Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – May 6, 2025: The Banjo Special

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/595/70088.html

Theme: The Banjo Special.

Pete Seeger holding his banjo.

All the songs and tunes on this show feature the banjo.

Doc Watson- Rambling Hobo

Memories (Sugar Hill)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Foolish You

Tell My Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Michael Jerome Browne- Reverend Strut

Gettin’ Together (Borealis/Stony Plain)

John Hartford- Gentle on My Mind

Live from Mountain Stage (Blue Plate Music)

The Be Good Tanyas- Reuben

Chinatown (Nettwerk)

Mary Gick- Hills of Home

Six Tunes and a Song (Mary Gick)

Finest Kind- Going to the West

Lost in a Song (Fallen Angle)

Marc Nerenberg- Little Birdie: A Reimagined Traditional Song

Little Birdie: Birds, Beasts & Banjo Blues (Marc Nerenberg)

The Dumptrucks- Qu’Appelle

Selections (Laughing Cactus)

Pete Seeger- Monsieur Banjo

American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 4 (Smithsonian Folkways)

Last Forever with John Cohen- Dillard Chandler

No Place Like Home/Last Forever (2nd Story Sound)

Arnie Naiman- My Lucy Stars

My Lucky Stars (Merriweather)

Robert Thomas & the sessionmen- Springhill

The Way We Roll (Gas)

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer- Redwinged Blackbird

Get Up and Do Right (Community Music)

Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five- Put ‘Em Down Blues

The Hot Fives & Hot Sevens, Vol. III (Columbia)

Paul Barbarin with Danny Barker- Eh La Bas

Paul Barbarin and His New Orleans Jazz (Collectables)

Mark Rubin – Jew of Oklahoma- Berish Katz Breakdown

Dispatches: Songs from a World Gone Mad (Rubinchik)

Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson- Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss

What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow (Nonesuch)

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings- Howdy Howdy

Woodland (Acony)

Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn- Railroad

Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn (Rounder)

Pharis & Jason Romero- Train on the Island

Tell ‘Em You Were Gold (Smithsonian Folkways)

Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project- Lazy John

Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project (Borealis)

Derroll Adams- The Mountain

Songs of the Banjoman (Wundertutte) 

Suzy Thompson- Lose My Blues

Suzy Sings Siebel Volume One (Suzy Thompson)

Jenny Whiteley- Banjo Girl

The Original Jenny Whiteley (Black Hen Music)

Tony Trischka & Steve Martin- Plunkin’ Rag

Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular (Rounder)

Next week: A Tribute to The Klezmatics.

--Mike Regenstreif

Tim O'Brien -- Chicken & Egg

TIM O’BRIEN
Chicken & Egg
Howdy Skies Records
timobrien.net

With the addition of Chicken & Egg, there are now a dozen Tim O’Brien albums sitting on my shelves – and that’s not including recordings he made as part of the stellar bluegrass band Hot Rize. Tim sings like a bird, plays just about any stringed instrument and any roots-oriented style with authority, is an excellent songwriter (who often writes with a fine sense of humour) and shows consistently good taste in the traditional songs he performs and in the songs from other songwriters that he chooses (his Red on Blonde is one of the best-ever albums of Bob Dylan covers).

Chicken & Egg, I think, is one of Tim’s finest. Working with some great sidemen – Stuart Duncan on fiddle and mandolin, Bryan Sutton on guitar, bassists Mike Bub and Dennis Crouch, drummer John Gardner, Ray Bonneville on harmonica, harmony singers Darrell Scott and Abigail Washburn, to name just some – Tim recorded the album off-the-floor, giving it an organic and spontaneous live feeling.

