Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – January 6, 2026: Remembering Tim Williams, Raul Malo, Steve Cropper and Joe Ely

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/595/73574.html

Theme: Remembering Tim Williams, Raul Malo, Steve Cropper and Joe Ely.

Remembering Tim Williams (1948-2025)

Tim Williams – who died on November 28, at age 77, following a short battle with cancer – was born in California and had already recorded his first LP before he moved to Canada in 1970. He was based in Vancouver for several years before moving on to Alberta, where he worked for a time as a cowboy and then began a long career as an acoustic blues and folk artist based in Calgary.

Tim Williams- Pallet on the Floor

Evenings Among Friends (Cayuse)

Tim Williams- Alberta In My Dreams

When I was a Cowboy (Cayuse)

Cindy Church- Trying to Rope the Wind

Just a Little Rain (Stony Plain)

Tim Williams- The Ones Who Made the Blues

Indigo Incidents (Cayuse)

Tim Williams- It’s Enough to Be Remembered

Songster, Musicianer, Music Physicianer (Cayuse)

Remembering Raul Malo (1965-2025)

Raul Malo – who died on December 8, at age 60, from cancer – was both a solo artist and the lead singer with The Mavericks.

Raul Malo- Early Morning Rain

The Nashville Acoustic Sessions (CMH)

Raul Malo- You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go

The Nashville Acoustic Sessions (CMH)

Raul Malo- I Guess Things Happen That Way

Dressed in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash (Dualtone)

Remembering Steve Cropper (1941-2025)

Steve Cropper – who died on December 3, at age 84 – was a guitarist, songwriter and record producer and as the guitarist in Booker T. & The MGs, was probably the definitive guitarist of Memphis soul music.

Booker T. & The MGs- Green Onions

Green Onions (Stax)

Wilson Pickett- In the Midnight Hour

In the Midnight Hour (Atlantic)

The Staple Singers- The Weight

Soul Folk In Action (Stax)

Otis Redding- (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay 

The Dock of the Bay (Atco)

Steve Cropper- Crop Dustin’

With a Little Help From My Friends (Volt)

Jesse Winchester- Club Manhattan

Gentleman of Leisure (Sugar Hill)

Remembering Joe Ely (1947-2025)

Joe Ely – who died on December 15, at age 78, from pneumonia after a battling Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia – was one of the great Texas singer-songwriters and song interpreters who recorded under his own name and as a member of The Flatlanders.

Joe Ely & Joel Guzman- Because of the Wind

Live Cactus (Rack ‘Em)

Ramblin' Jack Elliott- Me and Billy the Kid

Friends of Mine (HighTone)

The Chieftains & Joe Ely- The Moonshiner/I’m a Rambler, I’m a Gambler

Further Down the Old Plank Road (RCA)

Tom Russell- Indian Cowboy

Tonight We Ride: The Tom Russell Cowboy Anthology (Frontera)

Joe Ely- Gallo del Cielo

Letter to Laredo (MCA)

The Flatlanders- Right Where I Belong

Now Again (New West)

James Talley & Joe Ely- W. Lee O’Daniel and the Light Crust Doughboys

Touchstones (Cimarron)

Tom Russell & Joe Ely- Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues 

Folk Hotel (Frontera)

Joe Ely & Joel Guzman- Ranches and Rivers

Live Cactus (Rack ‘Em)

Next week: Lightfoot! Revisited and Kate &Anna McGarrigle Revisited.

--Mike Regenstreif

Otis Redding – The Complete Stax/Volt Singles Collection

OTIS REDDING

Shout! Factory

otisredding.com

Although his recording career only lasted about five years, from 1962 until 1967 when he died at just 26 in a plane crash, Otis Redding was absolutely among the greatest soul singers of all time. Make that among the greatest singers of all time.

Although I know I’d heard some of his songs while he was still alive, I really discovered Redding in 1968 via the posthumous release of “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” also absolutely, one of the most perfect recordings of the 1960s. As much, I would argue, a folksong as a soul ballad, the song was not typical of most of Redding’s southern R&B and soul recordings but “Dock of the Bay,” and his two-song performance in Monterey Pop, the concert film from the Monterey International Pop Festival of 1967, drew the teenaged me into Redding’s music. More than 45 years later, I never tire of listening to Redding and to the deep soulfulness that shines through every word he sang.

Redding’s recordings have been packaged and repackaged many times, and in many different combinations, over the years. From the original LPs released in his lifetime and shortly after, to who knows how many different compilations?

Without a doubt, The Complete Stax/Volt Singles Collection, 70 tracks on three CDs, all re-mastered in glorious-sounding mono, is the ultimate Otis Redding compilation. Every single, both the A- and B-sides – including the eight duets with Carla Thomas – is included, along with the two songs from Monterey Pop.

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” of course, remains the greatest of Redding’s songs. But the rest are great, too. Whether using a nursery rhyme to launch a soul ballad (“Mary’s Little Lamb”), going full throttle on “Respect,” or in a version of “Satisfaction” that almost makes the Rolling Stones' original seem pale, or in gospel-inflected love songs like “Try a Little Tenderness,” Redding is utterly convincing.

Like so many southern soul singers, Redding’s musical roots are in the church and one of my favorite of his tracks is the traditional spiritual “Amen” which he arranges in a medley with “This Little Light of Mine,” another traditional folksong.

Except for the live tracks, these songs were all recorded in Memphis with members of Booker T and the MGs and the Mar-Keys (which had overlapping musicians) as the core band. The right material, the right musicians, and the right singer all adding up to soul perfection.

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--Mike Regenstreif