Tuesday, December 29, 2009

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (December 29-January 4)


Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now also a blog. Here’s the 18th instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

December 29, 1994: Show theme- Favourite new releases of 1994.
January 4, 1996: Guest- Wade Hemsworth.
January 1, 1998: Show theme- Favourites of 1997 marathon from 7:00-11:30 am.
January 4, 2001: Show theme- Woody Guthrie Special with guest Nora Guthrie.
January 1, 2004: Show theme- Favourite new releases of 2003.
December 30, 2004: Show theme- Favourite new releases of 2004.
December 29, 2005: Show theme- Favourite new releases of 2005.
January 4, 2007: Show theme- Songs of Tom Waits.

Pictured: Nora Guthrie and Mike Regenstreif at the 2007 Ottawa Folk Festival.

--Mike Regenstreif

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (December 22-28)

Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now also a blog. Here’s the 17th instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

December 22, 1994: Extended feature- Songs set in the Christmas season.
December 25, 1997: Show theme- Christmas and Hannukah marathon from 7:00 am to noon.
December 24, 1998: Show theme- A Folk Roots/Folk Branches Holiday Special.
December 23, 1999: Show theme- A Folk Roots/Folk Branches Holiday Special.
December 28, 2000: Show theme- Favourite new releases and reissues of 2000.
December 27, 2001: Show theme- Favourite new releases of 2001.
December 26. 2002: Show theme- Favourite new releases and reissues of 2002.
December 25, 2003: Show theme- A Folk Roots/Folk Branches Holiday Special.
December 23, 2004: Show theme- A Folk Roots/Folk Branches Holiday Special.
December 22, 2005: Show theme- A Folk Roots/Folk Branches Holiday Special.
December 28, 2006: Show theme- Favourite new releases of 2006.
December 27, 2007 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Favourite new releases of 2007.


--Mike Regenstreif

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Bluegrass radio show

Sunday December 20, 2009 – 7:00-8:00 pm

I made a rare return to live radio to guest-host Bluegrass Ramblings hours on CKUT (90.3 FM in Montreal).

This program is available as a podcast (for two months) for streaming or downloading at

http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20091220.19.01-20.00.mp3

The program begins five seconds into the download.

STEVE MARTIN w/TIM O’BRIEN & EARL SCRUGGS- Daddy Played the Banjo
The Crow (Rounder)
CHARLIE HADEN featuring JACK BLACK- Old Joe Clark
Charlie Haden Family & Friends: Rambling Boy (Decca)
TONY TRISCHKA w/MICHAEL DAVES- Fox Chase
Territory (Smithsonian Folkways)
RHONDA VINCENT- Christmas Time at Home
Beautiful Star: A Christmas Collection (Rounder)

LAKE OF STEW- Darlin Starlin’
Sweet as Pie (Woodhog)
LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III- Way Up in NYC
High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project (2nd Story)
GEOFF MULDAUR & THE TEXAS SHEIKS- Poor Boy, Long Ways from Home
Geoff Muldaur & the Texas Sheiks (Tradition & Moderne)
HULL & LARSON- Santa Claus is Coming to Town
The Goose is Getting Fat (Arabica)

DOC WATSON- Slidin’ Delta
Americana Master Series: Best of the Sugar Hill Years (Sugar Hill)
CAROLINE HERRING- See See Rider
Golden Apples of the Sun (Signature Sounds)
LAURIE LEWIS & TOM ROZUM- Hot Buttered Rum
Winter’s Grace (Signature Sounds)

CHRIS COOLE- Wish We Had Our Time Again
Old Dog (Chris Coole)
SHEARWATER BLUEGRASS- Snows of December
Shearwater (Shearwater)
MARGOT LEVERETT & THE KLEZMER MOUNTAIN BOYS w/TONY TRISCHKA- Calgary Reel
2nd Avenue Square Dance (Traditional Crossroads)
JOEL MABUS- Children Go Where I Send Thee
How Like the Holly (Fossil)

SAM BUSH- Sleigh Ride
A Family Christmas (Putumayo)

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Rootsmusic.ca, bluegrass radio show Sunday

My 2009 Top 20 posted here on Wednesday has also now been posted at Rootsmusic.ca.

Rootsmusic.ca is a pretty cool new site dedicated to the Canadian folk and roots music scene. Check it out.

Tomorrow night -- Sunday December 20 -- I'll be guest-hosting the bluegrass show on CKUT from 7-8 pm (EST). Listen live at ckut.ca. The show will also be available as a downloadable podcast for two months. I'll post the playlist and download link here after the show on Sunday.

--Mike Regenstreif

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

My Top 20 for 2009


Here are my picks for the Top 20 folk-rooted or folk-branched albums of 2009. There were several other worthy albums that could have easily been on the list; and they might well have been had I compiled the list on a different day.

1. Tom Russell- Blood and Candle Smoke (Shout! Factory). I’ve long been convinced that Tom Russell is the finest songwriter of my generation. This set matches his stunning, insightful songs with creative backing by several Southwestern musicians, including members of Calexico.

2. Leonard Cohen- Live in London (Columbia). One of the greatest songwriters of all-time performs an amazing, meticulously planned and executed concert revue of songs drawn from the past 40-plus years.

3. Susan McKeown & Lorin Sklamberg- Saints & Tzadiks (World Village). Lorin Sklamberg, lead singer of the Klezmatics, and sublime Irish singer Susan McKeown take Jewish folksongs in Yiddish and Irish folksongs in Gaelic or English and mix them together, seamlessly singing in the language of their own and each other’s cultural heritage, occasionally mixing the languages into the same song, to stunning results.

4. Woody Guthrie- My Dusty Road (Rounder). In 1944, in a six-day recording marathon, Woody Guthrie recorded about 250 songs, some solo and lots with backup from fellow folksinger Cisco Houston and Sonny Terry, the great blues harmonica player. Several years ago, some pristine masters from those sessions were discovered and they allow us to hear Woody with an unprecedented sound quality. This 4-CD collection includes 54 songs and although I’ve been listening to previous releases of most of this material for most of my life, listening to this set is almost like hearing Woody and these songs for the first time.

5. Maria Muldaur- Maria Muldaur & Her Garden of Joy (Stony Plain). Maria Muldaur started her career in the 1960s playing in jug bands and returns to the genre with this terrific, infectiously fun, set.

6. Loudon Wainwright III- High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project (2nd Story). This meticulously researched project, unlike anything Loudon Wainwright’s ever done before, combines songs from the repertoire of Charlie Poole, one of the pioneers of country music, with original material written from the perspective of Poole or the people around him.

7. Jesse Winchester- Love Filling Station (Appleseed). On his first studio album in a decade, Jesse Winchester gives us nine finely-crafted original gems and three excellent covers which blend the Memphis R ‘n’ B tradition he grew up hearing with country, folk, early rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, and bluegrass influences.

8. Ramblin’ Jack Elliott- A Stranger Here (Anti-). For the first time, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott devotes an entire album to blues and sounds amazingly free and relaxed. The arrangements seem to be both as old as the songs – and as Jack himself – and, yet, utterly new and contemporary.

9. Geoff Muldaur- Geoff Muldaur & the Texas Sheiks (Tradition & Moderne). Geoff Muldaur, too, recaptures his glory days in the 1960s jug band revival with a terrific set of tunes of old blues, jug and string band tunes. The Texas Sheiks are a stellar outfit that features Jim Kweskin taking the lead vocals on three songs.

10. Gretchen Peters with Tom Russell- One to the Heart, One to the Head (Frontera/Scarlet Letter). Gretchen Peters is one of Nashville’s top songwriters but this a stunning collection of mostly western-themed songs drawn from writers like Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan and producer Tom Russell – who sings several duets with her.

11. Various artists- Singing Through the Hard Times: A Tribute to Utah Phillips (Righteous Babe). This loving tribute to the late Bruce “Utah” Phillips includes 29 songs that were written or co-written by him, three more that he didn’t write but which were part of his repertoire, and another seven that were in the spirit of some aspect of his music or persona.

12. Nanci Griffith- The Loving Kind (Rounder). I think this is Nanci Griffith’s best set of mostly original material since The Last of the True Believers in 1986 and her best album period since the two Other Voices albums in the 1990s. She’s again writing songs with something to say and she’s singing like she means it.

13. Guy Clark- Somedays the Song Writes You (Dualtone). Guy Clark has had some health problems in recent years and you can hear it in his voice. But Guy’s still writing and singing compelling songs.

14. Bob Dylan- Together Through Life (Columbia). Dylan is still giving us great songs steeped in the “old weird America” of the blues and folk music traditions.

15. Good Lovelies- Good Lovelies (Good Lovelies). On their first full-length album, Caroline Brooks, Kerri Ough and Sue Passmore delightfully dress up each others’ neo-folk, country and swing tunes with irresistible three-part harmonies.

16. Diana Jones- Better Times Will Come (Proper American). Diana Jones is an extraordinary songwriter who crafts seemingly plain and simple songs that are actually fully developed character studies wedded to timeless melodies.

17. John Gorka- So Dark You See (Red House). This is, I think, the best album John Gorka has ever made. His incisive songwriting is better than ever and his performances are seemingly unforced, but compellingly forceful. In addition to his own songs, he also turns in sublime versions of Michael Smith’s “The Dutchman,” Bruce Phillips’ “I Think of You” and “Trouble in Mind,” the blues classic.

18. The Wailin’ Jennys- Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House (Outside – Canada; Red House – U.S.). This beautifully-recorded live concert set, the first with Heather Masse, the newest Jenny, features six songs culled from earlier albums and eight they’ve recorded here for the first time.

19. Lynn Miles- Black Flowers Volume 1-2 (True North). This 2-CD set represents the first volumes in Lynn Miles’ undertaking to record or re-record acoustic versions of all of her songs. Without other musicians on these tracks, my attention as a listener is, indeed, focused directly on Lynn’s voice and the songwriting and we hear her songs on a much deeper level than ever before.

20. James Keelaghan- House of Cards (Borealis). This album is dominated by James Keelaghan’s finely-crafted personal songs, but also includes several superb songs that look beyond his own – or his fictionalized own – perspective.

--Mike Regenstreif

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (December 15-21)


Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now also a blog. Here’s the 16th instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

December 15, 1994: Extended feature- Mary McCaslin.
December 21, 1995: Show themes- Winter, Hannukah and Christmas.
December 19, 1996: Show theme- Seasonal songs.
December 18, 1997: Guest- Michael Nerenberg.
December 17, 1998: Extended feature- Hannukah; Guests- Michael Jerome Browne; Kate & Anna McGarrigle.
December 21, 2000: Show theme- A Folk Roots/Folk Branches Holiday Special.
December 20, 2001: Show theme- A Folk Roots/Folk Branches Holiday Special.
December 19. 2002: Show theme- A Folk Roots/Folk Branches Holiday Special.
December 16, 2004: My 600th broadcast on CKUT.
December 15, 2005: Guests- Bill Garrett & Dave Clarke.
December 21, 2006: Show theme- A Folk Roots/Folk Branches Holiday Special.
December 20, 2007 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): A tribute to “Philadelphia” Jerry Ricks.

Pictured: Mike Regenstreif and Mary McCaslin at the 1999 Champlain Valley Folk Festival.

--Mike Regenstreif

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family -- Go Waggaloo

















SARAH LEE GUTHRIE & FAMILY
Go Waggaloo
Smithsonian Folkways
www.folkways.si.edu


With Go Waggaloo, Sarah Lee Guthrie follows in the footsteps of her grandfather, Woody Guthrie, and her father, Arlo Guthrie, in making music for kids.

“My father,” writes Arlo in the liner notes, “took words and little tunes from my sister Cathy and turned them into songs for little kids everywhere.” And that’s exactly what Sarah Lee does on songs like “Don’t I Fit in My Daddy’s Shoes,” inspired her young daughter Sophia’s fondness for traipsing around the house in her parent’s shoes; “Take Me to Show-and-Tell,” co-written by Sarah Lee, husband Johnny Irion and their daughter Olivia; and “Big Square Walkin’,” about avoiding the cracks on the sidewalk (lest you break your mother’s back).

There are also three songs, including “Go Waggaloo,” the delightful title track, which are settings of kid song lyrics discovered among the thousands of previously-unknown songs from the Woody Guthrie Archives.

The album is quite rightly credited to Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family. Johnny, Arlo, various brothers, sisters, kids, nieces, nephews and family friends, like Pete Seeger and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger all take part. It’s a fun record for kids, and for us big kids who can suspend our grown-upness for a while.

