Gaea Star Crystal Radio Hour #669 is an hour of inspired, dynamic visionary acoustic improvised music featuring the Gaea Star Band with Mariam Massaro on vocals, Native flute, double flute, harmonica, kalimba, acoustic guitar and ukulele, Bob Sherwood on piano and Craig Harris on congas, djembe and Native drum. Recorded live at Singing Brook Studio in Worthington, Massachusetts in mid-May of 2026, today’s show begins with the meditative, beautifully realized “In The Quiet Of The Forest”, an unusual, evocative piece featuring a top-notch vocal from Mariam. “Luminously Shining Bright” is a languid yet powerful minor folk ballad with beautiful chord changes and another inspired vocal and “Oh Golden Light” is a rich, harmonically lush song, weaving Mariam’s precise, soaring vocal with tight, swinging congas, imaginative, ambitious piano and tight, lustrous ukulele work and featuring a fantastical flute coda. “This Is The Way” is a fine, expanded take on the track from Mariam’s “Release” LP built on a rock-solid foundation of throbbing, dramatic Native drum from Craig. “Hold To Your Essence” is a fascinating piece featuring Mariam’s kalimba as the defining instrument around which Bob constructs a rich, complex harmonic framework which, along with Craig’s metronomic congas, support Mariam’s inspired, spacious vocal and Native flute dialogues. “Spiraling Portal” is a mystical, goosebump-inducing eldritch forest song featuring Mariam’s timeless, chiming mandolin, tiptoe-ing, darkling piano and earthy, pulsating congas and “Turn And Face The Wind” grows slowly and patiently from the embers of “Portal” into a lush, shifting, psychedelic, sonically enormous tapestry into which each member of the ensemble interject languid melodic phrases and fade back into the cloth of the piece in turn. We close today’s show with the beautifully played blues “Oh, Let’s All Be Grateful” featuring earthy Native drum, a fine vocal and harmonica conversation from Mariam and inspired fat-fingered piano from Bob. Learn more about Mariam here: http://www.mariammassaro.com