The Pilgrim’s Pod is a collection of short creative pieces which aim to provide
balm to the soul, especially the soul of the weary Christian. We like to think of each piece as a pea or a bean, and that together they make up a pod – a pilgrim’s pod!

So far we’ve produced 2 short films and a 12 episode radio show and podcast.
Watch, listen or find out more below!

Here’s a music video we’ve made using an old fiddle tune called ‘Cumberland Gap’ and the King James Translation of Chapter 1 of the Gospel of Matthew.

The cloggers are the Little River Cloggers of Durham, North Carolina. Thanks very much to them for joining in! Follow the youtube link for more credits. 

The Pilgrim’s Pod began as a radio show and podcast, which we’ve recorded before live audiences in different church buildings.

You can download or stream the show here https://pilgrimspod.podbean.com/

So far we’ve released 5 of our 12 episodes. Our next episode will be up and out on Sunday 24th May. If want to be sure to catch it, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, or you can sign up for our mailing list here on this site, and we’ll tell you when it’s ready.

Each episode of the program has between 4 and 6 segments.

A fun opening song (every episode)

These are sung by our host Will Mackerras, with new words he’s written to old melodies (sometimes borrowing from the original lyrics as well). Tunes in our first series include Redwing, I Ride An Old Paint, Take Me To The Ballgame, and Sweet Betsy from Pike.

An interview (episodes 2, 3, 4, 9)

Interviewees include our bandleader Paul Enns, Canadian singer-songwriter Miriam Jones, and an American lad who could have been a pig farmer but decided to be a school teacher.

A story told by a listener (episodes 4-12)

In most episodes Will also asks a listener to tell a story that they think might be a good illustration for something in the Bible, much like the stories that a preacher would tell in a sermon, but significantly wackier.

A quieter song (episodes 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11)

Paul sings three of these, Will sings two, Miriam Jones sings one, and Paul and Miriam sing one together. Some are songs we wrote ourselves, others are old classics such as ‘Hard Times Come Again No More’.

Will’s monologue story (episodes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12)

In most episodes Will tells a story from his days in a small town in Australia called Bugilbone. These stories last for between 6 adn 12 minutes, and are completely true, except sometimes Will changes a name to avoid embarrassing anyone but himself. This segment is inspired by Garrison Keillor’s ‘News from Lake Wobegon’ in ‘A Prairie Home Companion’.

A rollicking closing song (every episode)

Paul or Will brings home the show with a rollicking version of an old hymn or Christian spiritual.

Here’s a short film about Jesus calming the storm in Matthew 8:23-27. The pictures are taken from the public domain collections of the British Library and the US Library of Congress. The melody is Baidin Fheilimi, an old Irish folk song about a little boat that gets into difficulty. Follow the youtube link for some more credits.

Our radio show was first broadcast on London’s Premier Christian Radio in 2016. Following this we were shortlisted for a ‘Jerusalem Award’ for British Christian Broadcasting. We were very chuffed to be one of two smaller shows up against four much bigger BBC ones. In the end the the category was won by BBC Manchester’s ‘Sunday Breakfast with Mike Shaft.’

Here’s a photo taken at our first radio recording in London in 2013. Paul Enns is on the left with the guitar. Will is sitting down on the middle. Also in the picture are Pat Longley (fiddle), Phil Alexander (mandolin), Phil Wain (bass) and Sam Foulds (drums). Michael Andrews also joined us on piano, but isn’t in the picture.