Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – December 27, 2025


Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa on Saturday mornings from 7 until 10 am (Eastern time) and available for on-demand streaming anytime. I am one of the four rotating hosts of the Saturday Morning show. 

This episode of Saturday Morning was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/73437.html

Mike Regenstreif & Maria Dunn (2017)

Maria Dunn- Another Year
Hardscrabble Hope (Distant Whisper Music)

Herdman, Hills & Mangsen- At the Turning of the Year
At the Turning of the Year (Hand & Heart Music)
Rod MacDonald & Mike Regenstreif (2005)

Rod MacDonald- The Coming of the Snow
After the War (Blue Flute Music)
The Tony Rice Unit- Girl from the North Country
Live at the Birchmere (Acoustic Disc)
Maggie’s Wake- Song for a Winter’s Night
Close to Home (Maggie’s Wake)
Bill Garrett & Mike Regenstreif (2014)

Bill Garrett
- A Winters Night
Seems to Me (Borealis)
Mike Regenstreif & Orit Shimoni (2025)

Orit Shimoni- Soft Like Snow
Soft Like Snow (Orit Shimoni)
Mike Regenstreif & Bill Morrissey (2005)

Bill Morrissey- Birches
The Essential Collection (Rounder)
Mike Regenstreif & Lynn Miles (2013)

Lynn Miles- This Heart That Lives in Winter
Winter (Lynn Miles)

Rags Rosenberg- Song of the Bricoleur
Song of the Bricoleur (Coyote Gulch)
Sneezy Waters & Mike Regenstreif (2013)

Sneezy Waters & His Very Fine Band- Visions of Johanna
Live (Sneezy Waters)
Laura Smith & Mike Regenstreif (2013)

Laura Smith- Song of the Candle
Remembering Stan Rogers: An East Coast Tribute (Brookes Diamond Productions)

Madeleine Peyroux- Everybody’s Talkin’
Half the Perfect World (Rounder)

Julie Adams & The Mountain Stage Band- Say What
Live (Gadfly)
Mike Regenstreif & Jesse Winchester (2009)

Jesse Winchester- Reckon On Me
Talk Memphis (Stony Plain)
Chris Smither- Talk Memphis
Up On the Lowdown (HighTone)

Jennifer Warnes- Famous Blue Raincoat
Famous Blue Raincoat: The Songs of Leonard Cohen – 20th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
Colleen Rennisson- Some Things You Lose
Persephone (Outlaw Soul)
Tom Rush- One More Time Around the Sun
Gardens Old, Flowers New (Appleseed)
Kate MacLeod- The Longest Night
Perennial (Westmoon)

Tom Russell & Mike Regenstreif (2018)

Tom Russell
- Landed On Your Feet Again 
Mount Olive (Frontera)
Bonnie Dobson & The Hanging Stars- On a Morning Like This
Dreams (Loose Music)
John Gorka & Mike Regenstreif (2012)

John Gorka- Particle Wave (Goodness in the World)
unentitled (Red House)
Mike Regenstreif & Anne Hills (2001)

Anne Hills- We Become Birds
Every Town: More Songs by Michael Smith (Hand & Heart Music)
Boreal- Winterbirds 
Winterbirds (Boreal)

Sierra Hull- Truth Be Told
A Tip Toe High Wire (Sierra Hull)
Jory Nash & Mike Regenstreif (2024)

Jory Nash- Tell Your Heart Not to Slow
The Light Still Shines on the Main (Thin Man)

Mr. O’Muck- Long Tall Mama Suite
Home Field Recordings: The Ancient Blues of Mr. O’Muck (Muck-O-Phone)

Woody Guthrie- Back Door Bum and the Big Landlord
Woody At Home – Vol 1 + 2 (Shamus)
Mike Regenstreif & Tim Grimm (2025)

Tim Grimm- Woody’s Landlord Revisited
Bones of Trees (Vault)
Mike Regenstreif & David Amram (2017)

The David Amram Quintet- Oklahoma Hills
David Amram Honors Guthrie and Ochs: Old Souls (Guthrie Legacy)
Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key
Little Blue Egg (Red House)