Some of my favourite tracks include “You Ate the Apple,” sung from the perspective of God giving a dressing-down to Adam and Eve which includes an order to dress-up; “The Sun Jumped Up,” a set of previously-unheard Woody Guthrie lyrics from the archives that are given a bouncy melody and arrangement by Tim that’s highly reminiscent of the traditional “Crawdad Hole”; “All I Want,” a bluesy bluegrass number about getting back home to the one he loves; “Suzanna,” written by Hall Cannon, a fiddle and banjo tune that seems to be from the perspective of a street person who may or may not know what he’s going on about; and “Workin,” a rockabilly tune that weds Guthrie-esque lyrics with a Sun-era Johnny Cash arrangement.

This is one of those albums that I know I’ll be playing a lot over a long period of time.

--Mike Regenstreif

Various artists -- Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert
Rounder
rounder.com

This CD collects highlights from an October 2009 concert at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of Rounder Records, one of the most important, and by now one of the most venerable, of roots-oriented independent record labels.

Featured on the CD are two songs each from some of the most popular artists on Rounder’s current roster: Minnie Driver, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Irma Thomas, Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck (with Abigail Washburn on one song and Jerry Douglas on the other); and Mary Chapin Carpenter. All of them perform together on a spectacular grand finale medley.

As well, there are several performances not from the concert that were shown on the big screen at the Opry concert and are included here including a song from Robert Plant & Alison Krauss and two songs each from Madeleine Peyroux and Steve Martin.

Minnie Driver, who hosted the concert – an edited version was a recent PBS fundraiser – may be a bit of a weak link musically in such a stellar lineup, but all of the artists turn in terrific performances. It’s a great party that touches several of Rounder’s main bases: bluegrass, Zydeco, R&B, contemporary folk, etc.

But what the CD doesn’t really give us is a sense of Rounder’s tremendous musical legacy. I’ve known the Rounder folks for most of those 40 years and I’ve collected hundreds and hundreds of their albums. Here, then, is a list of 40 of my favourite albums released or reissued by Rounder over the years, either on Rounder, or its subsidiary or acquired imprints. For the sake of variety, I’ve included no more than one album by any artist or group, no various artists collections, and the list is presented in alphabetical order.

Chava Albertstein & the Klezmatics- The Well
David Amram‑ No More Walls
Rory Block- Gone Woman Blues: The Country Blues Collection
Roy Book Binder- Polk City Ramble
Brave Old World- Beyond the Pale
Guy Clark- Craftsman
J.D. Crowe- J.D. Crowe & the New South
Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard- Hazel & Alice
Nanci Griffith- Last of the True Believers
Woody Guthrie- My Dusty Road
John Hartford- Aereo‑Plain
Priscilla Herdman- Forgotten Dreams
Anne Hills- Angle of the Light
Tish Hinojosa- Culture Swing
Flaco Jiminez- Arriba El Norte
Bill Keith- Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass
Klezmer Conservatory Band- Live: The Thirteenth Anniversary Album
Allison Krauss- I've Got That Old Feeling
Lew London- Swingtime in Springtime
David Mallett- Inches & Miles
Martin, Bogan & Armstrong- Martin, Bogan Armstrong/That Old Gang of Mine
Mary McCaslin- Way Out West
Katy Moffatt- Evangaline Hotel
Bill Morrissey- Bill Morrissey
David Olney- Roses
Tom Paxton- Even A Grey Day
Utah Phillips- The Telling Takes Me Home
Red Clay Ramblers- It Ain't Right
Peter Rowan- Peter Rowan
Tom Russell- Poor Man's Dream
Mike Seeger- Third Annual Farewell Reunion
Paul Siebel- Paul Siebel
Skyline with Tony Trischka- Ticket Back: A Retrospective
Michael Smith- Michael Smith/Love Stories
Bill Staines- Tracks and Trails
Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin- Our Town
Happy & Artie Traum- Hard Times in the Country
Guy Van Duser & Billy Novick- Exactly Like Us
Dave Van Ronk- Sunday Street
Doc Watson- Sittin’ Here Pickin’ the Blues

--Mike Regenstreif