--Mike Regenstreif

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Amelia Curran -- Hunter, Hunter






















AMELIA CURRAN
Hunter, Hunter
Six Shooter
ameliacurran.com

I discovered Amelia Curran in 2008 when Six Shooter picked up War Brides, the Newfoundland singer-songwriter’s fourth album for national distribution. Picking it for my Montreal Gazette Top 10 list that year, I wrote, “This quietly stunning album heralds the arrival of Amelia Curran as one of this country's finest singer-songwriters.”

Hunter, Hunter, recorded in St. John’s, reinforces the impressions I voiced on hearing War Brides. Her songs are poetic and compelling. Many are also impressionistic, leaving them open to interpretation in the same way that Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell songs often do. “Bye Bye Montreal” is a good example. Is Curran bidding farewell to a friend or lover in Montreal, or to the city itself? Is it a permanent goodbye, or something temporary?

Among my favourite songs are the intense “Tiny Glass Houses,” a metaphorical look into wounded, open souls; “The Dozens,” a clever, bit of female braggadocio with elements of blues, cabaret and New Orleans second-line in the arrangement; and, best of all, “Last Call,” a late-night, barroom waltz that says farewell to a partner she never loved, or perhaps, to a barroom life she’s ready to leave behind.

Amelia Curran is an artist that I expect we'll be hearing from for many years to come.

--Mike Regenstreif

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (December 8-14)


Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now also a blog. Here’s the 15th instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

December 8, 1994: Extended feature- Jesse Winchester.
December 12, 1996: Extended feature- A Hanukkah Celebration.
December 11, 1997: Special edition- The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers.
December 10, 1998: Guest- Eric Taylor.
December 14, 2000: Guest- Stephen Fearing.
December 13, 2001: Guest- Kirk MacGeachy.
December 12. 2002: Guest- Réjean Archambault of La Bottine Souriante.
December 9, 2004: Recurring theme- Songs of Hannukah.
December 8, 2005: Guests- Kate & Anna McGarrigle; Tom Russell & Andrew Hardin.
December 14, 2006: Guest- Ian Tyson.
December 13, 2007 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Songs from Dave on Dave, David Massengill’s tribute to Dave Van Ronk (and a bit of Dave on Dave, Dave Van Ronk singing a David Massengill song).

Pictured (left to right): Tom Russell, Mike Regenstreif and Andrew Hardin at the Green Room on December 8, 2005.

--Mike Regenstreif

Monday, December 7, 2009

Liam Clancy – the last of the Clancy Brothers passes away


“I never heard a singer as good as Liam ever. He was just the best ballad singer I’d ever heard in my life. Still is, probably.” –Bob Dylan, 1984

Liam Clancy, the last of the Clancy Brothers, in fact, the last of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, the Irish group that introduced me – and most folkies of my generation – to Irish folk music, passed away on Friday at age 74 after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis.

I still love the old Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem albums from the 1960s, but my favourites are the intimate and beautiful duo albums – Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy, Two for the Early Dew, and The Makem & Clancy Collection – that Liam and Tommy recorded in the 1970s.

And like so many others on hearing the news of Liam’s passing, I’m reminded of “The Parting Glass,” a traditional Irish folk song that Liam sang so beautifully (and which Dylan used as his template for “Restless Farewell”).

The Parting Glass (traditional)

Of all the money e'er I had,
I spent it in good company.
And all the harm I've ever done,
Alas! it was to none but me.
And all I've done for want of wit
To mem'ry now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all

Oh, all the comrades e'er I had,
They're sorry for my going away,
And all the sweethearts e'er I had,
They'd wish me one more day to stay,
But since it falls unto my lot,
That I should go and you should not,
I gently rise and softly call,
Good night and joy be with you all.

If I had money enough to spend,
And leisure time to sit awhile,
There is a fair maid in this town,
That sorely has my heart beguiled.
Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips,
I own she has my heart in thrall,
Then fill to me the parting glass,
Good night and joy be with you all.


--Mike Regenstreif

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Geoff Muldaur & the Texas Sheiks; Lake of Stew- Sweet as Pie









































GEOFF MULDAUR & THE TEXAS SHEIKS
Geoff Muldaur & the Texas Sheiks
Tradition & Moderne
tradition-moderne.com

LAKE OF STEW
Sweet as Pie
Woodhog Recording Company
lakeofstew.ca

Are we in the midst of a new jug band revival? In October, I reviewed a great new jug band album by Maria Muldaur who got her start in the 1960s playing in the Even Dozen Jug Band, and, more famously, in Jim Kweskin’s Jug Band. Geoff Muldaur, Maria’s ex-husband, and former Kweskin band mate, and Montreal’s own Lake of Stew, have also released great new jug band albums.

Strictly speaking, in the absence of jug players, these are really string band, rather than jug band, albums (although producer Ken Whiteley does play the jug on one track on the Lake of Stew CD). But, they are in the spirit of the original Memphis-area jug bands of the 1930s, and certainly of the 1960s-era revivalists like Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band, and later revivalists like John Sebastian’s J-Band (which also included guest appearances by Geoff).

Speaking of Kweskin, he’s a guest-Sheik on Geoff’s album and takes the lead vocal on three tunes, including a remake of “Blues in the Bottle,” a song that was on the first Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band LP I bought back in the ‘60s.

I’ve loved almost everything Geoff Muldaur has recorded over the years – from his band work with Kweskin and Paul Butterfield, to his solo albums and collaborations with Maria and Amos Garrett. Geoff Muldaur & the Texas Sheiks stands tall with the best of his work. He’s a particularly fine blues singer and includes Texas Sheik versions of such songs as “Poor Boy, Long Way from Home,” “Right Now Blues” and “Cairo” (I recently heard my friend Andy Cohen, who kind of specializes in playing hard-to-play blues songs, say that “Cairo” is about the hardest song he plays).

As mentioned, Jim Kweskin, who led the leading jug band of the 1960s, steps up to the microphone to take the lead vocals on three songs. Other Sheiks who sing lead include guitarist Johnny Nicholas on three songs, including a fine take on Robert Johnson’s “Travelin’ Riverside Blues”; and bassist Bruce Hughes who offers a raggy version of “Don’t Sell It (Don’t Give It Away).”

