Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday April 18, 2023: The Philosophy of Modern Song, Part 1

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

CKCU can be heard live at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and https://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web. 

This episode of Stranger Songs was recorded and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/60086.html

Theme: The Philosophy of Modern Song, Part 1.

Bob Dylan wrote about each of the songs on this show in his book, The Philosophy of Modern Song. Except where noted, these tracks are the versions of the songs that Dylan cites.

Bobby Bare- Detroit City

The Best of Bobby Bare (Razor & Tie)

Elvis Costello- Pump It Up

This Year’s Model (Radar)

Dylan cites Webb Pierce’s version of “There Stands the Glass.”

Ted Hawkins- There Stands the Glass 

The Next Hundred Years (Geffen)

Billy Joe Shaver- Willy the Wandering Gypsy and Me

Old Five and Dimers Like Me (Monument)

Little Richard- Tutti Frutti

18 Greatest Hits (Rhino)

Elvis Presley- Money Honey

Elvis Presley (RCA)

The Who- My Generation

The Who Sings My Generation (Decca)

Dylan cites Harry McClintock’s 1928 version of “Jesse James.”

Bruce Springsteen- Jesse James

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (Columbia)

Dylan cites Ricky Nelson’s 1958 version of “Poor Little Fool.” This is a later live version.

Rick Nelson- Poor Little Fool

A Night to Remember (True North)

Dylan cites Perry Como’s version of “Without a Song.”

The Righteous Brothers- Without a Song

Greatest Hits (Verve)

Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson- Pancho and Lefty

Pancho & Lefty (Epic)

Jackson Browne- The Pretender

The Pretender (Elektra)

Bobby Darin- Mack the Knife

That’s All (Atco)

Dylan cites Bing Crosby’s version of “The Whiffenpoof Song.”

Art Neville- The Whiffenpoof Song

Let New Orleans Rock (Blues Interactions)

Dylan cites Cher’s 1971 version of “Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves.” This is a later live version.

Cher- Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves

Live in Concert (HBO)

Dylan cites Rosemary Clooney’s version of “Come On-A My House.”

Kay Starr- Come On-A My House

Come On-A My House – single (Capitol)

Eddy Arnold- You Don’t Know Me

You Don’t Know Me – single (RCA)

Johnnie & Jack- Poison Love

Poison Love – single (RCA)

Alvin Youngblood Hart- Nelly was a Lady

Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster (American Roots Publishing)

Dylan cites Johnnie Ray’s version of “The Little White Cloud That Cried.”

Jackie Washington- The Little White Cloud That Cried

The World of Jackie Washington (Borealis)

Ray Charles- I Got a Woman

The Birth of Soul (Atlantic)

The Fugs- CIA Man

The Fugs First Album (Fantasy)

Grateful Dead- Truckin’

American Beauty (Warner Bros.)

Dylan cites Vic Damone’s version of “On the Street Where You Live.”

Pat Guadango- On the Street Where You Live

1964 (Campbell Music)

Next week: Willie Nelson at 90.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Various Artists – …. First Came Memphis Minnie

VARIOUS ARTISTS
…. First Came Memphis Minnie
Stony Plain 
stonyplainrecords.com

Memphis Minnie (1897-1973), who began her recording career in the early-1930s, was a pioneering and influential blues artist and certainly the most prominent example of a female blues singer from that era who accompanied herself on guitar. Until Minnie came along, female blues singers – like Bessie Smith, Victoria Spivey, Alberta Hunter and so many others – generally fronted traditional jazz bands or worked with a piano player. Minnie, though, could play guitar as well or better than any male artist and was a role model to generations of female musicians who followed in later decades.

…. First Came Memphis Minnie is a set of 13 songs from Memphis Minnie’s repertoire assembled by Maria Muldaur.

Maria, herself, is the dominant artist in the collection with eight songs taken from a couple of the terrific acoustic blues albums she’s done in recent years – two from Richland Woman Blues and six from Sweet Lovin’ Ol’ Soul – on which she’s backed by such great musicians as Del Rey, Steve James and Dave Earl. Two of the most exciting songs, “I’m Goin’ Back Home” and “She Put Me Outdoors,” are terrific duets with Alvin Youngblood Hart playing Joe McCoy to Maria’s Minnie.

The three tracks recorded just for this album are all superb. Bonnie Raitt, playing acoustic guitar, does a great job on “Ain’t Nothin’ in Ramblin’,” proving – as if there were any doubt – she is still a remarkable purveyor of acoustic blues when she wants to be. Rory Block, one of today’s greatest acoustic blues artists, does a soulful solo arrangement of “When You Love Me” with some excellent slide playing, and Ruthie Foster offers a delightfully sassy take on “Keep Your Big Mouth Closed.”

Rounding out the album are two other previously released tracks. The late Phoebe Snow, with backing from David Bromberg, is featured on an elegant version of “In My Girlish Days” from her 1976 album, It Looks Like Snow (Phoebe never did enough of this kind of material), and the late Koko Taylor finishes the album with “Black Rat Swing,” from her 2007 release, Old School, the album’s only contemporary Chicago-style electric track.

Starting with the songs from her own albums and rounding the tribute out with five offerings from other artists, Maria Muldaur has assembled a worthy tribute to one of the most important figures in blues history.

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And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif