Biography

Like a pirate radio station in the sky, Radio Free Earth ignores boundaries to play the good stuff you don't ordinarily get the chance to hear.

Radio Free Earth is a band that's many things — acoustic and electric, rootsy and innovative, funny and serious, political and spiritual.  Most of all, however, Radio Free Earth makes good music of every kind:

Rockabilly, country blues, boogie woogie, African reggae, Sixties folk revival, psychedelic rock, Texas swing, cajun, polka, art songs, soul, and more... RFE touches so many bases they had to come up with a new name for their style: “Crossover Music.”

RFE dates back to 1998, when Josh Wachtel and resident song scout, Alexei “The Old Space Ranger” Panshin began searching through the dustbins of the Twentieth Century looking for good unused songs.  Epitomal songs from every genre that show where we've been and where we're bound.  Songs you've forgotten and songs you've never heard before.  Songs for every situation and circumstance. Where RFE can't find a song to fill the bill and paint the picture, Wachtel and Panshin write a new one like “Night Dream Blues” or “Pirates at the Helm.” Brother Ben writes too.

Since 2005 RFE has been based in hills of Western Massachusetts. The band has performed at restaurants and bars, weddings and festivals, concert venues and private parties. Radio Free Earth has four 16-song CDs on Handknit Records — Crossover (2003), Fortune and Death (2005), And Don't Forget It! (2006), and Available Light (2007). Freehand, the band’s fifth CD, is in production. RFE also produces a bimonthly podcast and maintains a lively web site at www.RadioFreeEarth.com.

For bookings and information contact Josh Wachtel at josh@radiofreeearth.com or phone 413-634-5005.