Other members of the Texas Sheiks include the late guitarist Stephen Bruton – the album was recorded shortly before he lost his battle with cancer; Dobro player Cyndi Cashdollar; and fiddler Suzy Thompson, who also played on Maria Muldaur’s jug band album.

While Geoff Muldaur & the Texas Sheiks interpret a repertoire that dates back to the era of the original blues players and jug bands of the 1920s and ‘30s, Lake of Stew, on their second album, brings a ‘20s and ‘30s aesthetic to 14 contemporary songs written by various members of the six-piece band. Everyone in the band brings at least one song (and lead vocal) to the set list.

In my 2008 Montreal Gazette review of Ain't Tired of Lovin', the first Lake of Stew CD, I said “the lead vocals and irresistible harmonies shift through the band from song to song, and everything is played with an absolutely infectious energy” and that’s still the case on this CD. I love their energy, their harmonies, that all-acoustic instrumental approach and the quirky songs they write.

While the whole album is fun, my favourite tunes on first listen include Dina Cindric’s “Darlin’ Starlin’,” a really pretty love song with the lilt of a timeless Appalachian folksong; “Pretty Sarah,” Richard Rigby’s romp about tagging factory walls and ducking cops; and Julia Narveson’s “Hey Bully,” a musical challenge to some local bully that feels like it could be an old Gus Cannon song. This, BTW, is the track that Ken Whiteley plays jug on.

Along with Dina (accordion, kazoo, banjo, piano, bass, ukulele), Richard (mandolin, kazoo, harmonica, banjo) and Julia (washtub bass, banjo-ukelele, fiddle, bass), Lake of Stew's singer-songwriter-instrumentalists include Daniel McKell (guitar. jaw harp, banjo, kazoo, tenor banjo), Brad Levia (guitar), and Mike Rigby (guitar, mandolin, washboard & brush). A talented lot. Ken Whiteley variously adds washboard, banjo, mandolin and triangle to four of the 14 songs.

Sweet as Pie is less overtly political than Ain’t Tired of Lovin’, their first album, but it’s tighter. That’s mostly because they’ve played a lot over the past couple of years, but also because they’ve pared the size of the band down by a couple of members and recorded under the studio supervision of Ken Whiteley, one of Canada’s finest roots music producers (and musicians).

--Mike Regenstreif

A Very Important Message from Pete Seeger About the Future of Sing Out!


Sing Out! Magazine has been the most important and venerable folk music publication since Pete Seeger co-founded the magazine back in 1950. I've been a Sing Out! subscriber since about 1970 or so and have been writing reviews and articles for the magazine since the 1980s. Pete has released a video message about the future of the magazine and organization that you can view at this link, along with a message from Mark D. Moss, the editor and executive director.

Please check it out.

--Mike Regenstreif

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (December 1-7)


Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now also a blog. Here’s the 14th instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

December 1, 1994: Guest- Penny Lang.
December 7, 1995: Guest- Connie Kaldor; Extended feature- The Songs of Utah Phillips.
December 4, 1997: Guest- Cindy Church.
December 3, 1998: Guest- David Massengill.
December 2, 1999: Show theme- A tribute to Lead Belly; Guest- Michael Jerome Browne.
December 7, 2000: Guest- David Francey.
December 1, 2005: Guest- Sylvia Tyson.
December 6, 2007 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Songs for Hanukkah.

Pictured: Me with Quartette at a Folk Roots/Folk Branches concert, December 6, 1997, at the Concordia Concert Hall. Left to right: Caitlin Hanford, Sylvia Tyson, Mike Regenstreif, Cindy Church, Gwen Swick.

--Mike Regenstreif

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (November 24-30)

Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now also a blog. Here’s the 13th instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

November 24, 1994: Show theme- 20 Years of Flying Fish Recordings.
November 27, 1997: Extended feature- The Songs of Sylvia Tyson.
November 26, 1998: Guest- Richie Havens.
November 25, 1999: Guests- Dave Clarke & Ellen Shizgal of Steel Rail.
November 29, 2001: Guest- Stephen Barry.
November 28, 2002: Guests- Michael Jerome Browne & Stephen Barry.
November 25, 2004: Show Theme- Artists mentioned in Bob Dylan’s Chronicles, Volume One.
November 29, 2007 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Songs of the Carter Family.
November 20, 2008 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): The Tom Russell Anthology: Veteran’s Day, Part 2.

--Mike Regenstreif

Sunday, November 22, 2009

The Good Lovelies -- Under the Mistletoe




















THE GOOD LOVELIES
Under the Mistletoe
The Good Lovelies
goodlovelies.com

I was talking to Kerri Ough of the Good Lovelies last night at the Canadian Folk Music Awards and mentioned that despite a low tolerance for a lot of Christmas albums, I do really like Under the Mistletoe.

So, what’s it about this album that makes it a winner for me?

Mostly, it’s their irresistible, three-part harmonies and wonderful sense of musicality that delightfully blends rootsy influences with a lot of swing. Even their version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” swings. The musical arrangements, featuring some of Toronto’s finest players, are as delightful as the trio’s terrific singing. Then there’s a Christmas repertoire that, with a couple of exceptions, mostly avoids carols and religious songs in favour of secular songs about the holiday season.

Along with three fine originals, the Good Lovelies devote most of the CD to well known Christmas pop songs like “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Blue Christmas” and the best version of “The Chipmunk Song” since Simon, Theodore and Alvin’s original. My favourite, I think, is the Hawaiian-flavoured “Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas).”

The Good Lovelies will be launching Under the Mistletoe with concerts on Friday, November 27, at Petit Campus in Montreal; Saturday, November 28, at the Black Sheep in Wakefield, QC; and Sunday, December 6, at Hugh’s Room in Toronto.

--Mike Regenstreif

Canadian Folk Music Awards

The Canadian Folk Music Awards made for a lovely evening last night at the Dominion-Chalmers United Church in Ottawa. The awards were supposed to have been at the Canadian Museum of Civilization across from Parliament Hill in Gatineau, QC, but had to be moved because of the strike at the museum.

