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