Past  Episodes

The theme for episode 135 was spoken word music. It began as kind of a lark, just sort of looking for some kind of a theme and the production and songs that I found turned out to be as interesting as any show I’ve worked on yet. Artists featured include: Rodney Crowell, James Brown, Gorillaz, the doors, MC 900 ft. Jesus, John Prine, R.E.M., The Shangri-Las, Tom Waits and more!

A new recurring segment of The Can You Feel It Radio Show, The Top 5 list, made its debut in Episode 19 and I decided to re-air the show again this week. I had submitted the first Top 5 list just to get the ball rolling but and all top-five lists since have been submitted by listeners. To date I’ve received 24 Top 5s! My Top 5 list was, “Top 5 Songs That Appear Together On An Album And Must Always Be Played Together”. It featured pairs of songs by ZZ Top, Reckless Kelly, Train, Dire Straits and BR5-49.

David Watson of Clarksville, Tennessee’s Top 5 Songs That Feel Like A Hug When You Need It Most was the centerpiece of episode 133. David’s Top 5 included songs by Tame Impala, Mac DeMarco, Billy Joel, Mac Miller and Billy Idol. We also featured two songs and an interview snippet from a new, up-and-coming Clarksville artist, Sadie Fine, a set of three covers from the year 2002 and two sets of music by artists from Murray, Kentucky and Murray State University.

The Beatles opened and closed episode 132. We heard a great collaboration between Todd Rundgren and Rivers Cuomo of Weezer which led into the cover set for the night which were all covers performed by Weezer. We even had a bit of grunge with the Screaming Trees. Other artist featured were The Brothers Johnson, The Black Keys, Todd Snider, Blackalicious, Lianne La Havas just to name a few.

Episode 131 is the final episode in our series nine part series devoted to musical artists jumping genres, the final of three shows devoted to the music of our champion genre jumper “Weird Al” Yankovic and it featured a special appearance by “Weird Al” drummer and archivist Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz who talked about the development of weird Al’s music through the years and how much more sophisticated Al’s song parodies and “in the style of” originals have become and what it takes to record in all those styles of music.

Episode 130 is the eighth in our nine part series of musical artists jumping genres and the second of three shows devoted to the music of our champion genre jumper “Weird Al” Yankovic. In part two our "Weird Al" bio continues, his music gets more sophisticated and funnier. We look at the difference between “Weird Al’s” song parodies vs his song satires. We also look at how, for a song parody artist, often times the cultural trends he satirizes with his lyrics often lose relevance faster than the hit song he uses as the vehicle for the lyrics. But they're still as funny as ever.

Amber Steady of Waterford, Connecticut’s Top 5 Songs That Inspire Me To Write Book One Of My Book Series was the centerpiece of Episode 74. Amber is presently writing a fantasy book series and her song selections were all related to fantasy books of related to her book and it’s characters in some way. The rest of the show was all songs relating to literature, books or reading. Even the cover set! Among the artists featured were
Coheed & Cambria, Imagine Dragons, Radiohead, Nick Lowe and Jill Tracy

Episode 127 featured a set of artists whose sound resembles The Black Keys and they cover set of rock versions of songs written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Other artists featured included The Heavy, Elle King, Bruce Springsteen, Willis Alan Ramsey, Jon Batiste and The Wailin Jennys.

Episode 126 featured Susan Steady of Waterford, Connecticut’s Top 5 Songs That Remind Her Of Her Father. Because Susan’s father was a first generation Italian American the entire show was Italian American artists, Italian artists and Italian songs performed by English-speaking artists. The show featured songs by Connie Francis, Elvis Presley, Tony Bennett and Italian artists Marlene Kuntz, Adriana Celentano, Luciano Pavarotti and Negrita just to name a few.

Episode 125 is the sixth in our eight part series of musical artist jumping genres and at 2 ½ hours it’s a long one. An accidental theme of the episode turned out to be artists working their way either from or toward big band and traditional jazz music. The cover set featured artists taking songs from a different genre and performing them in their own. Artist featured were Robbie Williams, Joni Mitchell, Erin McKeon, the Pointer Sisters, Ben l’Oncle Soul and more!

