Birgit, there is neither rhyme nor reason to my choices today, but they do have something in common.

Jean Redpath, an esteemed Scottish folk singer whose arresting repertoire of ancient ballads, Robert Burns poems and contemporary tunes helped energize a genre she described as a “brew of pure flavor and pure emotion,” died on Thursday at a hospice in Arizona. She was 77. You’ll find the rest of her most interesting life described here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/arts/music/jean-redpath-prolific-scottish-folk-singer-dies-at-77.html