Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – October 1, 2024: David Eisenstadt/Tim Hardin

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/595/67066.html

Themes: Part 1 – Conversation and Songs with David Eisenstadt; Part 2 – Songs of Tim Hardin (1941-1980)

Part 1 – Songs and Conversation with David Eisenstadt

David Eisenstadt, is author of the newly published book, Musicians Under the Radar, Volume 3: 42 Notable Canadian Jewish Performers.

Visit this link for more information on David’s books. https://undertheradarbook.com/

The next six songs punctuated my conversation with David Eisenstadt.

The Rankin Family- Rise Again

North Country (EMI)

Lorne Greene- The Search

Portrait of the West (RCA)

The Band- Rags and Bones

Northern Lights – Southern Cross (Capitol)

Robbie Robertson- Somewhere Down the Crazy River

Testimony (Universal)

Beyond the Pale- The Whole Thing

Ruckus (Borealis)

Tio Chirinho- Tempestuoso

Tempestuoso (Lulaworld)

Part 2 – Songs of Tim Hardin (1941-1980)

Tim Hardin- Tribute to Hank Williams

Tim Hardin 1/Tim Hardin 2 (Raven)

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott- If I Were a Carpenter

South Coast (Red House)

Joan Baez- Don’t Make Promises

Ring Them Bells (Guardian)

Eric Andersen- Misty Roses

The Street was Always There (Appleseed)

Rickie Lee Jones- Reason to Believe

The Devil You Know (Concord)

Tim Hardin- The Lady Came from Baltimore

Live in Concert (Polygram)

Bill Staines- Black Sheep Boy

Going to the West (Red House)

Caroline Doctorow- How Can We Hang on to a Dream

Follow You Down (Narrow Lane)

Bobby Darin- Red Balloon

If I Were a Carpenter/Inside Out (Edsel)

Tim Hardin- Speak Like a Child

Tim Hardin 1/Tim Hardin 2 (Raven)

Next week: My Town and Other Towns.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – May 21, 2024: Even More Songs of Bob Dylan

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/595/65281.html

Theme: Even More Songs of Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan – who turns 83 this week on May 24 – is, arguably, but certainly in my opinion, the most important and influential songwriter ever. All of the songs on this show have never been heard on any previous edition of Stranger Songs.

Bob Dylan- Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again

Blonde On Blonde (Columbia)

The Clancy Brothers with Louis Killen- Girl from the North Country

Save the Land! (Audio Fidelity)

Joan Baez- Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Any Day Now (Vanguard)

Pete Seeger- Who Killed Davey Moore?

We Shall Overcome: The Complete Carnegie Hall Concert, June 8, 1963 (Columbia)

Happy Traum with Bob Dylan- Let Me Die in My Footsteps

The Best of Broadside 1962-1988 (Smithsonian Folkways)

Bob Dylan- Ballad of Hollis Brown

The Times They Are A-Changin’ (Columbia)

J.D. Crowe & The New South- Nashville Skyline Rag

Flashback (Rounder)

Odetta- Walkin’ Down the Line

Odetta Sings Dylan (RCA)

The Brothers & Sisters- Just Like a Woman

Dylan’s Gospel (Columbia)

Julie Felix- It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

Starry Eyed and Laughing… Songs by Bob Dylan (Remarkable)

Bob Dylan- Blind Willie McTell

The Bootleg Series, Volume 3 (Columbia)

Tom Russell- John Wesley Harding

Tonight We Ride EP (HighTone)

Ian & Sylvia- Tears of Rage

Long Long Time (Vanguard)

Peter, Paul & Mary- Too Much of Nothing

Late Again (Warner Bros.)

Bob Dylan- If Dogs Run Free

New Morning (Columbia)

Jimmy LaFave- You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go

Peace Town (Music Road)

Ian Hanchet- If Not for You

Dealin’ from the Bottom (of My Heart) (Ian Hanchet)

Caroline Doctorow- Time Passes Slowly

Dreaming in Vinyl (Narrow Lane)

Bob Dylan- Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

Blonde On Blonde (Columbia)[MR1]

Next week: 50 years ago I took over The Golem.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday April 4, 2023: Songs of the Passover and Easter Legends

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/595/60013.html

Theme: Songs of the Passover and Easter Legends.