There were some excellent performances including two-song sets by Yonder Hill, Old Man Luedecke, Les Charbonniers de l’Enfer, April Verch, Valdy and Catarina Cardeal & Mike Siracusa. The evening began in a grand style with a medley of tunes played by four fiddlers -- Bonita Leblanc, Anthony Brascoupe, Denis Lanctot and Terri-Lyn Mahusky -- from the Ottawa region who were in the balconies above the audience. Shelagh Rogers and Benoit Borque were the very able MCs.

The Good Lovelies were sitting beside Sylvie and me, so I got to be among the first to congratulate them when they got back to their seats after taking the award for new/emerging artist(s) of the year.

The Canadian Folk Music Award winners were…

Traditional Album of the Year
James Hill & Anne DavisonTrue Love Don’t Weep (Langley, BC)

Contemporary Album of the Year
Joel PlaskettThree (Halifax)

Children’s Album of the Year
Chris McKhoolFiddleFire! (Toronto)

Traditional Singer of the Year
Colette Cheverie - Hours Before Dawn (Charlottetown PE)

Contemporary Singer of the Year
Jim ByrnesMy Walking Stick (Vancouver)

Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year
Tony McManusThe Maker’s Mark (Elora ON)

Instrumental Group of the Year
Sultans of StringYalla Yalla! (Toronto)

English Songwriter of the Year
Susan Crowe - Greytown (Halifax)

French Songwriter of the Year
Catherine Durand - Coeurs Migratoires (Montreal)

Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year
Don Amero - Deepening (Winnipeg)

Vocal Group of the Year
Madison VioletNo Fool For Trying (Toronto)

Ensemble of the Year
The Deep Dark WoodsWinter Hours (Saskatoon)

Solo Artist of the Year
Catherine MacLellanWater in the Ground (Charlottetown PE)

World Solo Artist of the Year
Karim Saada - La Danse de L'exilé (L’Assomption QC)

World Group of the Year
Jayme Stone & Mansa SissokoAfrica to Appalachia (Toronto / Quebec QC)

New/Emerging Artist of the Year
The Good LoveliesGood Lovelies (Toronto)

Producer of the Year
Joel Plaskett - Joel Plaskett: Three (Halifax)

Pushing the Boundaries
Steve DawsonTelescope (Vancouver)

Young Performer of the Year
Ariana GillisAriana Gillis (Vineland ON)

Congratulations to all the award winners.

--Mike Regenstreif

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (November 17-23)


Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now also a blog. Here’s the 12th instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

November 17, 1994: Extended feature- Christine Lavin.
November 23, 1995: Extended feature- The Songs of Jack Hardy.
November 20, 1997: Guest- Robert Atyeo.
November 19, 1998: Guest- Roger McGuinn.
November 18, 1999: Guest- Stacey Earle.
November 23, 2000: Guest- Michael Jerome Browne; Special festure- Jesse Winchester recorded in concert, August 5, 2000, at the Champlain Valley Folk Festival.
November 22, 2001: Guest- “Philadelphia” Jerry Ricks.
November 21, 2002: Guest- Dave Clarke.
November 20, 2003: Guests- The McDades; Chris Frye of the Bills.
November 18, 2004: Guests- Penny Lang & Dave Clarke.
November 17, 2005: My 650th show on CKUT.
November 23, 2006: Guest- David Gogo.
November 22, 2007 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): The Songs of Bruce Murdoch.
November 20, 2008 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): The Tom Russell Anthology: Veteran’s Day, Part 1.

Pictured: Me and Jesse Winchester at the Champlain Valley Folk Festival on August 5, 2000.

--Mike Regenstreif

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Wailin' Jennys -- Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House; Heather Masse -- Bird Song



THE WAILIN’ JENNYS
Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House
Outside Music (Canada), Red House (U.S.)
thewailinjennys.com

HEATHER MASSE
Bird Song
Red House
heathermasse.com

Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, recorded August 30, 2008, at an old theatre in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, features what’s being referred to as version 3.0 of the Wailin’ Jennys. The original Winnipeg based trio – Cara Luft, Nicky Mehta and Ruth Moody – burst onto the folk scene in 2002 with an eponymously named EP and a fine full-length CD, 40 Days, released in 2004, that established the Jennys as one of the most glorious-sounding harmony groups around.

Cara had left the group and was replaced by Montreal’s own Annabelle Chvostek by the time they recorded their second full-length album, Firecracker, in 2006. After her two year-stint, Annabelle left the band and was replaced by Heather Masse, a New York-based singer-songwriter. With each personnel change, the Wailin’ Jennys have seemingly seamlessly adapted and evolved. There was something different, but consistently Jennyish, with each change.

As much as I’ve enjoyed the fully-produced tracks on their studio albums, I’ve always enjoyed the Wailin’ Jennys best on stage, when it’s just them, their stunning harmonies and the songs. And that’s how it is on this beautifully-recorded live concert set featuring six songs culled from their earlier albums and eight that they’ve recorded here for the first time.

As on the earlier albums, each of the Jennys takes her turns as lead singer with the other two adding sublime, hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck-raising harmonies. Most thrilling of all are the three a cappella songs in which their gorgeous voices are all that we hear. They do marvelous jobs on “Summertime,” the Porgy and Bess classic; Lead Belly’s “Bring Me Little Water Sylvie,” which they first recorded on the first EP, and which Heather now takes the lead vocal; and Heather’s own, too-short, “Paint a Picture.”

Among the other highlights are wonderful versions of couple of traditional songs, “Bold Riley” and “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” Jane Siberry’s “Calling All Angels,” Gillian Welch’s “Calling All Angels,” and a reprise of Ruth’s “One Voice,” from 40 Days which I think must be regarded as the Wailin’ Jennys’ signature song.

The Wailin’ Jennys are also their own band on this live set with Heather on upright bass, and Nicky and Ruth both playing guitars and switching off to several other instruments. The only other musician is the great fiddler, Jeremy Penner, who adds much to the arrangements he plays on.

Heather Masse, the newest Jenny, also has also just released Bird Song, her first, full-length solo album. It’s a fine effort that showcases Heather’s versatility as a singer and songwriter equally at home in jazz, folk, blues and rockabilly veins. In some ways, the album is reminiscent of the best of Norah Jones’ early work, but Heather seems to put herself into the songs in a way that the sometimes detached-sounding Jones didn’t always do.

On Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, Heather proved she can blend beautifully with two other singers. On Bird Song, she proves she and her songs can also stand beautifully on their own.