Episode 122 is part five of our eight part series of musical artists jumping genres as well as part two our retrospective look at the music of the classically trained British artist Joe Jackson. In part two we look at the second half of Jackson’s career which saw him lean into his classical training for three albums, including his Grammy award-winning neo-classical/jazz fusion album Symphony No.1, before doubling back to music that’s similar to his earlier work, an album with a jazz trio, an album of Duke Ellington arrangements and finally an album of original British Music Hall songs.

In Episode 123 we set a sad farewell to many of the musical artists that passed away in 2025. The format for this episode is brief biographies for each artist with a song excerpt before and after each bio. And for some of the more significant artists who left us in 2025 we feature an entire song as well. Among the artists to whom we paid tribute to are Brian Wilson, Ozzy Osbourne, Roberta Flack, Sam Moore, Todd Snider, Raul Malo and more.
Because most of the songs used were just small excerpts the playlist for this episode is not available to download from your streaming service.

For Episode 122, the CYFI Christmas special, we put aside background, histories and biographies in favor of as much Christmas music as could be fit into a two hour episode. Also a special effort was made to avoid the same old Christmas standards we always here in favor of the best new, original Christmas music there is out there. However a reindeer can never totally change its spots (or something to that effect) so there are numerous themed sets; Country Christmas songs, geographically specific Christmas songs, sad Christmas songs, original Christmas songs and, of course, a covers set consisting of alternate versions of recent original Christmas songs. Artists featured include The Roches, Willlie Nelson, The Pogues, John Cowan, Over the Rhine, Amy Grant and more!

Episode 121 is part four of our five part, and counting, series of musical artists jumping genres. It’s also part one of a two part show featuring the music of the classically trained British artist Joe Jackson who began as a post punk/new wave artist in the late 70s but has released albums in at least four or five different genres including big band/jump swing, classical, contemporary classical, jazz and a few more. All of it is music of his own composition and all of it is really good.

Episode 120 is part three of our now five part, and counting, series on musical artists jumping genres that was inspired by Chris Meyer of West Stockbridge, Massachusetts Top 5 list: Top 5 Genre Jumpers. In this episode we actually get around to Chris’s Top 5. I did more research and included more background information on the five artists and their genre jumping songs than I have on any other show in all of my years on the air. So what we have here is a two hour show with seven songs. But I think the histories I’ve presented are pretty interesting. And I can't really tell you what artists were featuring because that would spoil all the fun.

Episode 119 is the second in our four part series on musicians changing genres for one song, one album, multiple albums or all of their career. This series was inspired when Chris Meyer of West Stockbridge, Mass submitted his Top 5 Genre Jumps. Our cover set featured country artists dabbling in the rock genre. We also featured two roots rock artists who started off in punk and garage rock and three artists who began playing secular music and made the change to gospel or Christian music. The show features Willie Nelson, Michele Shocked, Robbie Fulks, Garth Brooks, Al Green, Dolly Parton and more!

Episode 118 marked the beginning of a multi-part series on artists playing multiple styles inspired by a listener submitted Top 5 list. Chris Meyer of West Stockbridge, Mass submitted his Top 5 Genre Jumps. In part 1 we opened and closed with Peter Hollens and Anthony Vincent perform two songs in many genres, heard Linda Ronstadt and Sturgill performing in mutiple styles and did a deep dive into the impressive catalog of Michael Nesmith.

Our 117th episode featured a set of three excellent covers of Prince songs as well as a look at up and coming Neo-Soul artists. Featured was music from Cage The Elephant, Two Door Cinema Club, Sam Cooke, Was, Not Was, Jalen Ngonda, Sun On Shade, Macklamore, War and William Bell.

Ian Cheney of Gales Ferry, Connecticut’s Top 5 Dylan Songs With The Word Baby In The Title was featured in episode 116, how many can you name? The rest of the show was filled with some excellent covers of Bob Dylan songs and some Dylan like singer/songwriters that included Lori McKenna, Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, Mary Gaucher and Johnny Cash to name a few. Also featured was a wonderful story about how Ian’s son came to be named after Bob Dylan.

Episode 115 featured a couple of brand new releases, songs from seven different decades, four different countries and 10 different states and the cover set featured covers of REM songs. Artists included Hem, The Refreshments, The Chi-Lites, Both Girls, Old 97s, Annie Lennox, Mall Girl, Elbow, U2 and more.