Folk roots with stories still attached.
CiTR -- Folk Oasis keeps folk radio loose, knowledgeable, and locally rooted. Its episodes move through Canadian releases, Texas trips, bluegrass festivals, protest songs, in-studio performances, and the practical chatter of a community station between sets.
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CiTR -- Folk Oasis is a roomy folk-and-roots radio archive from CITR 101.9 FM Vancouver. It has the feel of a two-hour slot where the playlist is only part of the point. The excerpts move through new folk releases, Canadian artists, Texas music, bluegrass, blues, country, protest songs, Austin grooves, and live in-studio performances. The tone is informal and lived-in. Val appears repeatedly as the on-air voice, talking through mic issues, travel colds, show plans, station handoffs, and the small logistics of getting from one song to the next. That looseness is part of the appeal. A set might pause for Roger McGuinn’s note about an old camp meeting song, then drift into Folk Den history, tour dates, and CITR station business before returning to more music. Another episode turns a trip to Austin and New Braunfels into an all-Texas special, complete with physical CDs, marching-band digressions, Shiny Ribs enthusiasm, and a birthday dedication for Matt Morgan. Locality matters here. Vancouver venues, Discorder Magazine, the Rickshaw Theatre, Live Music Vancouver, and UBC’s Point Grey campus all appear as part of the show’s working map. So does the broader circuit of touring musicians and festival lineups. The live sessions add a different texture, with Laura Kelsey discussing a performance piece and songs from The Moon, The Pool and The String, and another episode tracing Mississippi roots through family memory, guitar, blues, country, and Vancouver arrival stories. The show is not glossy. It is practical, generous, and full of side notes. Its musical taste is eclectic but anchored by folk roots rather than nostalgia. It works best for listeners who enjoy hearing how songs connect to places, rooms, scenes, and people. The result is a community-radio folk show that treats context as part of the music.
Made for: For listeners who like folk, roots, bluegrass, country, and blues presented with local context, record-bin curiosity, and a relaxed radio pace. It especially suits people who enjoy community radio more than polished playlist delivery.
What sets it apart: Its strength is the combination of eclectic folk programming and highly specific connective tissue: Vancouver venue notes, CITR station life, travel stories, artist background, and live studio conversation all sit beside the songs.
Kumbaya-free folk music! (*currently on hiatus)
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Val connects folk records to the scenes, histories, and personal routes that give their sounds context.
Folk Oasis moves between records, local concert notes, artist conversations, and live studio performances, with Val supplying the connective tissue.
A punk guitar lesson leads into folk; Val welcomes your musical left turns.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A Vancouver folk hour where recent roots releases meet Roger McGuinn's Methodist camp-meeting history.
Folk Oasis shapes its two-hour broadcast into a loose, curious survey of folk and roots releases, led by a six-month window and a mainly Canadian focus that still makes space for traditional music from the UK.
A warm Texas special where Austin-area memories and radio tangents keep the music close.
Texas comes through as a lived-in destination here: a recent Austin-area trip, physical CDs, warm memories, and a host hoping music can cut through a cold.
A loose, personable studio visit with Laura Kelsey before her songs expand into a larger planetarium event.
Laura Kelsey's live visit to the CITR studio turns a radio session into a preview of The Moon, the Pool and the String, framed as a planetarium happening that blends theater, music, visual art, soundscapes, and an interactive gift for the audience.
A loose, homesick roots-rock conversation shaped by Mississippi, Vancouver, Texas, and one heartfelt song.
Folk Oasis shapes a relaxed radio conversation into a quiet study of homesickness, place, and musical inheritance. Val follows the guest from a first guitar picked up around the Nirvana era into roots rock, country, and a later turn toward the blues.
Austin weirdness, Texas groove, and a 21-second near-miss give this Folk Oasis episode its lived-in charm.
Folk Oasis turns its musical wandering into the point, sliding from a promised Michael Jerome Brown conversation into Texas groove, gypsy content, and a song connected to a new documentary.
A warm roots broadcast where punk instinct helps two Calgary musicians find their way into folk.
Folk Oasis frames a two-hour roots broadcast as a case for music moving plainly from feeling to listener. Val begins with vintage Joni Mitchell vinyl from the CITR archives, then opens the room to two young Calgary musicians whose conversation moves through punk, guitar lessons…
Atlantic songs with liner-note patience.
Apple details, software habits, and everyday technical friction.
Records worth hearing, reasons worth arguing over.
Host Val Cormier presents Folk Oasis on CITR 101.9 FM, featuring an interview with Montreal blues musician Michael Jerome Brown about his new album 'Sliding Delta' and upcoming tour.
A folk music show on CITR radio, featuring a fund drive announcement to digitize archives and upgrade the website.
A radio show playing eclectic folk and roots music, featuring bluegrass and a festival preview.
A radio show playing folk and roots music, mostly Canadian, with a host introducing tracks and sharing commentary.
Val on CiTR's Folk Oasis opens a November 6, 2013 show around Joni Mitchell's 70th birthday, Prince's cover of "A Case of You," and Mitchell's 1972 album For the Roses.
Roger McGuinn explains why 1960 and the Limelighters led him back to "There's a Meeting Here Tonight."
Christine Albert says "Mystery Mondays" at El Mercado has Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Bill Carter, Gabe Rhodes, and David Carroll.
Laura Kelsey joins Folk Oasis to talk about Modern Banshee and the Limbic Landwalkers, The Moon, the Pool, and the String, a 7 p.m.
CITR's Folk Oasis spends its guest segment with Mississippi Live and the Dirty Dirty, led by Connelly Farr and drummer Jay Johnson, while Val walks through the band's East Van roots and their new album Going Down.
A radio show promoting bluegrass and related roots music genres, with host introductions and a concert calendar.