Song Travels with Michael Feinstein

Pictured: Michael Feinstein

Credit: ETV 

Michael Feinstein hosts a new public radio series that examines how popular standards and show tunes have evolved through the years, with each new interpretation and each new artist. Song Travels with Michael Feinstein, airing Saturdays at 5 p.m. beginning May 12 on Classical 91.5/FM-HD 91.5-1, is a 13-episode series that expands upon the genre of American Popular Song and re-imagining it for a new century.

Each week a new guest joins Feinstein for intimate explorations of the journeys of songs and the artists who perform them. Guests share insights into their own interpretations of classical to present-day composers. The line-up of top performers spans the musical spectrum, from Liza Minnelli and Bette Midler to violinist Joshua Bell and Pink Martini pianist Thomas Lauderdale, to current U.K. pop sensation Rumer, which brings the Great American Songbook to a whole new audience. With this new series, Feinstein, a longtime archivist and advocate for the repertoire, brings his life’s work to the public radio airwaves, re-introducing the original canon of American show tunes and standards through fresh, unique translations. His guests share their passion for the songs through solo performances and duets with Feinstein, illustrating the continuing development of the songs across time.

The series is produced by South Carolina ETV, the same team that produced Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz for over 30 years, and produced the original American Popular Song with Alec Wilder and Friends in 1977.