Fiona Ritchie, founder, producer, and host of NPR’s award winning The Thistle & Shamrock Celtic music program signs copies of her book, Wayfaring Strangers:  The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia.

I am a long-time fan of Fiona’s show ( and have fallen in love with her honey-like burr!). Thistle and Shamrock is a tradition at our house on summer evenings, when we lounge on the back porch with the radio tuned to her weekly presentations of Celtic music. There’s usually something smoking on the grill as we listen.

So my wife and I attended the Charlotte Folk Society’s program last night featuring Fiona with her Wayfaring Strangers co-author Doug Orr. The two provided background on the Celtic roots of Southern music, and the musical duo Little Windows (Julee Glaub and Mark Weems) performed the songs. It was a wonderful evening, and I was glad to stuff a five into the hat when it came my way.