Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – July 12, 2025

Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa on Saturday mornings from 7 until 10 am (Eastern time) and available for on-demand streaming anytime. I am one of the four rotating hosts of the Saturday Morning show. 

This episode of Saturday Morning was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/71071.html

Jimmy LaFave- My Back Pages

Peace Town (Music Road)

Mike Regenstreif & Jimmy LaFave (2017)

Jimmy LaFave- Minstrel Boy Howling at the Moon

Highway Angels…Full Moon Rain (Night Tribe Music)

Jimmy LaFave- Buffalo Return to the Plains

Favorites 1992-2001 (Music Road)

Jimmy LaFave- Peace Town

Peace Town (Music Road)

The Vanaver Caravan featuring Bill Vanaver- Just One More Time

Pastures of Plenty: Songs of Woody Guthrie (Coming Together Festival Productions)

Ellis Paul & Vance Gilbert- This Morning I Am Born Again

Side of the Road (Philo)

Wenzel- Been Down the River Too Long

Ticky Tock: Wenzel Sings Woody Guthrie (Conträr Musik) 

The Klezmatics & Susan McKeown- From Here On In

Wonder Wheel: Lyrics by Woody Guthrie (Jewish Music Group)

Malcolm Holcombe- A Far Cry from Here

A Far Cry from Here (Purple Girl Music)

Sara Trunzo- In Your Mercy

Better Than I Was (Sara Trunzo)

Eric Andersen & Mike Regenstreif (2000)

Eric Andersen- Love is a Sacred Thing

Dance of Love and Death (EARecords)

Mary Chapin Carpenter- Girl and Her Dog

Personal History (Lambent Light/Thirty Tigers)

Payadora- Zamba del Carau

The Legend of Carau (Payadora)

Eliza Gilkyson & Mike Regenstreif (2006)

Eliza Gilkyson- Times Like These

Dark Ages (Realiza)

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band- Land of Hope and Dreams

Land of Hope and Dreams (Columbia)

The Solourners- People Het Ready

Hold On (Black Hen Music)

Nanci Griffith- Ghosts in the Music

Once In a Very Blue Moon (Philo)

Schmaltz & Pepper- The Ride to Zaslav

Schmaltz & Pepper (Schmaltz & Pepper)

Benoît LeBlanc- Un-nòt-kankan

Mô kouzin, mô kouzinn (Benoît LeBlanc)

Mike Regenstreif & Tony Turner (2018)

Tony Turner- Bob Loblaw Blahs

Survivor Tree (Bon Esprit Music)

Schmaltz & Pepper- Evil Eye

Schmaltz & Pepper (Schmaltz & Pepper)

Lotus Wight- Little Hat Jones

Original Works for Voice and Banjo Volume One (Lotus Wight)

Rube & Rake- Some of Mine

Good Time After Bad (LHM)

Jessica Pearson & The East Wind- Heave Away

Grave and Garden Songs (Jessica Pearson & The East Wind)

Ray Bonneville- Streetcar Man

On the Blind Side (Stonefly) 

Night Sun- Summer Songs

One Moment of Grace (Borealis)

Chris Rawlings & Mike Regenstreif (2007)

Chris Rawlings- Bastille Day

Two Sides to Your Story (Cookingfat Music)

Mike Regenstreif & Jesse Winchester (2006)

Jesse Winchester- Wake Me

Learn to Love It (Stony Plain)

Christine Collister- How Far to the Horizon?