Kim & Reggie Harris- Go Down Moses

Steal Away: Songs of the Underground Railroad (Appleseed)

Peter, Paul & Mary- Tell It on the Mountain

In the Wind (Warner Bros.)

Rabbi Jonathan Kliger & Reggie Harris- Man Come Into Egypt

Let My People Go: A Jewish & African American Celebration of Freedom (Appleseed)

Caroline Doctorow- Wade in the Water

That Changes Everything (Narrow Lane)

The Short Sisters- Moses

A Planet Dancing Slow (Black Socks Press)

The Klezmatics- Moses Smote the Water

Brother Moses Smote the Water (Piranha)

Charlie Haden & Hank Jones- Wade in the Water

Steal Away: Spirituals, Hymns and Folk Songs (Verve)

Michael Jerome Browne & Harrison Kennedy- Pharaoh

That’s Where It’s At! (Borealis)

Jesse Winchester- Pharaoh’s Army

Learn to Love It (Stony Plain)

Bob Franke- Walkin’ in the Wilderness

The Desert Questions (Robert J. Franke)

Shelley Posen- And We Sang ‘Ha Lakhma Anya’

Manna (Well Done Music)

David Olney- Jerusalem Tomorrow

The Stone (Deadbeet)

David Olney- Brays

The Stone (Deadbeet)

David Olney- Brains

The Stone (Deadbeet)

David Olney- Flesh and Blood

The Stone (Deadbeet)

David Olney- Barabbas

The Stone (Deadbeet)

David Olney- A Soldier’s Report

The Stone (Deadbeet)

Reverend Gary Davis- Crucifixion

A Little More Faith (Prestige/Bluesville)

Ralph McTell- Jesus Wept

Sand in Your Shoes (Red House)

Charlie Haden & Hank Jones- Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?

Come Sunday (EmArcy)

Next week: Old Friends.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday October 11, 2022: Remembering Loretta Lynn and Mary McCaslin

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 prerecorded and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/57903.html

Themes: Remembering Loretta Lynn and Mary McCaslin.

Legendary country singer Loretta Lynn (1932-2022) died on October 4 at age 90. Loretta Lynn came from humble beginnings as a coal miner’s daughter from Butcher Hollow, Kentucky. Her autobiography, the feature film that was based on it, and her signature song are called “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

Loretta Lynn- Coal Miner’s Daughter

All Time Greatest Hits (MCA/Decca)

Eilen Jewell- I’m a Honky Tonk Girl

Butcher Holler: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn (Signature Sounds)

Ian & Sylvia- After the Fire is Gone

The Lost Tapes (Stony Plain)

Little Willies- Fist City

For the Good Times (Milking Bull)

Loretta Lynn- Whispering Sea

Full Circle (Sony/Legacy)

Rhiannon Giddens- She’s Got You

Tomorrow is My Turn (Nonesuch)

Emmylou Harris & The Nash Ramblers- Blue Kentucky Girl

Ramble in Music City: The Lost Concert 1990 (Nonesuch)

April Verch- You Ain’t Woman Enough

Once a Day (Slab Town)

Loretta Lynn- Who’s Gonna Miss Me?

Full Circle (Sony/Legacy)

Mary McCaslin (1946-2022) was a folksinger, songwriter and pioneering open-tuning guitarist, who died on October 2 at age 75 following a seven-year battle with progressive supranuclear palsy. Mary was an old friend who I first met, circa 1973, when we both became part of a circle of friends centered around The Barn in North Ferrisburgh, Vermont, then the headquarters of Philo Records.

