Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – October 8, 2024: My Town and Other Towns

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/595/67165.html

Theme: My Town and Other Towns

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- My Town 

Tell My Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

John Prine & Dolores Keane- In a Town This Size

In Spite of Ourselves (Oh Boy)

Mike Regenstreif & Bill Morrissey (2005)

Bill Morrissey- Small Town on the River

Bill Morrissey (Philo)

Rosalie Sorrels- Girls In Our Town

Then Came the Children (Green Linnet)

Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin- Our Town

Our Town (Rounder)

David Mallett- This Little Town

Open Doors and Windows (Flying Fish)

Bill Hearne- Small Town Saturday Night

Always Trust Your Cape (Howlin’ Dog) 

Paul Siebel- My Town

Woodsmoke and Oranges (Elektra)

Nanci Griffith- This Old Town

Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- Ordinary Town

Drum Hat Buddha (Signature Sounds)

David Essig & Mike Regenstreif (2014)

David Essig- Walk Back Into Town

A Stone in My Pocket (Peregrin)

Mary Chapin Carpenter- I am a Town

One Night Lonely (Lambent Light)

Mike Regenstreif & David Clayton-Thomas (2006)

David Clayton-Thomas- This Town

Say Somethin’ (Linus)

Bobby Charles- Small Town Talk

Bobby Charles (Stony Plain)

Cliff Eberhardt- Little Town

500 Miles: The Blue Rock Sessions (Red House)

Blackie & The Rodeo Kings & Pam Tillis- My Town Has Moved Away

Kings and Queens (FU:M)

C. Daniel Boling & Tom Paxton- This Town has No Café

New Old Friends (Berkalin)

Shawna Caspi- My Town

Skyline (Shawna Caspi)

Nick Justice- Stranger in My Town

Stranger in My Town (Nick Justice)

Amelia Curran- In a Town (200 Days)

Spectators (Six Shooter)

Dave Clarke- In My Home Town

Reunion (Crossties)

Judy Mayhan- I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew (Strange Towns)

Moments (Atlantic)

Amy Speace- Something ‘Bout a Town

The American Dream (Windbone)

Next week: Finest Kind’s Kind of Songs.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – January 9, 2024: Remembering Ron Hynes

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/595/63443.html

Theme: Remembering Ron Hynes (1950-2015).

Ron Hynes, the great Newfoundland singer-songwriter, died of cancer in 2015 at age 64. All of the songs on this show were written, or co-written, by Ron.

Ron Hynes & Mike Regenstreif (2007)

Ron Hynes- Boy from Old Perlican

Ron Hynes (Borealis)

Maria Dunn- From Dublin with Love

Joyful Banner Blazing (Distant Whisper Music)

Miscellaney of Folk- 1962

Atlantic Sounds (Miscellaney of Folk)

Ken Tizzard- A Good Dog is Lost

A Good Dog is Lost: A Collection of Ron Hynes Songs (Booth Street)

Amelia Curran & Duane Andrews- Dark River

Sonny Don’t Go Away: A Tribute to Ron Hynes (Sonic)

Ron Hynes- Dry

Ron Hynes (Borealis)

Christy Moore- Sonny’s Dream

Magic Nights (Sony)

Ken Tizzard- My Father’s Ghost

A Good Dog is Lost: A Collection of Ron Hynes Songs (Booth Street)

Rum Ragged- House

Sonny Don’t Go Away: A Tribute to Ron Hynes (Sonic)

Ron Hynes- Le Coeur de la Mer

Stealing Genius (Borealis)

Dennis O'Toole- Man of a Thousand Songs

Lone Gunman at the Assassin’s Hotel (Dennis O’Toole)

The Once- Atlantic Blue

Sonny Don’t Go Away: A Tribute to Ron Hynes (Sonic)

Ron Hynes- I Love You More Than God

Stealing Genius (Borealis)

Murray McLauchlan- No Change in Me

Songs from the Street: The Best of Murray McLauchlan (True North)

Bill Garrett & Sue Lothrop- St. John’s Waltz

Red Shoes (Borealis)

The Ennis Sisters- Lonely Song

Sonny Don’t Go Away: A Tribute to Ron Hynes (Sonic)

Ron Hynes- 30 for 60

Stealing Genius (Borealis)

Mallory Johnson- River of No Return

Sonny Don’t Go Away: A Tribute to Ron Hynes (Sonic)

Yvette Lorraine- Where Does Love Go Wrong

Sonny Don’t Go Away: A Tribute to Ron Hynes (Sonic)

Quote the Raven- Godspeed (Requiem for Gene MacLennan)

Sonny Don’t Go Away: A Tribute to Ron Hynes (Sonic)

Ron Hynes- Gone to Canada

Face to the Gale (Artisan Music)

Ron Hynes- Sonny’s Dream

Face to the Gale (Artisan Music)

Next week: Marking 30 years on community radio.

--Mike Regenstreif

Canadian Spaces – CKCU – Saturday November 22, 2014

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

Canadian Spaces on CKCU in Ottawa is Canada’s longest-running folk music radio program. It is heard Saturday mornings from 10:00 am until noon (Eastern time).

It was hosted for more than 33 years by the late Chopper McKinnon and is now hosted by Chris White and a rotating cast of co-hosts.

This week’s show was co-hosted by Mike Regenstreif and Chris White.

Guests: Greg Stone; Kate Weekes & Grant Simpson; Enid & Brant Lucuik; Terry Eagan; and Kenny Butterill.