Blue Aconite (Koch)

Christine Albert- L’air de la Louisiane

Paris, Texafrance (MoonHouse)

Jerry Jeff Walker- Mississippi You’re On My Mind

Ridin’ High (MCA)

Cheryl Wheeler- Defying Gravity

Defying Gravity (Philo)

The Lucky Sisters- I Can’t Stand Up Alone

So Lucky (Patio)

The Village Dudes- Tomorrow’s Train

Another Time and Place (Blue Flute Music)

Staber & Chasnoff- Spanish Johnny

Free To Dream (Bubkes)

Suzy Thompson- You Don’t Need a Gun

Suzy Sings Siebel Volume One (Suzy Thompson)

Paul Siebel- Weary Blues

Woodstock Mountains: More Music from Mud Acres (Rounder)

Eric Erickson- The Potter

The Heart of an American (Ardith Recordings)

Freyda & Acoustic AttaTude- Potter’s Wheel

Midnight at Cabell Hall (Red House)

Mike Regenstreif & Steve Gillette (1994)

Steve Gillette- That Song About the River

Best of (Compass Rose)

Dee Robinson- Boat’s Up the River

Dee from Decatur (Riverlark Music)

Mike Regenstreif & Arlo Guthrie (1996)

Arlo Guthrie- Sailing Down This Golden River

Outlasting the Blues (Rising Son)

Mike Regenstreif & Bill Staines (1993)

Bill Staines- River

Bridges (Red House)

Dee Robinson- Stack O Lee

Dee from Decatur (Riverlark Music)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on August 9. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – July 1, 2025: Songs for Canada Day

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/595/70878.html

Theme: Songs for Canada Day.

Stan Rogers- Northwest Passage

Northwest Passage (Fogarty’s Cove/Borealis)

Ian & Sylvia- Four Strong Winds

Four Strong Winds (Vanguard)

Maria Dunn- In the Shadow of the Rockies/As I Walk Through Canada

We Were Good People (Distant Whisper)

James Keelaghan- My Skies

History: The First 25 Years (Borealis)

Bonnie Dobson- Peter Amberley

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

Finest Kind- The Maple Leaf Forever

Silks & Spices (Fallen Angle Music)

Wade Hemsworth with The Mountain City Four (lead vocal: Kate McGarrigle)- The Log Driver’s Waltz

Wade Hemsworth with the Mountain City Four (Peter Weldon)

Gordon Lightfoot- Canadian Railroad Trilogy

Songbook (Warner Archives/Rhino)

Leonard Cohen- Suzanne

Songs of Leonard Cohen (Columbia/Legacy)

Steel Rail- Wooden Ships

River Song (Crossties)

Jesse Winchester- I Wave Bye Bye

Gentleman of Leisure (Sugar Hill)

Connie Kaldor- Wood River

Wood River (Coyote Entertainment)

Shelley Posen- Canoeing My Troubles Away

Roseberry Road (Well Done Music)

Durham County Poets & Michael Jerome Browne- Diamonds on the Water

Grimshaw Road (Durham County Poets)

Yonder Hill- Northern Lights

Yonder Hill (Yonder Hill)

Notre Dame de Grass- New Canada Road

New Canada Road (Notre Dame de Grass)

Willie Dunn- Louis Riel

Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies: The Willie Dunn Anthology (Light in the Attic)

Amanda Rheaume- Unforgettable

The Truth We Hold (Ishkõdé)

Prairie Comeau- Un Canadien errant

L’emprunt(e) (La Compagnie du Nord)

Chris Rawlings- Song of the Old Bush Pilot

Northern Spirits (Cooking Fat Music)

David Bradstreet- The Land Beyond

Hindsight (David Bradstreet)

Night Sun- A Canadian Song

Drive (Borealis)

Next week: Peggy Seeger at 90.

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – May 17, 2025

Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa on Saturday mornings from 7 until 10 am (Eastern time) and available for on-demand streaming anytime. I am one of the four rotating hosts of the Saturday Morning show. 

This episode of Saturday Morning was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/70266.html

Jim Rooney & Rooney's Irregulars- One Morning in May

My Own Ignorant Way (JRP)

Garland Frady- The Brand New Tennessee Waltz

Pure Country (Countryside)

Lisa Moscatiello- Biloxi

Second Avenue (Machine Heart)

The Frontmen- That’s a Touch I Like

The Frontmen (Rolltop Discs)

Mike Regenstreif & Jesse Winchester (2009)

Jesse Winchester- Skip Rope Song

Jesse Winchester (Stony Plain)

Tim Hardin- Yankee Lady

Simple Songs of Freedom: The Tim Hardin Collection (Columbia/Legacy)

Chris Rawlings & Mike Regenstreif (2007)

Chris Rawlings- Lake Isle of Innisfree/Song of the Wandering Aengus

Two Sides to Your Story (Cookingfat Music)

Mike Regenstreif & Priscilla Herdman (1978)

Priscilla Herdman- Reedy River

The Water Lily (Philo)

Mike Regenstreif & Garnet Rogers (2006)

Archie Fisher & Garnet Rogers- The Outside Track

The Best Times After All: Live (Snow Goose Songs)

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis & Karine Polwart- Rebecca

Looking for the Thread (Lambent Light/Thirty Tigers)

Suzie Brown- Mothers and Daughters

Songs Worth Saving (Suzie Brown)

Bettye LaVette- Mama, You Been On My Mind

Things Have Changed (Verve)

Schmaltz & Pepper- I’m Sorry Mama

Schmaltz & Pepper (Schmaltz & Pepper)

Schmaltz & Pepper- Mozart the Mensch

Schmaltz & Pepper (Schmaltz & Pepper)

Suzy Thompson- Louise

Suzy Sings Siebel Volume One (Suzy Thompson)

Suzy Thompson- Bride 1945

Suzy Sings Siebel Volume One (Suzy Thompson)

Paul Siebel- My Town

Woodsmoke and Oranges (Elektra)

Suzy Thompson- Any Day Woman

Suzy Sings Siebel Volume One (Suzy Thompson)

Suzy Thompson- Long Afternoons

Woodsmoke and Oranges (Elektra)

Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi- I Shall Not Be Moved

They’re Calling Me Home (Nonesuch)

Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson- Brown’s Dream

What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow (Nonesuch)

Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens- Swannanoa Tunnel/Steel-Driving Man

American Railroad (Nonesuch)

Carolyn Shulman- Old Farm House

Heart on a Wire (Carolyn Shulman)

Mike Regenstreif & Tim Grimm (2025)

Tim Grimm- Barbed Wire Boys

Bones of Trees (Vault)

Tom Mitchell & Mike Regenstreif (1999)

Tom Mitchell- Sam Ogan

Tom Mitchell (Philo)

Eric Andersen & Mike Regenstreif (2000)

Eric Andersen- Dance of Love and Death

Dance of Love and Death (EARecords)

Louise Coombe & Mike Regenstreif (2024)

Louise Coombe- Paris

Paris (Zoe Cat Music)

Terry Kitchen- Mona Lisa Blue

We All Dream (Urban Campfire Productions)

Gordie Tentrees & Jaxon Haldane- Bobbi & Gus

Double Takes (Gordie Tentrees & Jaxon Haldane)

Jill Sobule- The Last Line

Underdog Victorious: Deluxe Edition (Pinko)

Jill Sobule- A Good Life

F*ck the 7th Grade: Original Cast Recording (Jill Sobule)

Sarah Segal-Lazar- From Sea to Sea

Two If By Sea (Sarah Segal-Lazar)

NEeMA- Unwinding

Watching You Think (Neemaste/Sony)

Leonard Cohen- Traveling Light

You Want It Darker (Columbia)

Perla Batalla- You Want It Darker

A Letter to Leonard Cohen: Tribute to a Friend (Mechuda Music)

Mike Regenstreif & Old Man Luedecke (2015)

Old Man Luedecke- I Skipped a Stone

Easy Money (True North)

Robert Thomas & Mike Regenstreif (2025)

Robert Thomas & the sessionmen- Kick the Can

The Way We Roll (Gas)

Brian Campbell- Comedy of Errors

Let’s Talk (Beedeecee Productions)

Ron Sowell- In Search of Some Creole Soul

Dance Till the Music Stops (Mountain Soul)

Mike Regenstreif & Bruce Murdoch (2007)

Bruce Murdoch- Maximeline

Bruce Murdoch (Radio Canada International)

Rees Shad- Porcelain Angel

Porcelain Angel (Shadville Music)

C. Daniel Boling- Wand’rin’ Again

It Matters (Berkalin)

Keith Sykes- Rich Wayfaring Stranger

Keith Sykes (Vanguard)

Susie Arioli Swing Band featuring Jordan Officer- Reuben’s Blues

It’s Wonderful (Susie Arioli Swing Band)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on June 14. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – March 18, 2025: Canadian Places

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/595/69388.html

Theme: Canadian Places

This show is a celebration of just some of the many places in our country, and a response to the despicable behaviour of the orange felon in regard to Canada. As so many have reiterated, Canada is not for sale and will never be his 51st state. We have our elbows up.

Shari Ulrich & Mike Regenstreif (2019)

Shari Ulrich- Canada

Back to Shore (Borealis)

Shelley Posen & Mike Regenstreif on Zoom (2023)

Shelley Posen- Ontario Moon

Ontario Moon (Well Done Music)

Over the Moon- Old Alberta Moon

Moondancer (Over the Moon)

Mike Regenstreif & Connie Kaldor (2015)

Connie Kaldor & Roy Forbes- Saskatoon Moon

Wood River (Coyote)

Orit Shimoni- Winnipeg 

Winnipeg (Orit Shimoni) 

Doug McArthur- The Lunenburg Shift

Letters from the Coast/Sisteron (Snow Goose Songs)

Deborah Holland- East Porpoise Bay

I Made It This Far (Deborah Holland)

Oscar Peterson- Place St. Henri

Canadiana Suite (Verve)

Bill Garrett & Mike Regenstreif (2014)

Bill Garrett- Lillooet

Bill Garrett (Borealis)

James Keelaghan- Hope Princeton Road

My Skies (Green Linnet)

Humphrey & The Dumptrucks- Calgary Song

Six Days of Paper Ladies (Boot)

Mike Regenstreif & April Verch (2025)

April Verch & Cody Walters- Up in the Ottawa Valley

Passages and Pairings (Slab Town)

Kevun Head & Mike Regenstreif (2013) photo: Vanessa Burnett

Kevin Head- Saturday Night in South Margarree

Live (Kevin Head Music)

Dave Clarke of Steel Rail & Lucinda Chodan (co-writers of Argyle Street) and Mike Regenstreif (2025)

 
Steel Rail- Argyle Street

Coming Home (Crossties)

Allison Russell- Montreal

Outside Child (Fantasy)

Chris Rawlings & Mike Regenstreif (2007)

Chris Rawlings- Vieux Montréal

Pearl Soup (Cooking Fat Music)

Ken Tizzard & Amelia Curran- St. John’s Waltz

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

Bob Stark- Patterson Creek Bridge

Sculpted Pieces of Love (Bob Stark)

Paul Weber- Ottawa Lament

Ode to Gerry Barber (Paul Weber)

Ray Harris- Pontiac County Blues

Kinda Sets the Tone (Ray Harris)

Night Sun- Petawawa River

Drive (Borealis)

Stan Rogers- The Rawdon Hills

Fogarty’s Cove (Fogarty’s Cove/Borealis)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle and Mike Regenstreif (1976) photo: Felicity Fanjoy

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Matapedia

Matapedia (Hannibal)

Mike Regenstreif & Murray McLauchlan on Zoom (2021)

Murray McLauchlan- Out Past the Timberline

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

Next week: Part 1 – Songs of Laura Nyro; Part 2 – Bringing It All Back Home Revisited.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – December 3, 2024: Top 10 for 2024

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/595/67938.html

Theme: Songs from my top 10 folk-rooted and folk-branched albums of 2024.