--Mike Regenstreif

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (November 10-16)


Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now also a blog. Here’s the 11th instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

November 10, 1994: Extended feature- Reflections on issues of war and peace.
November 16, 1995: Extended feature- The Stinson Collectors Series.
November 12, 1998: Guest- Penny Lang.
November 11, 1999: Guest- James Keelaghan.
November 15, 2001: Guest- Michael Jerome Browne.
November 14, 2002: Show theme- 30 years of concerts produced by Mike Regenstreif.
November 16, 2006: Guest- Rob Lutes.
November 15, 2007 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Songs from the Folk Roots/Folk Branches Archives.

Pictured: Me, Rebecca Anderson and James Keelaghan at the Green Room on December 3, 2006.

--Mike Regenstreif

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Geoff Bartley -- Blackbirds in the Pie


GEOFF BARTLEY
Blackbirds in the Pie
Geoff Bartley
geoffbartley.com

Geoff Bartley has been a mainstay of the Boston folk and blues scene for about four decades and I’ve enjoyed his singing, playing and songwriting since the first time I encountered him – circa 1973 – at a benefit concert there.

Blackbirds in the Pie includes a number of examples of Geoff’s always-excellent acoustic blues work including fine versions of such classics as Reverend Gary Davis’ “Candy Man,” featuring some delicious-sounding fingerpicking; the Bessie Smith classic “Send Me to the ‘Lectric Chair,” featuring some nifty clarinet playing by Billy Novick, one of my all-time favourite horn players; and “Backwater Blues” that’s filtered through both Ma Rainey and Lightnin’ Hopkins.

From the folk canon, Geoff does beautiful jobs on “Central Square,” a previously unrecorded Tom Paxton song, that nostaligically recalls a found and lost love, and on Malvina Reynolds’ classic, “God Bless the Grass.”

Geoff’s also a fine songwriter and shines on such tunes as “Bozos on the Road No. 2,” a jazzy and very funny remake of an earlier tune that he sets from the P.O.V. of a gas-guzzling, cell phone-talking driver of a big SUV; “The Song of Imaginary Gifts,” a list of imaginary gifts for a special person that really boil down to love, the best gift of all; “Redemption,” a slow, beautiful, slide guitar instrumental played on a resonator guitar; and “Lemonade Redux,” a ragtime guitar instrumental that I think would make my late friend, Dave Van Ronk, smile.

From Geoff’s first-rate – mostly solo – interpretations of folk and blues standards, to his own fine songs and instrumentals, Blackbirds in the Pie is an engaging set by an always worthy artist.

--Mike Regenstreif

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (November 3-9)


Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now also a blog. Here’s the 10th instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

November 3, 1994: Special edition- The Songs of Bob Dylan.
November 9, 1995: Extended feature- David Grisman.
November 6, 1997: Special edition- 25 Years of concerts produced by Mike Regenstreif.
November 5, 1998: Guest- Erin Corday.
November 4, 1999: Guests- Guy Davis; Ray Bonneville.
November 9, 2000: Guest- Eric Andersen.
November 8, 2001: Guest- Penny Lang.
November 7, 2002: Guest- Rob Lutes.
November 6, 2003: Guests- Blackie & the Rodeo Kings.
November 4, 2004: Guests- Laura Risk; Michael Jerome Browne.
November 3, 2005: Guest- Thomas Hellman.
November 8, 2007 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Train songs.

Pictured: Eric Andersen and me in the CKUT studio during Folk Roots/Folk Branches on November 9, 2000.

--Mike Regenstreif

Monday, November 2, 2009

Lynn Miles -- Black Flowers Volume 1-2; Katherine Wheatley -- Landed




















LYNN MILES
Black Flowers Volume 1-2
True North
lynnmilesmusic.com

KATHERINE WHEATLEY
Landed
Hoot Music
katherinewheatley.com

Lynn Miles has long been one of my favourite confessional singer-songwriters. Although, I’ve enjoyed most of her earlier recordings, I’ve always preferred hearing her perform live in solo settings which allow both her beautiful voice and her excellent songwriting to shine. Sometimes, I’ve thought the studio arrangements on Lynn’s albums have distracted me from what I really wanted to hear.

Recently, Lynn has undertaken to record basic acoustic versions of her entire song catalogue. The two Black Flowers CDs, which she first released independently and individually, and which are now packaged together in this 2-CD set, collect the first 20 songs recorded in that undertaking.

Without other musicians on these tracks, my attention as a listener is, indeed, focused directly on Lynn’s voice and the songwriting. Listening, I’m thrilled to really hear these songs on a much deeper level than I have before. I’m really looking forward to hearing many more of Lynn’s songs recorded and re-recorded this intimately.

Lynn, along with Scott Merritt, is also the co-producer of Landed, Katherine Wheatley’s excellent new recording focused mostly on songs about broken relationships.

Although there are a few uptempo tracks, most of Katherine’s songs on Landed are quite intimate and personal. But, unlike some songwriters, she doesn’t make us wallow in her misery. These are songs that help us understand the vagaries of the human heart. Listening, I was reminded of something my old friend, Rosalie Sorrels, once told me after a relationship ended: “He broke my heart, but I got a bunch of great songs out of it.”

Although the studio arrangements feature anywhere from three up to a dozen musicians and singers, the songs retain the intimacy they need; the additional musicians and singers never get in the way of Katherine and her songs.

--Mike Regenstreif

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Pete Seeger -- Live in '65






















PETE SEEGER
Live in ‘65
Appleseed
peteseegermusic.com

I’ve got dozens and dozens of Pete Seeger CDs and LPs –- and collaborative albums by Pete with other artists –- in my collection, and a lot of them are live recordings. And I wouldn’t even hazard a guess as to how many times I’ve seen him perform over the years. Despite all that exposure, he’s an artist I’ve never grown weary of, so I welcome this never-before-released, 2-CD, concert set recorded in Pittsburgh on February 20, 1965.

Pete was very much in his prime when this concert was recorded. Like others of Pete’s live albums, there are versions of classic standards from his performing repertoire including “Turn! Turn! Turn!” “If I Had a Hammer,” “Guantanamera” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” and “Bells of Rhymney.” Despite the fact that I’ve heard Pete’s various recordings of such songs hundreds, if not thousands, of times, I never tire of hearing them again, and of hearing the individual nuances of a particular performance.

