Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – February 20, 2024: Songs of Chuck Berry

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/595/63977.html

Theme: Songs of Chuck Berry (1926-2017)

Chuck Berry, who died in 2017 at the age of 90, was an influential guitar player, singer and songwriter and one of the founding and foundational figures of rock ‘n’ roll. Berry was a St. Louis blues musician who signed with Chess Records in Chicago and began releasing singles in 1955 and LPs in 1957. It wasn’t long before he was one of the early stars of rock ‘n’ roll.

Chuck Berry- Rock and Roll Music

Best of the Chess Years (Not Now Music)

The Beatles- Roll Over Beethoven

With The Beatles (Parlophone)

The Rolling Stones- Carol

The Rolling Stones (Decca)

Mollie O'Brien- Brown Eyed Handsome Man

Big Red Sun (Sugar Hill)

Ken Hamm- Maybellene

Live ’05 (North Track)

Chuck Berry- Beautiful Delilah

Best of the Chess Years (Not Now Music)

Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks- Forty Days

The EP Collection (See for Miles)

The Band- Promised Land

Moondog Matinee (Capitol)

Linda Ronstadt- Back in the U.S.A.

Living in the U.S.A. (Asylum)

Chuck Berry- Sweet Little Sixteen

Best of the Chess Years (Not Now Music)

Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band- Memphis, Tennessee

Jug Band Music (Vanguard)

Geoff & Maria Muldaur- Havana Moon

Sweet Potatoes (Omnivore)

Geoff Muldaur & Amos Garrett- La Juanda

Geoff Muldaur & Amos Garrett (Flying Fish)

George Benson- How You’ve Changed

Walking to New Orleans: Remembering Chuck Berry and Fats Domino (Provogue)

The Stephen Barry Band- You Can’t Catch Me

Happy Man (Bros)

Tom Rush- Too Much Monkey Business

Tom Rush/Take a Little Walk with Me (BGO)

Emmylou Harris- (You Never Can Tell) C’est La Vie

Luxury Liner (Warner Bros./Rhino)

Dion- Johnny B. Goode

Born in the Bronx (Dance House)

Chuck Berry- Bye Bye Johnny

Best of the Chess Years (Not Now Music)

Jim Byrnes- Nadine

St. Louis Times (Black Hen Music)

Ry Cooder- 13 Question Method

Get Rhythm (Warner Bros.)

Ann Rabson- School Days

Struttin’ My Stuff (M.C.)

Jerry Lee Lewis- Little Queenie

Jerry Rocks (Bear Family)

Chuck Berry- Let It Rock

Best of the Chess Years (Not Now Music)

Chris Smither- Tulane

Another Way to Find You (Flying Fish)

Geoff Bartley- No Money Down

Hear That Wind Howl (Waterbug)

Gerry & The Pacemakers- Reelin’ and Rockin’

The EP Collection (See for Miles)

Chuck Berry- Downbound Train

Best of the Chess Years (Not Now Music)

Chuck Berry- Berry Pickin’

Best of the Chess Years (Not Now Music)

Next week: “Take the ‘A’ Train”: A Tribute to Duke Ellington.

--Mike Regenstreif

Lynn Miles – Winter

LYNN MILES

Winter

lynnmilesmusic.com

Although I’ve lived all of my life in Canada, where the winters are long and cold, sometimes very cold, I’m not one who has ever warmed to and embraced the season – except maybe when I can listen to a favorite singer sing about it.

Just before Christmas, Lynn Miles, a favorite singer-songwriter, released Winter, an excellent collection of songs set in this coldest and darkest time of the year. Some of them are performed live with a string quartet, some are studio recordings.

While most of the songs are recorded for the first time, a few are reimagined for this set because they fit the theme, including the album opener, “Last Night,” an early song of Lynn’s that beautifully captures the magic of the first snowfall of the season (the only snowfall of the year I would possibly describe in those terms). The song’s lyrics and haunting melody are served so very well by Lynn’s singing on top of a lovely string arrangement.

Other favorites include “The Coldest Winter in the History of the World,” which doesn’t describe this current El Niño winter, but is surely reminiscent of last year when the bitter cold set in early and didn’t let up; “High Heels in the Snow,” a compelling and very sad portrait of a teenaged prostitute who doesn’t make it to Christmas; and “Casino El Camino,” a song about being lonely and far away from home in Texas at Christmas time.

In addition to Lynn’s own songs there is a beautiful version of my late friend Jesse Winchester’s “Wintery Feeling,” a song that so brilliantly captures the scene of a nighttime snowfall in Montreal, the city where I lived for most of my life. I love Lynn’s plaintive harmonica playing on this track.

The five songs at the end of the album, including the already-mentioned “Casino El Camino,” are labelled Christmas. But they're not so much Christmas songs as songs that are set around Christmastime, so I don't get that enough-with-Christmas-already feeling hearing them in January (or, I'm sure, later).

While there is a definite sadness to many of these songs (few singers do sad as well as Lynn) the album ends with “Twenty Pound Turkey,” a really fun rock ‘n’ roll song in which Lynn channels her inner Chuck Berry (with lots of help from Keith Glass on electric guitar).

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--Mike Regenstreif