Stan Rogers- Fogarty’s Cove

Fogarty’s Cove (Borealis)

Lee Murdock- Tiny Fish for Japan

What About the Water (Depot)

Isabel & the Uncommons- I’d Give Away All My Love Songs

Hearts and Arrows (Isabel Fryszberg)

Jesse Winchester- Ghosts

A Reasonable Amount of Trouble (Appleseed)

Missy Burgess- My Buddy

Pour Me a Song (Patio)

Bruce Cockburn- Rouler Sa Bosse

Speechless (True North) or Salt, Sun and Time (True North)

Bob Dylan & The Band- Four Strong Winds

The Basement Tapes Complete (Columbia/Legacy)

Ian & Sylvia- This Wheel’s On Fire

The Complete Vanguard Studio Recordings (Vanguard) or Nashville (Vanguard)

Colleen Rennison- Stage Fright

See the Sky About to Rain (Black Hen)

Jon Brooks- Queensville

The Smiling & Beautiful Countryside (Borealis)

Amelia Curran- Time, Time

They Promised You Mercy (Six Shooter)

Leonard Cohen- You Got Me Singing

Popular Problems (Columbia)

Greg Stone- The Legend of the Pom-Pom Kid

Stone Age Man (Greg Stone)

Greg Stone- Lullaby for the Dreamer

Live in the studio

Kate Weekes & Grant Simpson- Frost on Black Fur

Live in the studio

Kate Weekes & Grant Simpson- Sing it to the Hills

Live in the studio

Enid & Brant Lucuik- You Can Close Your Eyes

Live in the Studio

Enid- A Case of You

Live in the Studio

Kenny Butterill- Good Thing That Can't Happen Here

Troubadour Tales (No Bull Songs)

The show is now available for online listening. http://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/129/19645.html

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Amelia Curran at the National Arts Centre

Amelia Curran closed this season’s series of NAC Presents concerts at the National Arts Centre Studio in Ottawa last night with an intimate and charming 90-minute concert that earned her a well-deserved standing ovation.

I first discovered Amelia and her songs in 2008 when Six Shooter Records picked up her fourth album, War Brides, for national release. In picking the album for my list of best folk and roots releases of the year I wrote in the Montreal Gazette, “This quietly stunning album heralds the arrival of Newfoundlander Amelia Curran as one of this country’s finest singer-songwriters.”

Since then I’ve also written about her equally superb albums Hunter, Hunter – which won the Juno for best roots/traditional album by a solo artist – and Spectators, her current album. Although I’ve seen her do a couple of short sets – most recently at the Folk Alliance conference in February – this was my first chance to see her carry a full evening.

And carry it she did. The intimate, 300-seat NAC Studio was a perfect space for her solo performance with its excellent sound and sight lines. Surrounded on three sides by the audience just a few feet away, Amelia quickly established an easy-going, barrier-free rapport with the audience.

Although she included some older songs, the evening’s repertoire leaned heavily on songs from Hunter, Hunter and Spectators. Among the standouts were “The Mistress,” powerfully sung from the perspective of a mistress trying to speak to a lover who won’t answer her call; “Bye Bye Montreal,” a bitter farewell to a lover and to a city; “Wrecking Ball,” a song, seemingly, to oneself moving through life, “Last Call,” a song for the end of an evening and the end of a relationship; “You Won’t Find Me,” in which she referenced the great Newfoundland songwriter Ron Hynes and interjected a hilarious story about singing the song at a folk festival when Ron was on stage beside her; “Face on the News,” a quiet reflection on fragility and struggle; and “The Modern Man,” a song of questions, answers and reflections reminiscent of Leonard Cohen.

Amelia referred to the concert – a headlining appearance at Canada’s National Arts Centre – as a “rite of passage.” Indeed, her appearance there heralds her justifiable recognition as one of this country’s finest artists to emerge over the past decade.

Pictured: Amelia Curran at the Folk Alliance International conference in Toronto, February 24, 2013, 12:47 am. (Photo: Mike Regenstreif)

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Amelia Curran – Spectators

AMELIA CURRAN

Spectators

Six Shooter Records

ameliacurran.com

Spectators is the third stunning album in a row from Amelia Curran, one of the finest singer-songwriters to emerge in Canada in recent years – and certainly the finest singer-songwriter to emerge from Newfoundland since Ron Hynes.

Like Hunter, Hunter and War Brides, Spectators is filled with beautiful melodies, compelling arrangements built around Amelia’s acoustic guitar and lovely voice and lyrics which reveal more each time they’re listened to. If there’s a departure from the previous albums, it’s in the somewhat more expansive use of tonal colouring including very effective brass and string sections on a couple of songs each.

Among my favourite songs are “The Modern Man,” a Cohenesque contemplation on mortality and accomplishment, “San Andreas Fault,” in which Amelia examines a seemingly-fragile relationship in the first person, and “In a Town (200 Days),” which captures the spirit of human resiliency in the face of challenge.

But, perhaps, the most poignant song is the album’s finale, “Face on the News,” a quiet, poetic reflection on perspective and human struggle.

If I’ve any complaint – and I could have made the same complaint about Amelia’s previous two albums – is that I really wish she’d included lyrics in the CD package or at least on her website. These are songs with lyrics which should be followed closely while listening and reread again and again as these are songs which reveal more each time they’re heard – and, in many cases, these are songs which are open to interpretation and reinterpretation.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif