Winter: one of the hallmarks of the season is that night comes early and sunrise comes late. The stars in winter skies seem to shine more brightly than they do in other seasons. This time of longer nights also invites us in, to communion, connection, fellowship, and quiet reflection -- and to music to accompany all these things.

Aoife Scott's debut album, Carry the Day, shows a songwriter and singer with a voice of distinctive character, an ear for good story, and the ability to bring these together in ways that draw the listener in, and invite repeated listenings.

From the Adirondacks to the Cascades, from the Wind River Range to the Catskills, from the Sangre de Cristos to the Wasatch, mountain landscapes across the United States offer views and vistas that hold ideas of change and of what is lasting. For musicians Amy White and Al Petteway, the southern Appalachians and the Blue Ridge in North Carolina form both inspiration and backdrop for what they create.

Each year in the spring, the Savannah Music Festival celebrates the diversity that has made this city on Georgia's coast a crossroads of culture since people first settled the area centuries ago.