Canadian Spaces – CKCU – Saturday July 8, 2017

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

This particular show is now available for on-demand listening.

http://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/129/33134.html

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: Ray Barfitt; Campbell Woods & Tim Jackson; Joel LeBlanc; Anthony Toner

Catherine MacLellan- Bidin’ My Time

If It’s Alright With You: The Songs of Gene MacLellan (True North)

J. Reissner- If I Ever Get Lucky

Portrait in Blue (J. Reissner)

Katie Moore & Andrew Horton- Lover’s Return

Six More Miles (Katie Moore)

Tom Russell- Sam Bonnifield’s Saloon

PlayOne More: The Songs of Ian & Sylvia (True North)

Jayme Stone, Moira Smiley, Sumaia Jackson, Joe Phillips, Felicity Williams, & Denzal Sinclaire- Wait on the Rising Sun

Jayme Stone’s Folklife (Borealis)

Rufus Wainwright- Oliver

Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Kim Doolittle- Some Loves Never Leave

Into the Blue (Doo-A-Little Music)

Old Man Luedecke- Chester Boat Song

Domestic Eccentric (True North)

The Malvinas- Meteorite

God Bless the Grass (Soona Songs)

Michael Earnie Taylor Orchestra- Man in the Moon

$3 Pants (Laughing Cactus Music)

Suzie Vinnick- Oh My

Me ‘N’ Mabel (Suzie Vinnick)

Scott Cook- Kitchen Dance Party On

Further Down the Line (Scott Cook)

The Jerry Cans- Namulimaaqsimavunga

Aakuluk (The Jerry Cans)

Jesse Winchester- How About You

Let the Rough Side Drag (Stony Plain)

Peggy Seeger- Talking Wheelchair Blues

The Folkways Years 1955-1992: Songs of Love and Politics (Smithsonian Folkways)

Campbell Woods & Tim Jackson- Blood is Thicker than Water

Live in the studio

Campbell Woods & Tim Jackson- If She Stays

Live in the studio

Campbell Woods & Tim Jackson- Let’s Get Back Together

Live in the studio

Anthony Toner- An Alphabet

Ink (Dozens of Cousins)

Anthony Toner- Let the River

Live in the studio

Anthony Toner- The Night Prayer of Saint Augustine

Live in the studio

Anthony Toner- Sailortown

Live in the studio

Claire Lynch- Black Flowers

North By South (Compass)

I’ll be co-hosting Canadian Spaces again on November 25.

Find me on Twitter. @MikeRegenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Catherine MacLellan – If It’s Alright With You: The Songs of Gene MacLellan

CATHERINE MacLELLAN

If It’s Alright With You: The Songs of Gene MacLellan

True North Records

catherinemaclellan.com

truenorthrecords.com

I remember Gene MacLellan (1938-1995) as a performer I’d occasionally see on CBC-TV programs from the Maritimes like “Don Messer’s Jubilee” and “Singalong Jubilee” and as the songwriter behind several big hits for Anne Murray like “Snowbird” (which sits on my record shelves in a version by Doc Watson) and “The Call” and the gospel crossover hit “Put Your Hand in the Hand” (which I have in a version by Joan Baez), and as the father of Catherine MacLellan, an accomplished singer and songwriter in her own right whose work I have greatly appreciated over the past decade or so.

On If It’s Alright With You: The Songs of Gene MacLellan, Catherine, who was a young teenager when she lost her father, pays tribute to her father’s songwriting legacy by interpreting – and, occasionally, reimagining – 13 of his songs.

It’s the two biggest hits that are most radically reimagined – making them both standout tracks on an album with no weak links. As an Anne Murray hit, “Snowbird” was bright, bouncy and infectious. Catherine, though, slows the song down, and accompanying herself on electric piano with no other musicians, finds the poetic heartbreak at the essence of the lyrics and lovely melody – and includes a seemingly essential verse that Murray did not sing.

“Put Your Hand in the Hand” is also performed in a much less flamboyant style than Ocean’s hit version allowing the emphasis to shift away from the singalong chorus to the verses’ story. Catherine on lead vocal is beautifully supported by J.P. Cormier and Dave Gunning on guitars and harmony vocals.

My favorite track on the album is Catherine’s duet with John Connolly on “The Call,” another hit that her father wrote for Anne Murray (perhaps my favorite of all of Murray’s many hits). The song, a panhandler’s plaintive plea, has a quietly infectious melody that is beautifully stated here by the nylon-string lead guitar work of Chris Corrigan.

Among the other standouts are “Bidin’ My Time,” a gentle country song beautifully sung over an arrangement also highlighted by Corrigan’s lead guitar playing; “Faces,” which captures deep feelings of loneliness and depression; and “Shiloh Song,” which seems like a song of encouragement sung by a parent whose circumstances might dictate too much time away from his kids.

Along with the release of this album, Catherine has also created a new stage show, “If It’s Alright With You: The Life and Music of My Father, Gene MacLellan,” that she is performing through September at the PEI Brewing Company in Charlottetown. And Catherine will be bringing much of the show to her National Arts Centre concert here in Ottawa on November 9.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Canadian Spaces – CKCU – Saturday May 9, 2015

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: Chris MacLean; Catherine MacLellan & Chris Gauthier.

Bill Garrett- Northshore Train

Bill Garrett (Borealis)

Chris Rawlings- Song of the Old Bush Pilot

Northern Spirits (Cooking Fat)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- The Log Driver’s Waltz

Oddities (Querbeservice)

Bonnie Dobson- Dink’s Song

Take Me for a Walk in the Morning Dew (Hornbeam)

Moira Smiley, Tim O'Brien, Margaret Glaspy, Mollie O'Brien, John Magnie, Martin Gilmore, Jayme Stone- Sheep, Sheep Don’tcha Know the Road

Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project (Borealis)

Pharis & Jason Romero- A Wanderer I’ll Stay

A Wanderer I’ll Stay (Lula)

Jesse Winchester- All of Your Stories

Seems Like Only Yesterday – Live in Montreal 1976 (Real Gone Music)

Little Birdie- Old Synagogue

Sadder Music (Orit Shimoni)

Russ Kelley- We’re Falling

In Plain Sight (Ark Road Music Productions)

April Verch- Belle Election

The Newpart (Slab Town)

Dan Frechette & Laurel Thomsen- Puddles in the Rain

New Disguise (Dan Frechette & Laurel Thomsen)

Ken Whiteley and the Beulah Band- Quite Early Morning

Ken Whiteley and the Beulah Band (Borealis)

Jory Nash- Homeless Man

The Many Hats of Jory Nash (Thin Man)

Chris MacLean- Across the Channel

Live in the studio

Chris MacLean- Whiskey Kisses

Live in the studio

Catherine MacLellan- Jack’s Song

The Raven’s Sun (Catherine MacLellan)

Catherine MacLellan & Chris Gauthier- The Raven’s Sun

Live in the studio

Catherine MacLellan & Chris Gauthier- Beneath the Lindens

Live in the studio

The show is now available for online listening. http://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/129/21972.html

I’ll be co-hosting Canadian Spaces again on July 11.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif