Kaatscast: the Catskills Podcast
Kaatscast: the Catskills Podcast

Kaatscast: the Catskills Podcast

Kaatscast is a biweekly series featuring Catskills culture, history, sustainability, local interviews, literature, and the arts. Shows are hosted by Brett Barry and produced by Silver Hollow Audio, in the heart of the Catskills. Voted “Best Regional Podcast” 3 years in a row. Enjoy!

The Piano Performance Museum: Hearing History in Hunter
Kaatscast: the Catskills Podcast
The Piano Performance Museum: Hearing History in Hunter

Recent Episodes

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The Piano Performance Museum: Hearing History in Hunter
172
June 16, 2026

The Piano Performance Museum: Hearing History in Hunter

What did Beethoven's piano actually sound like? At the Catskill Mountain Foundation's Piano Performance Museum in Hunter, New York, you don't have to wonder — you can sit down and play one. Brett Barry visits the museum at the Doctorow Center for the Arts with performing arts director Pam Weisberg and docent Stacey Bowers, who guide him through dozens of historic instruments spanning three centuries — from a mid-18th century French harpsichord to a nine-foot Baldwin concert grand that once trave
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Little Spaghetti Noodles: The Secret Life of the American Eel
171
June 2, 2026

Little Spaghetti Noodles: The Secret Life of the American Eel

Every spring, something remarkable happens in the tidal waters of Black Creek in Esopus, New York: tiny, translucent eels — just an inch and a half long and barely the weight of a postage stamp — swim in from the Atlantic Ocean, following a journey that began in the Sargasso Sea nearly a year before. In this episode, guest host Sierra DeVito joins the Hudson River Eel Project at Black Creek Preserve, where Professor Susan Hereth of SUNY New Paltz leads a team of college and high school students
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Heather Houskeeper, the Botanical Hiker: Plants, Trails, and Belonging
170
May 19, 2026

Heather Houskeeper, the Botanical Hiker: Plants, Trails, and Belonging

Kaatscast walks a stretch of the Finger Lakes Trail in Delaware Wild Forest with Heather Houskeeper — herbalist, long-distance hiker, author, and founder of the School of Plant and Place Connection — to talk about foraging, plant medicine, and what it means to truly belong in a landscape. Along the trail, Heather identifies edible and medicinal plants including garlic mustard, jewelweed, and dandelion, and explains how to approach foraging safely, ethically, and with a spirit of reciprocity. She
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Extra Edition: Kaaterskill Clove at a Crossroads
169
May 12, 2026

Extra Edition: Kaaterskill Clove at a Crossroads

The Catskill Park's most visited corridor — Kaaterskill Falls and the Kaaterskill Clove area along Route 23A — may be heading for a major management overhaul. In this extra edition, host Brett Barry sits down with Jeff Senterman, Executive Director of the Catskill Center, to dig into a newly released Visitor Use Management report that recommends capping daily visitors at 1,000, implementing timed entry and advance reservations, and evaluating a public shuttle service to replace the recently shut
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Going With the Flow: Dany Davis, Catskill Streams, and the Long Way Home
168
May 5, 2026

Going With the Flow: Dany Davis, Catskill Streams, and the Long Way Home

After nearly 30 years wading Catskill streams, Dany Davis has learned that rivers don't just carry water — they carry time, memory, and if you're paying close enough attention, a few life lessons too. Now retiring as Stream Studies Coordinator for the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, Dany is heading home to Alaska, and he sat down with us to reflect on what the streams gave back. On the banks of Warner Creek in Chichester, the conversation turns to geology, glaciers, and the surprisin
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Pine Hill Community Center: 25 Years of Showing Up for Each Other
167
April 21, 2026

Pine Hill Community Center: 25 Years of Showing Up for Each Other

For a hamlet of just a few hundred people, Pine Hill punches well above its weight. This week, Brett Barry visits the Pine Hill Community Center to mark its 25th anniversary — and to find out what it actually takes to keep a place like this alive. The center's origin story is equal parts heartbreak and generosity. In 2000, a tragedy in the community prompted founders Florence and Bernie Hamling to transform Bernie's research and development space into somewhere people could simply come together.
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About the Host

Brett Barry Profile Photo
Brett Barry

Brett hosts and produces Kaatscast from Silver Hollow Audio, in the heart of the Catskills. He teaches podcasting and audio production in the Digital Media & Journalism dept. at SUNY New Paltz. He is a recipient of the Catskill Center's prestigious Alf Evers Award.

Brett graduated from Syracuse University’s television, radio & film program and worked as an associate documentary producer for several years before launching a career in voice-overs in 2002. He returned to Syracuse 10 years later for a graduate degree in television-radio-film.

Brett is represented in NYC by Access Talent for television and radio commercials, audiobooks, promos, and narration. He’s the host of public radio’s "Sound Beat," was the longtime voice of India’s English-language network, Zee Café, and the last announcer for the iconic soap opera Guiding Light. He has narrated more than 125 audiobooks.

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