Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday October 3, 2023: Conversation and Songs with Alan Bern of The Semer Ensemble; “I’ll sing you this October Song.”

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/595/62102.html

Themes: Part 1 – Conversation and Songs with Alan Bern of The Semer Ensemble; Part 2 – “I’ll sing you this October Song.”

Part 1 – Conversation and Songs with Alan Bern of The Semer Ensemble.

The conversation with Alan Bern, artistic director of The Semer Ensemble, was recorded on September 14 via Zoom. 

The Semer Ensemble’s Ottawa concert – sponsored by the Embassy of Germany – takes place on Wednesday, October 4, 7 pm, at the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre. Tickets are free of charge but must be reserved in advance at this link. https://sogerman.ca/events/the-semer-ensemble-live-in-concert-ottawa/

The conversation with Alan Bern was punctuated by these three songs.

Semer Ensemble featuring Lorin Sklamberg- Ich Tanz’ Und Mein Herz Weint

Rescued Treasure: Live at Gorki Berlin (Pirhana)

Semer Ensemble- Simchu Bi Jeruschalajm/E’ise Pele

Rescued Treasure: Live at Gorki Berlin (Pirhana)

Semer Ensemble featuring Sasha Lurje- Vorbei

Rescued Treasure: Live at Gorki Berlin (Pirhana)

Part 2 – “I’ll sing you this October Song.”

Gordon Bok & Cindy Kallet- October Song

Neighbors (Timberhead)

Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy- White Swans and Black/Grey October Clouds

Two for the Early Dew (Shanachie)

Nanci Griffith- October Reasons

Poet In My Window (Philo)

Mike Regenstreif & Bill Staines (1993)

Bill Staines- October Winds

The First Million Miles (Rounder)

Anne Hills- Rondi’s Birthday

October Child (Flying Fish)

Chris Rawlings & Mike Regenstreif (2007)

Chris Rawlings- The Wild Goose

Autumn Gold (Cookingfat Music)

Cindy Church- This October Day

Love on the Range (Stony Plain)

Malcolm Holcombe- October Mornin’

Come Hell or High Water (Gypsy Eyes)

Mama's Broke- October’s Lament

Narrow Line (Free Dirt)

Tom Russell- October in the Railroad Earth

October in the Railroad Earth (Frontera)

Amy Speace- There Used to Be Horses Here

There Used to Be Horses Here (Windbone)

Lucy Wainwright Roche & Suzzy Roche- Cold October Day

Mud & Apples (Lucy Wainwright Roche & Suzzy Roche)

Cindy Mangsen- October Roses

Songs of Experience (Redwing Music)

Short Sisters- Turning Toward the Morning

A Planet Dancing Slow (Black Socks Press)

Dave Clarke- October

GuitarSongs (Crossties)

Next week: Songs of Tom Waits.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday December 20, 2022: Happy Holidays

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/595/58701.html

Theme: Happy Holidays!

Shelley Posen- Chanukah Waltz

Mazel (Well Done Music)

Shelley Posen with Finest Kind- On Chanukah

Mazel (Well Done Music)

The Klezmatics & Susan McKeown- The Many and the Few

Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah (Jewish Music Group)

Shelley Posen- Chanukah Christmas

Mazel (Well Done Music)

Emily Kurn- Light the Lamp

I’m Just Like You (Emily Kurn)

The Short Sisters- My Candles

A Planet Dancing Slow (Black Socks Press)

Shelley Posen- Miracles

Mazel (Well Done Music)

The Klezmatics- Gilad and Ziv’s Sirba

Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah (Jewish Music Group)

Moira Smiley & Seamus Egan featuring Kaia Kater- Watch the Stars

Watch the Stars – single (THL)

Herdman, Hills & Mangsen- Voices of Winter/Red & Green

Voices of Winter (Gadfly)

Chaim Tannenbaum- A Winter Tale

A Winter Tale – single (StorySound)

Amy Speace- I Want an Old Fashioned Christmas

I Want an Old Fashioned Christmas – single (Windbone)

Big Little Lions- That Time of Year

That Time of Year (Fallen Tree)

Lunch at Allen’s- Spending My Christmas with You

Zuzu’s Petals: A Lunch at Allen’s Christmas (Linus)

Shelley Posen- You are All the Christmas That I Need

Old Loves (Well Done Music)

Lunch at Allen’s- The Christmas Song

Zuzu’s Petals: A Lunch at Allen’s Christmas (Linus)

Good Lovelies- The Chipmunk Song

Under the Mistletoe (Good Lovelies)

Highland Weavers- Mrs. Fogarty’s Christmas Cake

Work o’ the Weavers (Highland Weavers)

Rosalie Sorrels with Wild Roses- Party Crasher’s Carol

An Imaginary Christmas in Idaho (Limberlost)

Maria Dunn- God Bless Us Everyone

For a Song (Distant Whisper Music)

Salamander Crossing- Dona Nobis Pacem (Peace on Earth)

Henry Street – A Retrospective (Signature Sounds)

Sweet Honey in the Rock- Seven Principles

Selections 1976-1988 (Flying Fish)

Bill Keith & Jim Rooney- Auld Lang Syne

Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass (Rounder)

Next week: Mike Regenstreif’s Top 10 folk-rooted and folk-branched albums of 2022.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday January 11, 2022: Songs of Winter