The annotated and illustrated list is posted on the Folk Roots/Folk Branches blog at this link. https://frfb.blogspot.com/2024/11/top-10-for-2024.html

Number 10 – Heartbreak, Misery & Death by Grayson Capps

Grayson Capps- Hallelujah

Heartbreak, Misery & Death (Royal Potato Family)

Number 9 – Lonesome Road: Suite for Solo Guitar and Voice – Songs of the Lost Generation 1924-1928 by Joel Mabus

Joel Mabus- The Lonesome Road

Lonesome Road: Suite for Solo Guitar and Voice – Songs of the Lost Generation 1924-1928 (Fossil)

Number 8 – American Patchwork Quartet by American Patchwork Quartet

American Patchwork Quartet- Shenandoah

American Patchwork Quartet (Carolina Jasmine)

Number 7 – Heart of the Swan by Carla Sciaky

Carla Sciaky- Standing by a River

Heart of the Swan (Propinquity)

Carla Sciaky- This Forsaken Garden

Heart of the Swan (Propinquity)

Number 6 – Two Sides to Your Story by Chris Rawlings

Chris Rawlings- Bastille Day

Two Sides to Your Story (Cookingfat Music)

Chris Rawlings- Smoker’s Lullaby

Two Sides to Your Story (Cookingfat Music)

Number 5 – Live at the Scala Theatre and In the Real World by Eric Bibb

Eric Bibb- Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie 

Live at the Scala Theatre (Stony Plain) 

Eric Bibb- Best I Can

In the Real World (Stony Plain)

Number 4 – American Railroad by Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens

Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens- Swannanoa Tunnel/Steel-Driving Man

American Railroad (Nonesuch)

Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens- Tamping Song

American Railroad (Nonesuch)

Number 3 – Feel with Blood by Lenka Lichtenberg

Lenka Lichtenberg- Feel with Blood

Feel with Blood (Six Degrees)

Lenka Lichtenberg- Wintry Dusk

Feel with Blood (Six Degrees)

Number 2 – Bandits, Ballads and Blues by James Talley

James Talley- The Love Song of Billy the Kid

Bandits, Ballads and Blues (Cimarron)

James Talley- If We Could Love One Another

Bandits, Ballads and Blues (Cimarron)

Number 1 – A Letter to Leonard Cohen: Tribute to a Friend by Perla Batalla

Perla Batalla- A Singer Must Die

A Letter to Leonard Cohen: Tribute to a Friend (Mechuda Music)

Perla Batalla- You Want It Darker

A Letter to Leonard Cohen: Tribute to a Friend (Mechuda Music)

I’m taking the next four weeks off and Stranger Songs will feature some repeat shows from 2022. You can see the playlists and stream the shows at the following links.

December 10: Songs of the Mountain City Four and Kate & Anna McGarrigle. https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/57707.html

December 17: “Acapella Stella” and other a capella songs. https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/57170.html

December 24: Happy Holidays. https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/58701.html

December 31: Songs of – or inspired by – Jesse Winchester. https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/56097.html

New programs will resume on January 7.

--Mike Regenstreif

Top 10 for 2024

Here are my picks for the Top 10 folk-rooted or folk-branched albums of 2024. I started with a list of about 30 superb albums released between December 2023 and November 2024. I’ve been over the list several times over the past couple of weeks and came up with several similar – not identical – Top 10 lists. Today’s list is the final one. The order might have been slightly different and there are several other worthy albums that might have been included, had one of the other lists represented the final choice. Any new albums that arrive between now and the end of the year will be considered for my 2025 list. 

1. Perla Batalla – A Letter to Leonard Cohen: Tribute to a Friend (Mechuda Music). Early in her career, in the late-1980s and ‘90s, Perla Batalla toured the world as a backup singer in Leonard Cohen’s band. I remember being mesmerized by her singing as I sat front row, centre at the St. Denis Theatre in Montreal in 1988. In 2004, Perla released the superb collection, Bird on the Wire: The Songs of Leonard Cohen, and now follows up with this sublime album. She includes superb versions of eight of Leonard’s songs; a version of “The Partisan,” a song from the French Resistance in the World War II that Leonard made his own; and two of Perla’s original songs inspired by her friend and mentor.

