Adam Ragusea (left) and Tim Eriksen (right). Photo: Magdalena Eriksen

When I was 15 years old, a friend of mine gave me a mix tape (remember those?) that included a punked-up version of the hymn “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” played by Northampton-based band Cordelia’s Dad.

Punk covers of non-punk songs were common at the time, but they were usually obnoxious and tongue-in-cheek. In contrast, “Circle” was sincere, almost reverent in its treatment of the source material.

The band had latched on to a common aesthetic linking early American vernacular music with late-80’s punk/alt rock. That common aesthetic is what Cordelia’s Dad frontman Tim Eriksen has expanded and refined into his concept of “northern roots” music.

Tim lives in Amherst now, and he’s become an internationally renowned performer, songwriter and scholar. His expertise ranges from Sacred Harp singing to South Indian classical music, but his forte is the early vernacular music of New England.

This folk music tradition includes gritty songs that reflect a hard life lived by revolutionary era New Englanders. The gruesome murder ballads belie the gentile intelectualism that came to define Yankee culture in the 18th and 19th centuries and persists into today.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Tim this June in the Pelham Town Hall, the oldest continually used town meeting house in the country. We’re giving you a taste of that interview in next week’s show, but for the interested we’re offering the complete, un-cut session here. Enjoy!

Also, for those of you on the South Coast this weekend, Tim is playing the Greater New Bedford Summerfest. He never disappoints live.

In the wake of several serious accients by elderly drivers, lawmakers on Beacon Hill are considering changes to rules regarding seniors and driving, including one that would issue new driving tests to anyone over 85.  Another bill makes it easier for doctors to recommend elderly drivers have their licenses revoked.