Some of my other favourites in the set include “Peat Bog Soldiers,” a song created by concentration camp prisoners in Germany early in the Nazi regime, and which was sung just a couple of years later by members of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War; “Los Cuatro Generales,” another Spanish Civil War song; “This Little Light of Mine,” which, of course, features harmonies from everyone in the audience that Saturday night almost 45 years ago (half of Pete’s lifetime to date); and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” one of the most powerful of Bob Dylan’s early songs.

There are lots of other great songs on the album including “Healing River,” a civil rights-era song written by Fran Minkoff and Pete’s fellow-Weaver Fred Hellerman, which is not on any of the many other Pete Seeger recordings I own.

And, you can tell that this concert was recorded back before the dawn of the Internet age because, at one point, Pete plays the beautiful melody to “I Once Loved a Lass” -– which was used by Richard Fariña for “Birmingham Sunday” -– and asks the audience if anyone knows the words because he can’t get the tune out of his head and can’t find the lyrics. Nowadays, all he’d have to do is Google -- and presto.

The concert recording is just Pete: singing and playing solo on banjo and 12-string guitar. Or, really, as solo as he could be with 2,000 harmony singers.

I’ve come away inspired from every Pete Seeger performance I’ve ever attended – or listened to. This one included.

Pete Seeger's Live in '65 will be released on November 10.

--Mike Regenstreif

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (October 27-November 2)

Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now also a blog. Here’s the ninth instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

October 27, 1994: Extended feature- Tish Hinojosa.
October 29, 1998: Guest- Vance Gilbert.
October 28, 1999: Guest- Richard Shindell.
November 2, 2000: Guest- Charlie Sohmer.
October 31, 2002: Guest- Corb Lund.
October 27, 2005: Guests- Matapat.
November 2, 2006: Guest- NEeMA.
November 1, 2007 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Collaborations.

--Mike Regenstreif

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Various artists -- Things About Comin' My Way: A tribute to the music of the Mississippi Sheiks




















VARIOUS ARTISTS
Things About Comin’ My Way: A tribute to the music of the Mississippi Sheiks
Black Hen
blackhenmusic.com

One of the nice things about being my age is that as a young folkie, I had opportunities to see, in some cases meet, and, in a few cases, even work with, some of the legendary first generation recording artists whose music so influenced everything that came after. One of the artists I got to work with in 1974 as an area co-ordinator (stage manager) at the Mariposa Folk Festival was Sam Chatman, who I believe was about 77 or 78 years old at the time.

Back in the 1920s and ‘30s –- in addition to being a solo blues artist –- Sam often performed and recorded as a member of the Mississippi Sheiks, one of the great African-American string bands. Their biggest hit was “Sitting On Top of the World,” a song that has since become a standard in blues, bluegrass, western swing, folk and even rock repertoires. Sam had one of the most-lined faces I’ve ever seen, but there was so much musical history etched inside each and every one of those lines.

When I met Sam Chatman, he was 35 or 40 years removed from the heyday of the Mississippi Sheiks. And, now, 35 years after that, comes this excellent tribute featuring various artists interpreting 17 of their songs in their own individualistic ways.

I like almost all of these interpretations but some of my favourite tracks include a cool version of “Honey Babe Let the Deal Go Down” by Bruce Cockburn that begins with some great fingerpicking blues patterns and builds into a Preservation Hall-style arrangement highlighted by William Carn’s trombone; Del Rey’s take on “We Are Both Feeling Good Right Now,” featuring her goodtime vocals and her ragtime guitar playing interacting with a choir of three clarinets; an arrangement of “The World is Going Wrong,” by Geoff Muldaur and the Texas Sheiks that recalls Geoff’s days in the Jim Kweskin Jug Band; and a faithful version of “Sitting On Top of the World,” by the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a great trio at the forefront of the revival in African American stringband music.

Other highlights include tracks by Madeleine Peyroux, John Hammond, the Sojourners, Kelly Joe Phelps and producer Steve Dawson.

--Mike Regenstreif

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Joan Baez documentary online


Last week, I watched How Sweet the Sound, an excellent documentary about Joan Baez and her 50-year career on the PBS program American Masters. PBS has the program available for streaming online -– just until December 10 -– at this link. I highly recommend the program which includes lots of performances from over the years and some insightful interviews from Joan and several peers including Bob Dylan.

Pictured: Me and Joan backstage at the Flynn Theatre in Burlington, Vermont in 2004.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Chris Smither -- Time Stands Still


CHRIS SMITHER
Time Stands Still
Signature Sounds
smither.com

Although Chris Smither started his career in the mid-1960s, and released a couple of albums in the early-‘70s, it was his comeback, of sorts, circa 1991, after getting into recovery from alcoholism, that he started to make a series of excellent albums that have cemented his reputation as one of the finest songwriters and interpretive singer-guitarists in contemporary folk and acoustic blues music. Like almost all of his work over the past 18 or so years, Time Stands Still is consistently good in its mix of strong originals and three outstanding covers.

My favourite of Chris’ originals on this set is “Time Stands Still,” the title track. It’s got the classic Smither combination of great lines and great rhymes, fluid, finger-picked guitar rhythms and his patented world-weary, New Orleans drawling singing style.

But as much as I like Chris’ original tunes – and I really do – the two standouts for me on Time Stands Still are his sublime versions of Bob Dylan’s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” and Frank Hutchison’s “Miner’s Blues.”

Chris has done several superb Dylan covers on earlier albums. Check out his reimagination of “Desolation Row” on Train Home or the beautiful version of “Visions of Johanna” on Leave the Light On. This version of “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry,” I think, goes deeper and more intimately into the blues-well than Dylan’s own original on Highway 61 Revisited. One of these days Chris just has to do a whole album of Dylan songs.

“Miner’s Blues,” which Hutchison, perhaps the first white blues artist to make records, recorded back in the 1920s, is a beautiful compendium of floating blues verses from countless early blues songs.

The album has a consistency in its sound in that each of the tracks features the same three musicians: Chris, with his constantly tapping foot and guitar playing; producer David Goodrich on guitar and/or piano; and creative percussionist Zak Trojano.

