something you look forward to listen to just as much as I look forward to making and presenting them.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT: I would like to give a special thanks to those over the years who have played a role in inspiring me to do this in the first place. Radio shows like ‘The Ralph Valdez Show’ and ‘Music Overnight with Liz Copeland’ on Detroit’s WDET, ‘Brave New Waves’ hosted by Patti Schmidt on CBC radio and ‘Big Sonic Heaven’ hosted by Darren Revell on 96.3 in Detroit. These shows played a HUGE role in my musical influences growing up. All of them are now off the radio airwaves, but will always exist in my consciousness. Also to the many people whom I have worked with in independent record shops back in Detroit. I definitely miss the days when you could spend hours in a record shop nerding out about any and all forms of music. This is something most music lovers these days don’t get to experience, and it is a shame. Finally, to Tom and Yulka at insatsu.us for all their hard work designing the site for me. And most importantly to my dear friend K-rocka who encouraged me daily for 6 months to get this going so the world could experience what I have to offer ; )

I also thank you for your interest, and truly hope you enjoy the series!

All the best,

derek.