The Wind

Traveling the west with an Aeolian Harp: listening in dry lake beds, great sand dunes, and the world's largest living organism, Pando Aspen Grove // official reports from the road. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

All we talk about is the smoke. Where I live it has replaced the weather; both conversationally and to some degree physically. Fire has become its own season.I have not had a conversation in over a month that didn’t at least touch on the smoke.But really, that’s only if we’re lucky. Because if we aren’t talking about the smoke, it’s because a fire has come close enough to talk about that instead. Close enough to our houses or friends houses or favorite places in the mountains that we watch slowly be eaten by a red line as the Facebook group updates the fire perimeter. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

A note on Throat Forest, a half-failing aspen grove that I pass through on my way to my handmade desk in the woods. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

A conversation with Nomadland author Jessica Bruder from February 2020. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

I sit at my desk and the wind scrapes endlessly through the canyon. Glad that I could capture a little bit of it and fold it up into words and yips and yodels for you this year. Catch you soon. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

The unlikely history of voice breaking in American music, and what it says about us. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

Before this patch of Lodgepole Pines became my office, I was walking through the meadow. I heard a small waterfall coming from inside a bush. Since waterfalls don't come from inside bushes, I elbowed my way in to find a Fountain of Youth -- a rusty pipe spouting the coolest, clearest water I had ever tasted. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

Dan Flores and his book Coyote America, dueling press releases, and The Wind Inaugural Coyote Calling Contest. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

An investigation of subversion by Emily Pratt. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

A quick tour of the office, as it snows on my desk. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

In 2017, Jeff Davis Peak (California) and Jefferson Davis Peak (Nevada) began the process of shedding their names. In this episode, we journey through the bureaucratic network that names places in the US, and try to get a handle on what it means to name a place. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

Time can wear a word down. If said too much, or not enough, it can begin to mean something else entirely, or start to blend into the words around it. Three such words are hobo, tramp and bum. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

How gender neutral language is working for non-binary people, and how it’s developing in English, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Portuguese and Hebrew. Featuring Avery Hellman (Ismay), Cara Nguyen, Dana Dela Cruz, Tyler Broderick (Diners), nwaobiala, Tuck Woodstock (gender reveal), Dan Everton, Jaq Victor, Em Jiang, Lior Gross, Eyal Rivlin (Non-binary Hebrew project). To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

Western Films as America’s origin story, and why they sound the way they do. Featuring Gary Farmer, Rion Amilcar Scott, Jeff Grace and Kathryn Kalinak. ------------------Playlist of Western Film Scores:SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE------------------In this episode we investigate western film scores from early westerns and singing cowboys (Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Herb Jeffries) to the John Ford Era (Tiomkin, Hageman, Steiner and Bernstein) to Ennio Morricone to Neil Young's score for Dead Man and beyond. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org

I found a handsaw in the mountains, sticking out of the snow. I carried it deep into the woods and used it to build a desk from a felled tree. This desk is where I produce and record the podcast. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewindSubscribe at thewind.org