Imagine that you want to speak, but you can’t, because a stroke or disease has robbed you of the ability. Two researchers at UC Davis are helping to create a “brain-machine interface” that would use a brain implant and technology to recreate an individual's ability to talk. That advance would be profoundly important to the individual, of course, and for all of us, it’s a promising use of technology.

Today on Davisville we talk with Drs. David Brandman and Sergey Stavisky about their research, how the interface would work, who it can help, recent advances in neuroprosthetics, the novel leadership set-up of their lab, and what brought them to UC Davis.

(This UC Davis Health photo shows members of the UC Davis Neuroprosthetics Lab, with Sergey Stavisky at the far left, and David Brandman second from right.)

No, we didn't play any songs about Joe Manchin. But we were inspired by the new BBC miniseries "Sherwood," which deals with the murderous aftermath of a miners' strike in the coalfields near Nottingham -- yes, that Sherwood Forest -- when the Thatcher government decided to kill the unions, in part by embedding undercover police among the striking workers.

Ballads about coal mining have long been associated with the folk tradition of northern England and the Appalachians, and we played tracks from the Ian Campbell Folk Group (pictured here) whose music was featured in "Sherwood," as well as music by Offa Rex, John McCutcheon, The Pitman Poets, and others.

Paul Smaldino is the lead singer of The Small Dinosaurs, a strange band dedicated to singing songs about the little things that matter. Their first album, Household Songs, is entirely about household chores, and is available everywhere on the internet. Their second album, Dad Songs, is due out in 2023.  Listen in, get to know Paul, and learn a bit about little things that matter.

Some 30 years ago, while sitting in Sudwerk listening to a young singer on a stool performing popular songs of the day, my companion -- Bill Morrissey, who had mostly done original songs at his Palms' gig earlier that evening -- turned to me and said, "When I was starting out, I did lots of covers too, but never with an Ovation guitar!"

Singer-songwriters, like Bill, often include a cover or two in their sets. A good cover song should seem fresh, almost as if the singer owned the song. On today's show, I included a few instructive examples: Joel Rafael covering Woody Guthrie, Valerie June covering John Prine, and Stan Rogers (pictured) covering Mary McCaslin.