Mary McCaslin- Music Strings/Oh Hollywood

Way Out West (Philo)

Caroline Doctorow- Way Out West

I Carry All I Own: The Songs of Mary McCaslin (Narrow Lane)

Stan Rogers- Down the Road

From Coffee House to Concert Hall (Fogarty’s Cove)

Sneezy Waters- Circle of Friends

Sneezy Waters (Sneezy Waters)

Mary McCaslin- Young Westley

Way Out West (Philo)

Mary McCaslin & Jim Ringer- The Bramble and the Rose

The Bramble and the Rose (Philo)

Mary McCaslin- Suzanne

Rain: The Lost Album (Bear Family)

Mike Regenstreif & Mary McCaslin (1999)

Mary McCaslin- Ballad of Weaverville

Prairie in the Sky (Philo)

Caroline Doctorow- Back to Salinas

I Carry All I Own: The Songs of Mary McCaslin (Narrow Lane)

Tom Russell- Prairie in the Sky

Song of the West: The Cowboy Collection (HMG)

Mary McCaslin- My Love

Prairie in the Sky (Philo)

Mary McCaslin- Someone Who Looks Me

Broken Promises (Philo)

Mary McCaslin- Old Friends

Old Friends (Philo)

Next week: Songs of Jimmie Rodgers.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday October 26, 2021: Songs of Randy Newman

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU in Ottawa on Tuesday afternoons 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 prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/53908.html

Theme: Songs of Randy Newman

Randy Newman (Twitter)

Randy Newman- She Chose Me
Dark Matter (Nonesuch)

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee with Arlo Guthrie- Sail Away
Sonny & Brownie (A&M)
Randy Newman- It’s Lonely at the Top
Sail Away (Reprise)
Dave Van Ronk- Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear
To All My Friends in Far-Flung Places (Gazell)
The Duhks- Political Science
Sail Away: The Songs of Randy Newman (Sugar Hill)

Randy Newman- Burn On
Sail Away (Reprise)
Sussex- Dayton, Ohio – 1903
Parade Day (Lucky Bear)
Tracy Nelson- God’s Song (That’s Why I Love Mankind)
Homemade Songs/Come See About Me (Flying Fish)

Chris Smither- Old Kentucky Home
I’m a Stranger Too (Tomato)

Caroline Doctorow- I Think It’s Going to Rain Today
Dreaming in Vinyl (Narrow Lane)
Odetta- Mama Told Me Not to Come
Odetta Sings (Polydor)
Randy Newman- I’ll Be Home
Randy Newman Live (Warner Bros.)

The Del McCoury Band- Birmingham
Sail Away: The Songs of Randy Newman (Sugar Hill)
Judy Collins- Marie
Hard Times for Lovers (Elektra)
Randy Newman- Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man)
Good Old Boys (Warner Bros.)
Madeleine Peyroux- Guilty
The Blue Room (Decca)
Michael Jerome Browne- Louisiana 1927
That’s Where It’s At! (Borealis)
Mollie O'Brien- Rollin’
Big Red Sun (Sugar Hill)

Jeanie Stahl- Texas Girl at the Funeral of Her Father
Mysteries (Daring)
Peter Mulvey- In Germany Before the War
Ten Thousand Mornings (Signature Sounds)
Nina Simone- Baltimore
Baltimore (Epic/Legacy)
Randy Newman- Old Man on the Farm
Little Criminals (Warner Bros.)

Mary McCaslin- Living Without You
Way Out West (Philo)
Peggy Lee- Love Story
Is That All There Is (Capitol)
Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton & Emmylou Harris- Feels Like Home
Trio II (Asylum)
Randy Newman- Harps and Angels
Harps and Angels (Nonesuch)

Next week: CKCU Funding Drive – Show Us the Money, Please

Find me on Twitter. www.twitter.com/mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday August 31, 2021: Remembering Nanci Griffith (1953-2021)

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU in Ottawa on Tuesday afternoons 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 prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/53257.html

Theme: Remembering Nanci Griffith (1953-2021)

Nanci Griffith – a superb and influential singer, songwriter and performer – died on August 13th at age 68. The show includes some of Nanci’s recordings, some of her collaborations with other artists, and some of her songs performed by other artists.

