It’s 2026 and this week we feature our first new show for the New Year! Singer-songwriter and forager Sean Rowe joins us from Troy, New York. And from Vancouver, British Columbia, comes another singer-songwriter, Dan Mangan. And eTown host Nick Forster has an interactive interview with Matt Butler, conductor of the Everyone Orchestra.

Sean Rowe’s voice literally stops you in your tracks. It’s deep, weathered and powerful enough that NPR once said he could “crush granite with that voice.” Beyond the baritone, he’s also a forager, a traveler and a storyteller who writes songs that feel lived in. With five albums out and another on the way, his music will move you.

Dan Mangan comes at songwriting from a different angle, but lands in the same honest place. A two-time JUNO winner, he wrote his latest album, Natural Light, close to home with close friends, leaning back into folk roots and campfire songs. His songs can be gentle or urgent, often both, like love letters written for a complicated world.

The episode also includes a conversation with Matt Butler, the mind behind Everyone Orchestra. For over 20 years, he has guided more than 1,000 musicians through fully improvised shows, built in the moment through hand signals, trust and listening. His conversation with Nick turns into an improvised jam.