--Mike Regenstreif

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Venue change for Canadian Folk Music Awards


The Canadian Folk Music Awards on November 21 were to have taken place at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau. However, due to the ongoing labour dispute at the museum, the awards and reception have been moved to the Dominion-Chalmers United Church at 355 Cooper Street in Ottawa. Call the Ottawa Folklore Centre at 1-800-385-FOLK or 613-730-2887 for tickets.

Pictured: Me and Tom Coxworth, the folk radio host at CKUA in Alberta, presenting an award at the first annual Canadian Folk Music Awards at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in 2005.

--Mike Regenstreif

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (October 20-26)

Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now also a blog. Here’s the eighth instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

October 20, 1994: Extended feature- Arlo Guthrie.
October 26, 1995: Guest- Bill Garrett.
October 24, 1996: Guest- Steve Fruitman.
October 22, 1998: Guest- John Gorka.
October 21, 1999: Guest- Chuck Brodsky.
October 25, 2001: Guest- Lynn Miles.
October 23, 2003: Guests- Po’ Girl.
October 21, 2004: Guests- Ken Whiteley, Harry Manx.
October 20, 2005: Guests- Brian Blain, Harry Manx.
October 26, 2006: My 700th broadcast on CKUT.
October 25, 2007 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Songs about this time of year.
October 23, 2008 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Three Women Sing, Part 2.

--Mike Regenstreif

Monday, October 19, 2009

Corb Lund -- Losin' Lately Gambler


CORB LUND
Losin’ Lately Gambler
New West
corblund.com

Alberta’s Corb Lund took a bit of a musical detour on his last record – Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier! – a concept album revolving around themes of war and horses. With Losin’ Lately Gambler, Corb is back to his old tricks writing authentically about cowboys and life on the ranches and small prairie towns of Western Canada. Having been a teenaged rodeo champion, and coming from a family that’s ranched in Southern Alberta for more than a century, Corb’s authenticity is in his jeans and in his genes.

Several of these songs are based directly on Corb’s own life. His past as a teenaged rodeo champ is fodder for “Steer Rider’s Blues,” a infectious rockabilly tune about being a 14-year-old rodeo winner who still can’t impress the girls, while “A Game In Town Like This” describes the underground poker scene he used to frequent where the stakes were so high “who would go to Vegas with a game in town like this?”

As a kid in Calgary in the 1950s and ‘60s, I well remember the Chinook winds that could turn a 40 below day into 40 above – it was measured in Fahrenheit back then – in a matter of an hour or two. I liked Chinook winds but Corb has a different take on the winds in “Chinook Wind,” a song that describes the effect the winds can have on ranch men and ranch land.

Among the other highlights on Losin’ Lately Gambler are “Alberta Says Hello,” a lonely kind of song about a hurtin’ Albertan missing a woman back east in Montreal, “Devil’s Best Dress,” a gunfighter ballad that would’ve done Marty Robbins proud, and “Long Gone to Saskatchewan,” a tribute to the province next door that’s kind of in a Stompin’ Tom Connors vein (Corb acknowledges the influences of Stompin’ Tom and Alberta songwriter Tim Hus by dropping their names in the song).

After 11 new songs, Corb ends the album with an infectious live medley of the traditional “Rye Whiskey” and his own barroom party tune, “Time to Switch to Whiskey,” songs he first recorded on his 2003 album, Five Dollar Bill, recorded in front of an enthused Australian crowd.

--Mike Regenstreif

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Maria Muldaur -- Maria Muldaur & her Garden of Joy




















MARIA MULDAUR
Maria Muldaur & her Garden of Joy
Stony Plain
mariamuldaur.com


Round about 1970, when I was still in high school and getting into music in a big way, I picked up Greatest Hits, a 2-LP set drawn from the 1960s recordings of Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band. That album hooked me on the Kweskin Band and sent me off in search of other revival-era jug bands and the Depression-era jug bands from Memphis and area that started it all.

Kweskin’s was a great band. Along with Kweskin, some of the other players included jug player extraordinaire Fritz Richmond, banjo legend Bill Keith, acoustic blues great Geoff Muldaur, and the ultra-sexy singer and fiddler Maria D’Amato, who at some point back in the day became Maria Muldaur when she married Geoff. I still listen to the Kweskin albums 40 years later.

In the 40 or so years since leaving the Kweskin Band, Maria did a couple of duo albums with Geoff and then a long list of solo albums that have moved through the realms of pop, jazz and blues. Finally, with Maria Muldaur & her Garden of Joy, she’s come back to a full set of jug band music -– and it’s a terrific, infectiously fun, set.

Many of these tunes date back to the 1930s heyday of jug band music (or even earlier). It truly does feel like being in a garden of joy listening to Maria and a sublime collection of jug-loving musicians romp through old tunes like “Shout You Cats,” and “The Panic is Gone.” One of my favourites is “The Ghost of the St. Louis Blues,” a kind of spooky, Dixieland parody of the W.C. Handy tune first recorded by Emmett Miller (but which, I confess, I first heard by Leon Redbone).

Along with the vintage material, there are a couple of newish Dan Hicks compositions and Hicks himself turns up to duet with Maria in a great medley of a couple of old novelty tunes.

There are lots of great musicians playing on the CD including John Sebastian and David Grisman who, along with Maria, were in the short-lived Even Dozen Jug Band in her pre-Kweskin days. Other players include Taj Mahal, Suzy Thompson and Jim Rothermel. One track, “Sweet Lovin’ Ol’ Soul,” is repeated from Maria’s 2005 album of the same name and features the late Fritz Richmond, Maria’s old Kweskin band mate, on jug.

Great stuff. More, please!

--Mike Regenstreif

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (October 13-19)


Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now also a blog. Here’s the seventh instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

October 13, 1994: Extended feature- Kate & Anna McGarrigle.
October 19, 1995: Guest- Kirk MacGeachy of Orealis.
October 17, 1996: A tribute to the late Colleen Peterson.
October 15, 1998: Guest- Roy Forbes.
October 14, 1999: Guest- Rick Fielding.
October 16, 2003: Guest- Erin McKeown.
October 14, 2004: Guest- Jackie Washington.
October 19. 2006: Guest- Michael Jerome Browne.
October 18, 2007 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Songs about bus stations and bus rides.
October 16, 2008 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Three Women Sing, Part 1.

Pictured: The late Jackie Washington and me at Library & Archives Canada in Ottawa on May 8, 2008.

--Mike Regenstreif