Rob Lutes- That Bird Has My Wings
Come Around (Lucky Bear)
Melanie Peterson- Have You Ever Seen the Rain
Read It on the Radio – Vol. 2 (Melanie Peterson)
Paul Winter Consort & Gary Brooker- A Whiter Shade of Pale
Everybody Under the Sun: Voices of Solstice – Volume 1: The Singers (Living Music)

Amy Speace- On a Monday in London
The Blue Rock Session (Windbone)
Chaim Tannenbaum- London, Longing for Home
Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)
Rufus Wainwright- Shenandoah
Folkocracy (BMG)
Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Mike Regenstreif, Chaim Tannenbaum (1976) photo: Felicity Fanjoy

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Matapedia
Matapedia (Hannibal)

Bill Keith & Jim Rooney- Auld Lang Syne
Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass (Rounder)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on January 24. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm.

--Mike Regenstreif

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – December 23, 2025: A Christmas Concert with Odetta and More Songs for the Holiday


Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa on Tuesdays from 3:30 until 5 pm (Eastern time) and is also available 24/7 for on-demand streaming.

This episode of Stranger Songs was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/73359.html

Theme: A Christmas Concert with Odetta and More Songs for the Holiday.


Odetta
– who died in 2008 less than a month before her 78th birthday – was one of the most influential folksingers of her time. In the late-1950s, a teenaged rock singer in Minnesota named Robert Zimmerman decided to pursue folk music after hearing an Odetta album, and later arrived in New York City calling himself Bob Dylan. Others, among many, who have cited Odetta’s influence include Joan Baez, Nina Simone, Janis Joplin and Harry Belafonte. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to Odetta as “the voice of the civil rights movement.

Odetta was accompanied throughout the concert by pianist Seth Farber and, on a couple of songs, by The Holmes Brothers.

Odetta with The Holmes Brothers- This Little Light of Mine
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)
Odetta- Rise Up Shepherd and Follow
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)
Odetta- Mary had a Baby
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)
Odetta- What Month was Jesus Born In
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)
Odetta- Shout for Joy
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)
Odetta- Virgin Mary Had One Son
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)
Odetta with The Holmes Brothers- Down By the Riverside
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)
Odetta- Poor Little Jesus
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)

Odetta- Freedom Trilogy: Oh Freedom, Come & Go With Me and I’m On My Way
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)
Odetta- Somebody Talking ‘Bout Jesus
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)
Odetta- Keep On Movin’ It On
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)
Odetta- O Jerusalem
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)
Odetta- If Anybody Asks You
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)
Odetta- Midnight Special
Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (M.C.)

Chris White- That’s Christmas
That’s Christmas – single (Chris White)
Maggie’s Wake- It Ain’t Christmas Without You
Close to Home (Maggie’s Wake)
Chaim Tannenbaum- A Winter Tale
A Winter Tale – single (StorySound)
Good Lovelies- The Chipmunk Song
Under the Mistletoe (Good Lovelies)
Erik Frandsen- Christmas in Brooklyn
Antiques: New & Used (Erik Frandsen)

Shelley Posen- You are All the Christmas That I Need
Old Loves (Well Done Music)
Rosalie Sorrels- Hot Buttered Rum
An Imaginary Christmas in Idaho (Limberlost)
Stan Rogers- At Last, I’m Ready for Christmas
Songs of a Lifetime: From Coffeehouse to Concert Hall (Fogarty’s Cove/Borealis)

David Massengill- Jesus, the Fugitive Prince 
The Return (Plump)

Next week: My Top 10 Folk-Rooted or Folk-Branched albums of 2025.

--Mike Regenstreif

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – December 16, 2025: A Hanukkah Concert with Nefesh Mountain and More Songs for the Holiday


Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa on Tuesdays from 3:30 until 5 pm (Eastern time) and is also available 24/7 for on-demand streaming.

This episode of Stranger Songs was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/73256.html

Theme: A Hanukkah Concert with Nefesh Mountain and More Songs for the Holiday.


The airdate for this show falls on the second of the 8-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

During Nefesh Mountain’s Hannukah concert, you will not hear any applause because the concert was recorded during Hannukah on December 12, 2020, without a live audience, at the height of the Covid pandemic.