Nanci Griffith- There’s a Light Beyond These Woods
There’s a Light Beyond These Woods (Philo)

Nanci Griffith- Julie Anne
Poet In My Window (Philo)
Kathy Mattea- Love at the Five & Dime
Walk the Way the Wind Blows (Mercury)
Nanci Griffith- Daddy Said
Once In a Very Blue Moon (Philo)

It's been a long time since I’d seen her or been in touch, but Nanci and I were close in the 1980s when she came to Montreal frequently to play concerts at The Golem, the folk club I was then running. She'd always stay with me and we had some great times. One day she wrote the song, “Banks of the Pontchartrain,” in my apartment.

Nanci Griffith- Banks of the Pontchartrain
The Last of the True Believers (Philo)
Tom Russell & Nanci Griffith- St. Olav’s Gate
The Long Way Around (HighTone)
Suzy Bogguss- Outbound Plane
Aces (EMI)

Nanci Griffith- Time Alone
Once In a Very Blue Moon (Philo)

Nanci Griffith & Arlo Guthrie- Tecumseh Valley
Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)
Nanci Griffith- Up Against the Rain
The Loving Kind (Rounder)

Nanci Griffith- Ten Degrees and Colder
Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)
Nanci Griffith- You Were On My Mind
Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) (Elektra)
Nanci Griffith & Tom Russell- Summer Wages
Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) (Elektra)
Nanci Griffith & Ian Tyson- Canadian Whiskey
Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) (Elektra)
Jimmy Buffett & Nanci Griffith- Someone I Used to Love
License to Chill (Mailboat)

Caroline Doctorow- Trouble In the Fields
Trouble In the Fields: An Artists’ Tribute to Nanci Griffith (Paradiddle)
Red Molly- Lookin’ for the Time
Trouble In the Fields: An Artists’ Tribute to Nanci Griffith (Paradiddle)
The Kennedys- I’m Not Drivin’ These Wheels
Trouble In the Fields: An Artists’ Tribute to Nanci Griffith (Paradiddle)
Nanci Griffith- Hell No (I’m Not Alright)
Intersection (Hell No)

Nanci Griffith with The London Symphony Orchestra- Late Night Grande Hotel
The Dust Bowl Symphony (Elektra)
Emmylou Harris & Willie Nelson- Gulf Coast Highway
Duets (Reprise)
Nanci Griffith with Carolyn Hester- Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound
Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)
Lucy Kaplansky- I Wish It Would Rain
Everyday Street (Lucy Kaplansky)
Nanci Griffith- The Wing and the Wheel
The Last of the True Believers (Philo)

Nanci Griffith- Spin On a Red Brick Floor
One Fair Summer Evening (MCA)

Next week: A Tribute to The Everly Brothers

Find me on Twitter. www.twitter.com/mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday July 20, 2021

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU in Ottawa on Tuesday afternoons 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 prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/52778.html

Theme: Remembering Mimi Fariña

Mimi Fariña – the younger sister of Joan Baez and the musical partner and widow of important singer, songwriter and author Richard Fariña – passed away 20 years ago this week on July 18, 2001 from cancer at the young age of 56. Most of the show is devoted to a concert recorded in 1988 for German radio.

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Pack Up Your Sorrows
Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard)

Mimi was an activist and in 1974, she founded a non-profit organization called Bread & Roses in the San Francisco Bay area that presents more than 600 concerts per year in institutions ranging from children's day care centres and special needs schools, to hospitals, adult and juvenile detention facilities, homeless shelters, adult recovery centers, nursing homes and seniors’ day centres.

Mimi named her organization Bread & Roses after reading James Oppenheim’s poem, Bread & Roses, written in honor of the women garment workers on strike in 1912 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The strike became known as the Bread & Roses strike because of its slogan – “Give us bread, but give us roses, too.” Mimi set the poem to music and it became the title song of Judy Collins’ 1976 album, Bread and Roses.

Judy Collins- Bread and Roses
Bread and Roses (Elektra)

The concert by Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger -- recorded February 2nd, 1988 by Michael Kleff for German radio -- is available on a CD called Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses. It is available from the Bread & Roses website at this link.

Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Best of Friends
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Children of Darkness
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- I Can See Clearly Now
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Dandelion
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Old Woman
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Dog Blue  
Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard)

Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Mr. Rudy
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Come Get Me Shoes
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Less Than the Song
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Deep Feelings
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)

Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Sad Cities
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Mama Tried
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- If My Eyes Were Blind
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)

Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Big Party
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Daniel Prayed
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Defying Gravity
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)

Joan Baez- Sweet Sir Galahad
Live at Woodstock (Craft)
Pete Seeger- The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood
God Bless the Grass (Columbia/Legacy)
Rhiannon Giddens- Birmingham Sunday
Freedom Highway (Nonesuch)
Caroline Doctorow- Reflections in a Crystal Wind
Another Country: The Songs of Mimi and Richard Fariña (Narrow Lane)

Next week – Hourglass: Songs and conversation with Murray McLauchlan

Find me on Twitter. www.twitter.com/mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Caroline Doctorow – Dreaming in Vinyl

CAROLINE DOCTOROW

Dreaming in Vinyl

Narrow Lane Records

carolinedoctorow.com 

Music, for a lot of baby boomers like me, was big deal when we were young (and remains a big deal for some of us). Acquiring a new LP from a favorite band or solo artist was often a major event. The songs meant something to us and so many have stayed with us over the decades.

Caroline Doctorow’s new CD, Dreaming in Vinyl, is a reminder of those days. Eight of the 10 songs are seemingly timeless interpretations of songs that first came out between 1965 and 1970 while the other two – Caroline’s originals – evoke that period.

Almost all of the covered songs on Dreaming in Vinyl were instantly familiar to me as they were drawn from LPs I owned back in the day (and most of those I now have on CD reissues). And the only song I didn’t really know, “Hard, Hard Year,” was because it wasn’t on one of the Hollies’ LPs I did have back then.

Caroline’s versions of these songs remain quite faithful to the original versions. Her always-lovely voice is well served by her own guitar playing and overdubbed harmonies, by violinist Chris Tedesco, and by the layered accompaniment of producer Pete Kennedy on all other instruments. Among my favorites are Bob Dylan’s “Time Passes Slowly,” Paul Simon (Simon and Garfunkel)’s “Dangling Conversation,” which chronicles a couple’s growing alienation from each other, and Richard Holler’s poignant topical song “Abraham, Martin and John,” an iconic hit by Dion after the assassinations of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy.

The versions of the Lou Reed and John Cale (Velvet Underground & Nico)’s “Sunday Morning,” Randy Newman’s “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today,” Donovan’s “Turquoise,” and John Lennon and Paul McCartney (Beatles)’s “Across the Universe” are all also noteworthy.

As mentioned, Caroline’s two original songs evoke that period when we were buying vinyl LPs. “To Be Here” is a beautiful love song and travelogue. “That’s How I’ll Remember You,” is a lovely farewell written for Caroline’s father, the acclaimed novelist E.L. Doctorow, who died last year.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Caroline Doctorow – I Carry All I Own: The Songs of Mary McCaslin

CAROLINE DOCTOROW

I Carry All I Own: The Songs of Mary McCaslin

Narrow Lane Records

carolinedoctorow.com

Back in the 1970s, I was part of an extended circle of friends that spent a lot of time hanging around a barn in North Ferrisburg, Vermont – about a two-hour drive from Montreal – that had been converted into a recording studio and was home to Philo Records, one of the most interesting, and, for about 10 years, one of the most vital, of the folk-rooted record labels of the time.

Among the artists I became friends with was Mary McCaslin, an influential singer and songwriter and a guitarist known for her innovative use of open tunings. Several of Mary’s Philo recordings, in particular Way Out West and Prairie in the Sky, remain contemporary folk classics whose songs have turned up on recordings by such artists as Tom Russell, Gretchen Peters, Stan Rogers, Sneezy Waters, David Bromberg, Kate Wolf, and Bill Staines. Many of Mary’s songs featured imagery from the old and new west and her Prairie in the Sky LP inspired Ian Tyson to return to songwriting, thus precipitating the renaissance of cowboy culture.