2. James Talley – Bandits, Ballads and Blues (Cimarron). James Talley has been one of my favorite singer-songwriters since he released Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, but We Sure Got a Lot of Love in 1974. On Bandits, Ballads and Blues, James sings compassionate songs about old west outlaws, family, a missed dog, and – most importantly – common folk victimized by forces beyond their control.

3. Lenka Lichtenberg – Feel with Blood (Six Degrees). Feel with Blood by Lenka Lichtenberg, the second album that Lenka has done based on poems written by Anna Hana Friesová, her maternal grandmother, while she was a prisoner at the Theresienstadt concentration camp during the Holocaust. While Thieves of Dreams, her first album of this material was largely sung in Czech, this album is largely sung in English translation.

4. Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens – American Railroad (Nonesuch). The Silkroad Ensemble is a multicultural group of musicians founded by Yo-Yo Ma and now under the artistic direction of Rhiannon Giddens. As explained on the Silkroad Ensemble website, American Railroad, was inspired by the impact that African American, Chinese, Indigenous, Irish, and other immigrant communities had on the creation of the transcontinental and connecting railways in North America.

5. Eric Bibb – Live at the Scala Theatre (Stony Plain) and In the Real World (Stony Plain). The always inspiring Eric Bibb, who has been a favorite folk and acoustic blues performer for many years, released both a live album, Live at the Scala Theatre, and a studio album, In the Real World, this year and both are deserving of inclusion on this list, so I decided to bend my list and have two albums share a slot.

6. Chris Rawlings – Two Sides to Your Story (Cookingfat Music). I’ve known Chris Rawlings since circa 1970 and I think that Two Sides to Your Story – featuring stellar backup from Henry Heillig and Jim Hoke – is his best (and best sounding) album yet. Among the highlights is a new version of “Smoker’s Lullaby,” a piece that Chris sang the first time I heard him about 55 years ago, featuring slightly edited lyrics that make a great song even better – and whose opening line gives the album its title.

7. Carla Sciaky – Heart of the Swan (Propinquity). Heart of the Swan, the first solo album in about 30 years by Carla Sciaky, marks a triumphant return of a fine singer and songwriter who was unheard from for too long. This is an album of quiet power with several tracks featuring recurring instrumental or vocal passages from the traditional ballad, “Polly Vaughn,” about a hunter mistakes the woman he loves for a swan.

8. American Patchwork Quartet – American Patchwork Quartet (Carolina Jasmine). American Patchwork Quartet is a multicultural group whose members are both ethnically and musically diverse, traits which they bring to their delightfully re-imagined versions of 14 traditional folksongs that demonstrate how relevant and powerful traditional source material remains for contemporary music.

9. Joel Mabus – Lonesome Road: Suite for Solo Guitar and Voice – Songs of the Lost Generation 1924-1928 (Fossil). Joel Mabus, a longtime veteran of the folk music scene, is a fine singer and player of many stringed instruments. Joel is also an excellent songwriter whose work is well informed by his knowledge of diverse styles including traditional balladry, old-time country, bluegrass, jazz, vintage pop and blues. On Lonesome Road: Suite for Solo Guitar and Voice – Songs of the Lost Generation 1924-1928 Joel offers fine versions of 14 classic songs written between 1924 and 1928.

10. Grayson Capps – Heartbreak, Misery & Death (Royal Potato Family). On Heartbreak, Misery & Death, Grayson Capps, a singer-songwriter from Alabama well-versed in folk and blues styles, turns his attention to really nice versions of traditional folksongs and contemporary folk classics written by the likes of Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, Jerry Jeff Walker and Randy Newman.

I will be featuring songs from each of these albums on Stranger Songs, Tuesday December 3, 3:30-5 pm (ET), on CKCU. The program is already available 24/7 for on-demand streaming at this link. https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/67938.html

–Mike Regenstreif