Knit to This
New Year’s Knit to This: Energy Curfew Music Hour
My husband, younger kid (who’s now nearly 20 (which can’t possibly be right)), and I spent the last two weeks driving thither and, indeed, yon.
In holiday seasons past, I made everyone in the car listen to one of my favorite holiday books: Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. This year, however, we weren’t doing enough driving to get through the whole tale, which is always kind of a letdown because there is a Very Big Finish to the story.
We’d burned through Wait, Wait and Radiolab episodes. I was fresh out out of podcasts that the rest of the people in the car would tolerate—I’m the only one who gets into the nerdery of espionage or Robert Moses—and scrolled through the hidden recesses of my phone to see what might be on offer.
Enter the Energy Curfew Music Hour. I’d downloaded it at some point—and if you click on the link you can see all the platforms it is on.
I’d added it to my queue because Chris Thile (of Nickel Creek, of Punch Brothers, and more) is one of the few musicians I implicitly trust. I may not love every single piece of music he creates, mind, but I will always find it interesting enough to listen to.
This new show is like Live from Here but with a focus on acoustic acts. The conceit of the ECMH is that the power is shut off nationally for 24 hours every week to offset our carbon debt. This is the variety show to lead you into the dark day.
But, really, these eight episodes are just a good time. There are talky parts, where Punch Brothers (which now includes fiddler Brittany Haas) and guests build the show’s world with ads for future products a la Prairie Home Companion‘s ketchup commercials. There’s a running bit about hiring musicians to break bad news that is truly laugh out loud.
Mostly, though, it’s about the music. James Taylor shows up, as do Norah Jones, Jason Isbell, and Jon Batiste. Younger Kid was taken with Madison Cunningham. And all three of us found it a lovely way to pass the time in the car together.
I’d imagine it’s also a lovely hour to knit to.
Header photo: Avery Brunkus
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Thank You for the gift of ECMH! It might be my favorite gift this year.
You are welcome!
Thanks so much for this Adrienne. I’ll be visiting family and friends today and this will be perfect!
Happy to help!
OMG! How did I miss this! I’m off to listen to Episode 1 right now. Thank you for posting about a real New Year’s treat.
Thile and crew are a treasure, right?
Thanks for these suggestions, sounds so interesting! I added both The Rest Is Classified and The Energy Curfew to my podcast library.
Enjoy!
Good share.
Thanks!
Wow! A whole new world of listening! Thank you and Happy New Year.
And also to you!
Happy new year to all! I do hope that those reading this newsletter take the time to read your published book , too. It’s brilliant! We do need to start our politicaleducation at the local level, and you’ve provided us audiobook and published book as a roadmap.
Thank you so much for the praise. Let’s hear it for local government, too. We get so distracted by what’s happening on the state and federal level that we don’t get involved at the county, village, town, etc. levels where we can make a huge difference that we can see quickly.
Let’s go!
Thanks for these. For espionage nerdery The Spy Who podcast is a good one.
I have never read Discworld, maybe this is the year!
The Spy Who is another one of my faves. And Discworld is a treat.