Nefesh Mountain- Hanukkah’s Flame
Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- Kitchen Girl
Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)
Nefesh Mountain- Hanukkah Dance
Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)
Nefesh Mountain- Eretz’s Reel
Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)
Nefesh Mountain- The Narrow Bridge
Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)
Nefesh Mountain- I’ve Endured
Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- Donna Donna
Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)
Nefesh Mountain- Calum Sgaire/You Can Close Your Eyes
Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)
Nefesh Mountain- The Great Circle Trail/Oseh Shalom
Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)
Nefesh Mountain- Banjo Medley: Ma’oz Tzur/ Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah
Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- Happy Joyous Hanukkah
Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)
Nefesh Mountain- I Shall Be Released
Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

The Klezmatics & Susan McKeown- The Many and the Few
Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah (Jewish Music Group)
Shelley Posen with Finest Kind- On Chanukah 
Mazel (Well Done Music)
Short Sisters- My Candles 
A Planet Dancing Slow (Black Socks Press)
Finjan- Haneros Haluli
Dancing on Water (Rounder)
Shelley Posen- The La-La-Latke Song 
Manna (Well Done Music)
Socalled with The Kaiser Quartett- Drei Dreidl
Di Frosh and other Yiddish Songs (Membran)
Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars featuring Michael “Meyshke” Alpet & Sarah Gordon- Topz (Sevivon)
Chronika (Borscht Beat) 

SONiA disappear fear- Light in You
By My Silence (Disappear)

Next week: A Christmas Concert with Odetta and More Songs for the Holiday.

--Mike Regenstreif

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – December 9, 2025: The Dark


Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa on Tuesdays from 3:30 until 5 pm (Eastern time) and is also available 24/7 for on-demand streaming.

This episode of Stranger Songs was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/73159.html

Theme: The Dark.


This time of year – the weeks leading to the winter solstice – is the darkest time of the year. As well, with the erosion of democracy and human rights, the spread of racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia and homophobia, ongoing wars and the waning belief in proven science typified by climate change denial and vaccine conspiracy theories, we are living in dark times. So, these songs all relate in some way or another to the dark.

Guy Clark- The Dark
The Dark (Sugar Hill)

Steel Rail- Darkest Night
Coming Home (Crossties)
Kate Campbell- Dark Night of the Soul
For the Living of These Days (Large River Music)
Slaid Cleaves- Through the Dark
Together Through the Dark (Candy House Music)
Ana Egge- Ready for the Darkness
Sharing in the Spirit (StorySound)
Arlo Guthrie- Darkest Hour
Amigo (Rising Son)
Gram Parsons with Emmylou Harris- In My Hour of Darkness
Grievous Angel (Reprise)

Tuba Sknny- Echo in the Dark
Some Kind-a-Shake (Tuba Sknny)

Eliza Gilkyson- Dark Ages
Dark Ages (Realiza)
Caroline Doctorow- Children of Darkness
Another Country: The Songs of Mimi and Richard Fariña (Narrow Lane)
Eric Andersen- Darkness
Eric Andersen in (Spoken) Pieces (EARecords)
Leonard Cohen with Cantor Gideon Zelermyer & The Shaar Hashomayim Choir- You Want It Darker 
You Want It Darker (Columbia)

Chris Rusin & Katie Wise- The Dark
Songs from a Secret Room (Rushing River)
Michael Jerome Browne- The Road is Dark
The Road is Dark (Borealis)
Clela Errington- Full Moon Dark Time
Walkin’ Each Other Home (Clela Errington)
Tom Russell- Darkness Visible
Blood and Candle Smoke (Shout! Factory)

Jamie Anderson- Run to the Darkness
The Truth Appears (Tsunami)
Johnny Cash- I See a Darkness
American III: Solitary Man (American)
Rob Lutes- Walk in the Dark
Walk in the Dark (Lucky Bear)
Carrie Newcomer- Singing in the Dark
A Great Wild Mercy (Available Light)
Chris Rawlings- Lifting the Darkness 
Two Sides to Your Story (Cookingfat Music)

Dave Clarke- In the Falling Dark
The Healing Garden (Crossties)

Next week: A Hanukkah Concert with Nefesh Mountain and More Songs for the Holiday.

--Mike Regenstreif