Three years ago, contemporary singer-songwriter Caroline Doctorow released Another Country, an album of Richard and Mimi Fariña songs, the first in a series of planned tributes to artists who influenced her. I Carry All I Own: The Songs of Mary McCaslin is the second in the series and, like the Fariña tribute, it was produced by multi-instrumentalist Pete Kennedy. All of the back-up complementing Caroline’s voice and guitar on this CD is by Pete.

It’s a lovely tribute encompassing 10 songs drawn from three of Mary’s Philo albums from the ‘70s (one of which, Sunny California, was initially licensed to Mercury Records) and one from A Life and Time, a 1981 recording on Flying Fish (interestingly, both the Philo and Flying Fish catalogs were eventually absorbed by Rounder Records). Caroline’s singing and the arrangements remain faithful enough to Mary’s originals that they are instantly recognizable to those of us who knew this music back in the day and yet are just different enough that they have a contemporary freshness all their own.

While I really enjoyed the whole album, among my favourite tracks are “Circle of Friends,” which always reminds me of sitting up late at night with Mary and other friends from the era; “Young Westley,” a fictionalized outlaw-ballad-cum-love-song at least partially inspired by Mary’s early relationship with singer-songwriter Jim Ringer, to whom she was later married; and a beautifully dreamy, atmospheric rendition of “Prairie in the Sky.”

I’ve no doubt Mary will feel justifiably honoured by Caroline’s fine tribute.

Pictured: Mike Regenstreif and Mary McCaslin at the 1999 Champlain Valley Folk Festival.

I'm now on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

I'm also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mikeregenstreif.

--Mike Regenstreif

Caroline Doctorow -- Another Country: The Songs of Richard and Mimi Fariña

Caroline Doctorow
Another Country: The Songs of Mimi and Richard Fariña
Narrow Lane Records
carolinedoctorow.com

Mimi and Richard Fariña had a very brief career in the mid-1960s, releasing two fine albums – Celebrations for a Grey Day and Reflections in a Crystal Wind – in 1965 that still hold up remarkably well, before Richard was killed, at just 29, in a motorcycle accident on Mimi’s 21st birthday. A third album, Memories, included outtakes and a couple of solo tracks each by Mimi and her sister, Joan Baez, singing Richard’s songs, was released in 1968. The 12 songs and one brief instrumental on Caroline Doctorow’s tribute to the Fariñas were all drawn from those three albums.

Recording a successful tribute album like this means walking a tightrope in that the interpretations must retain the essence of the original versions while bringing something new to the songs. The arrangements have to simultaneously reflect the spirit of the times in which the songs come from while still sounding relevant today. Caroline Doctorow and her primary collaborator, producer Pete Kennedy, succeed admirably on this CD. Most of Caroline’s versions are every bit as good as the originals and there are even a couple, “Hard Lovin’ Loser” and “Sell-Out Agitation Waltz,” that I think are far better than the originals. Pete knows how to play and produce rock and roll much better than Richard did, so these rockier songs fare much better in his hands than they did in Richard’s.

Among my favourites on the CD is Caroline’s version of “Reflections in a Crystal Wind,” a lyrically oblique song that I’ve always heard as a young person trying to come to an understanding of what makes love, and the world, go round. Nanci Griffith supplies some lovely harmonies. Another is “The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood,” done here in a version that is both haunting and beautiful.

In addition to the Fariña songs, the album is built around Caroline’s excellent vocals and Pete’s excellent arrangements. Pete’s playing, on a variety of often-overdubbed instruments, is always superb. Other musicians and singers who contribute include Happy Traum, Eric Weissberg, John Sebastian, Nanci Griffith and Maura Kennedy.

I didn’t know Richard personally, but Mimi, who died of cancer in 2001, and I became friends in the 1980s and she made several trips to Montreal to play at the Golem, the folk club I ran back then. I think Mimi would have been very moved by Caroline’s tribute.

--Mike Regenstreif