Thistleradio

05/06/2025

My connection with public radio goes back over 4 decades and I've enjoyed visiting many stations from Alaska to Louisiana. Now local public radio stations across the country are facing an unprecedented crisis. Proposals to eliminate federal funding threaten to dismantle the very infrastructure that keeps 99% of Americans informed, safe, and connected. The threat is real, and it is happening now. Without your voice, your support, and your action, entire stations across the country will go dark. Please... Let Your Voice Be Heard. Contact your elected officials before it’s too late. Tell your lawmaker: "Save my public radio station." Many thanks, Fiona Protect My Public Media NPR NPR Music

04/06/2025

Friends and listeners! 400+ episodes of The Thistle & Shamrock® are now streaming online. Tune in and celebrate many hours of great music through a long and valued partnership with NPR Music and the many local public radio stations across the country. Love them all! Protect My Public Media 🎶🎙📻

Stream radio shows, music channels, Spotify and Apple Music playlists.

24/05/2025

To mark folksinger, songwriter and activist Peggy Seeger's final farewell and 90th birthday tour of 25 shows currently playing across the UK and Ireland, we remember this exclusive concert on The Thistle & Shamrock on NPR Music, when Peggy explored transatlantic song journeys with Scottish songwriter and folksinger Alan Reid. A very special and unforgettable evening.

American folk singer, songwriter and activist Peggy Seeger is joined by Scots-language singer and songwriter Alan Reid and host Fiona Ritchie.

22/05/2025

Watching the New York Festivals Radio Awards from over here in Scotland and I'm really delighted to have picked up a Silver trophy for my special Christmas show for NPR Music in 2024 (Best Entertainment Music Special) and also a finalist diploma for announcer presentation on the same show. Hooraaay! As a one-woman production it's a thrill be be recognised alongside the international roster of major producers honoured in this awards gala. Many thanks to the jury and congratulations to all the brilliant winners. I salute every one of you!! 🏆

22/05/2025

Wonderful to see Peggy Seeger with sons Neill and Callum MacColl on her "absolutely very very last concert tour" at the Tolbooth music and arts venue in Stirling. A glorious and generous farewell evening of songs old and new, and a masterful instrumental blend. The repeated standing ovations said it all. Thank you Peggy. 🪕🎶💕

14/02/2025

Are you celebrating Valentine's Day? Either way, here's some LOVE-ly music for you! Have a good one. ❤️

Hear music revolving around the love of whisky and homeland with Maura O'Connell, Shooglenifty and Moya Brennan.

04/01/2025

HAPPY 2025! Hope you've had a smooth passage into 2025 and here's wishing a guid New Year to ane an' a'! As the bells rang out on New Year's Eve, did you join in a rousing chorus of Auld Lang Syne and wonder: what was all that about? In this show we delve into the verses of the famous Robert Burns anthem and explain its irresistible nostalgia, with Pete Clark, The Cast, Andy M. Stewart, and Dougie MacLean.

The songs of Robert Burns are as popular today as they were when they were first written over 200 years ago.

31/12/2024

Happy Hogmanay to one and all! How about bringing in the New Year with two brand new tunes? Fiddler Pete Clark composed a strathspey for Scotland and a jig for Ireland to celebrate The Thistle & Shamrock, and we love them! Hear the pair of tunes played by Pete Clark and pianist Muriel Johnstone at the link below and start dancing early!!:

Two new fiddle tunes to celebrate The Thistle & Shamrock.

29/12/2024

Hope you've all been enjoying the many Midwinter festivals and thanks to everyone who's joined me so far for a winter walk along the riverbank in A SPECIAL THISTLE & SHAMROCK CHRISTMAS on NPR Music, including listeners to:
KFSK KXCV WLTR WUWF WVPE KUSU WCBU WGLT WAMS WKMS WUNC KUWR WGTE KXCV KUAC WPSU WSKG WFSU WCMU WUOT KETR KSKA KRCB WTEB WMEA WXXI KLCC KBSU KWBW, MAINE PUBLIC BROADCASTING, NORTH COUNTRY PUBLIC RADIO and other stations on air and online. With music from Emily Smith, Tim Edey, Sting, and Al Petteway there's still time to tune into these special scenes of Midwinter on public radio. Streaming link will follow here soon! &ShamrockChristmas

03/12/2024

I told you I'd be back on your radio! Delighted to be offering a brand new holiday special for NPR Music. Come with me on a winter walk through woodlands, along a riverbank, where we'll hear Celtic music and folklore inspired by the Midwinter scenes. Check your local public radio station for their festive program schedule and find our more about A SPECIAL THISTLE & SHAMROCK CHRISTMAS here: https://www.thistleradio.com/thistle-christmas
Hope you can join me and be sure to wrap up!

01/12/2024

This Thanksgiving, I'm giving thanks for all the decades of connecting with wonderful listeners on public radio stations via NPR Music. Thank You One and All! Over the holidays, why don't you re-visit the last weekly episodes of The Thistle & Shamrock (A Few Faves, Firsts and Farewells), and browse many, many more years of radio shows in NPR's archive for The Thistle & Shamrock at npr.org/thistle See you there!

07/10/2024

Many thanks indeed to Nancy, Steve, and my friends at the American Folklife Center for this generous blog piece. It includes links to my 2-part radio celebration on The Thistle & Shamrock of the 40th anniversary of the American Folklife Center with Nancy and Steve sharing lots of examples from their remarkable audio archive (Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Jean Ritchie). The Library of Congress NPR Music

With gratitude and best wishes, the American Folklife Center notes that on September 30, 2024, after more than 40 years on the air, our longtime friend and colleague Fiona Ritchie ended her successful and influential weekly public radio program “The Thistle & Shamrock,” an institution in the Cel...