Music Episodes

What did Beethoven's piano actually sound like? At the Catskill Mountain Foundation's Piano Performance Museum in Hunter, New York, you don't have to wonder — you can sit down and play one. Brett Barry visits the museum at the Doctorow Center for the Arts with performing arts director Pam Weisberg and docent Stacey Bowers, who guide him through dozens of historic instruments spanning three centuries — from a mid-18th century French harpsichord to a nine-foot Baldwin concert grand that once tr...

Singer‑songwriter Steve Koester, the creative force behind Two Dark Birds, joins Brett in the Kaatscast studio for a deep, generous conversation about songwriting, place, and the long arc of making music in the Catskills. With the band’s fifth studio album, Dreamers of the Golden Dream, Vol. 1, arriving February 27, Steve reflects on the evolution of his sound—from full‑band records to quiet, introspective work and back again—and how living in the mountains continues to shape his writing. Ste...

Justin Kolb is an accomplished pianist who began playing at the age of four. Now 82, Justin continues to practice almost daily and performs intimate house concerts called "From the Bench," showcasing music "by living American composers as well as music that lives in undeserved obscurity." Justin shares vivid memories from his early competitions to his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and recounts his time in the military where he balanced service with a budding concert career. After...

The episode explores a long-standing tradition of square dancing at the Chase (now Sparer) family home and barn, in Ashokan. Host Brett Barry and production intern Olivia Sippel put on their dancing shoes and joined the fun, recording tales of traditional Catskills square dancing, and the musicians who are passing it down to a new generation of enthusiasts. Fiddler and caller Earl Pardini leads the festivities at this particular event, which goes back to the 1970s. The barn where it's held...

If you've been tuned in to local media for a while, you might Remember Paul Smart, writer for the Woodstock Times and author of the 1994 book, Rock & Woodstock. Paul lives in Mexico now, but he's still writing about the Catskills. And The Strange Recital, "a podcast about fiction that questions the nature of reality," published Paul's latest novel through their very own book imprint. This week, I sat down with Brent Robison and Tom Newton, both of The Strange Recital and Recital Publishing, t...

Long before "THE" concert so closely associated with Woodstock, "Maverick Concerts" have been delighting fans of classical music for more than 100 years. We sat in the historic concert hall with music director Alexander Platt to hear about the history of the utopian Maverick art colony, the concert series that stemmed from it, and some 21st-century improvements to the Maverick experience. Plus, a look back at a groundbreaking John Cage composition that premiered at Maverick concert hall 70 years...