Under Burgundy Skies is a slow, honest, unfiltered journal of rebuilding a life, rediscovering creativity, and learning to breathe again.
My name is J.P. Kallio. I’m a Finnish singer-songwriter who spent 27 years playing music in the pubs and venues of Dublin — thousands of nights of sweat, songs, and hard-earned experience. For a quarter of a century I was a small part of the sound of that city. But after the pandemic, after burnout, after losing friends and losing myself in the noise, something in me shifted. Dublin changed, and so did I.
In 2023 my partner Nathalie and I left Ireland behind and moved to the countryside of Burgundy, France. What started as a necessary escape soon became a new beginning. We rebuilt a 1970s caravan into a tiny music studio. I grew my first proper garden. We renovated an old country house with the help of family. I slowed down, listened inward, and found myself writing songs again — this time from a quieter, deeper place.
This podcast is a companion to that journey.
Each episode is a short reflection about music, creativity, identity, slow living, spirituality, ancestry, and what it means to start over at fifty. Some episodes tell stories from my years gigging in Dublin. Others explore the process behind my songwriting, the lessons of the countryside, or the emotional work of unlearning old patterns. Some days it’s about chasing melodies; some days it’s about building shelves in the grange; some days it’s about our kitten Chaya attacking my guitar strings during recording.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers. This isn’t a “here’s how to fix your life” podcast. Instead, it’s a space for honesty — a place where I speak about the things I’m living through in real time. The doubts, the hopes, the creative fire that comes and goes. The subtle magic of reclaiming a life after burnout. The surprising wisdom of nature and slow rhythms. And the beautiful, messy process of being an artist outside the noise of the big city.
Every episode is recorded from my caravan studio or our old stone house, with the real background noises of our rural life — a pellet fire clicking on, a water fountain humming for the cat, the distant sounds of the countryside. Imperfect, but real.
If you’re someone who loves stories, who believes in the power of music, who dreams of a slower life, or who is simply navigating your own transition — I think you’ll feel at home here.
Under Burgundy Skies is for the dreamers, the creatives, the late-bloomers, the quiet rebels, and anyone searching for a deeper rhythm in their everyday life.
New episodes as often as they arrive — usually alongside the songs I release every three weeks.
Welcome to the journey.
— J.P.