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/595/54825.html

Theme: Songs of Winter

Mike Regenstrif & Quartette: Caitlyn Hanford, Sylvia Tyson, Cindy Church, Gwen Swick (1997)

Quartette- Song for a Winter’s Night
Rocks and Roses (Outside Music)

Jesse Winchester- Snow
Jesse Winchester (Stony Plain)
Lynn Miles- Wintery Feeling
Winter (Lynn Miles)
Ronney Abramson- Long Lonely Winter
Stowaway (Castor Island Music)
Bill Garrett & Sue Lothrop- The Hill
Red Shoes (Borealis)
Sean Gagnier- (Song of the) Wheelhouse Door
Circle Harbor (Sean Gagnier)

Jenny Whiteley- Log Cabin in the Sky
The Original Jenny Whiteley (Black Hen)
RanchWriters- Winter Flood
RanchWriters (True North)

John Gorka & Mike Regenstreif (2012)

Steel Rail- A Thousand Miles of Snow
A Thousand Miles of Snow (Crossties)
John Gorka- Holed Up in Mason City
Bright Side of Down (Red House)
Rosalie Sorrels- Snowing On Raton
Borderline Heart (Green Linnet)

Herdman, Hills & Mangsen- The Druggist
At the Turning of the Year (Hand & Heart Music)
Noel Paul Stookey- Winter Wonderland
Winter Wonderland – single (Neworld Multimedia)
The Roches- My Winter Coat
Where Do I Come From: Selected Songs (StorySound)

Short Sisters- Snow, Snow
A Planet Dancing Slow (Black Socks Press)
Rod MacDonald- The Coming of the Snow
After the War (Blue Flue Music)
Ian Hanchet- Girl from the North Country
Dealin’ from the Bottom (of My Heart) (Ian Hanchet)
Jodi Jean & Aylon- Winterlude
Bobfest (Jodi Jean & Aylon)

Jane Voss & Hoyle Osborne- Witch Hazel
Beyond the Boundaries (Ripple)
Sue Horowitz- January
Strings, Wings and Curious Things (Sue Horowitz)
Laurie MacAllister & David Glaser- Birches
The Lies the Poets Tell (Laurie MacAllister)
Bruce Cockburn- The Coldest Night of the Year
Greatest Hits (1970-2020) (True North)

Molly Mason, Mike Regenstreif & Jay Ungar (2005)

Jay Ungar & Molly Mason- The Snowstorm
The Pleasures of Winter (Fiddle & Dance)

Next week: Songs of Leonard Cohen – The Middle Years.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday December 21, 2021: Winter Solstice & Christmas

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/595/54591.html

Theme: Winter Solstice & Christmas

Good Lovelies- Hurry Home
Under the Mistletoe (Good Lovelies)

Gathering Sparks- Bringing in the Light
All That’s Real (Borealis)
Jesse Palidofsky- Dancing Toward the Light
Dancing Toward the Light (Azalea City)
Herdman, Hills & Mangsen- Solstice Round
At the Turning of the Year (Hand & Heart Music)
Claudia Schmidt- Winter Solstice Chant
Hark the Dark (Claudia Schmidt)
Joe Jencks- Longest Night of the Year
Poets, Philosophers, Workers & Wanderers (Turtle Bear Music)

Joe Newberry & April Verch- Round the Christmas Tree
On This Christmas Day (Slab Town)
Robin Greenstein & Cecilia Kirtland- Mele Kalikimaka
Songs of the Season (Windy)

Jay McShann- Hootie’s K.C. Christmas Prayer
Still Jumpin’ the Blues (Stony Plain)

Joni Mitchell- The Gift of the Magi
Archives – Volume 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) (Rhino)
Gordy Quist- River
A Very Blue Rock Christmas Vol. 2 (Blue Rock)
Lynn Miles- Christmas Makes Me Miss You More
Winter (Lynn Miles)

Rosalie Sorrels & Mike Regenstreif (1993)

Rosalie Sorrels- Hot Buttered Rum
An Imaginary Christmas in Idaho (Limberlost)
Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies- Gramophone Dancing
Wotcheor! (Tantobie)
Cosy Sheridan- The Night the Reindeer Fly
Sometimes I Feel Too Much (Cosy Sheridan)
Herdman, Hills & Mangsen- Mister Santa
Voices of Winter (Gadfly)

Mike Regenstreif & Erik Frandsen (1976) photo: Felicity Fanjoy

Erik Frandsen- Christmas in Brooklyn
Antiques: New & Used (Erik Frandsen)
Louis Armstrong- Cool Yule
Cool Yule: Deluxe Edition (Verve)
Peter Davis- Zat You Santa Claus?
The Pleasures of Winter (Fiddle & Dance)
Mike Goudreau Band & Dany Roy- Shufflin’ on Christmas Day
Christmas Rendezvous (Éditions Goudreau)

Brian Campbell- All Alone This Christmas
All Alone This Christmas – single (Brian Campbell)
Norman Doucette- Christmas in a Phone Booth
Dangerous Ground (Norman Doucette)
Emma’s Revolution- A Zeesn Christmas
A Zeesn Christmas – single (Moving Forward Music)
Suzzy Roche, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Oona Roche, David Roche & Daisy Press- Christmas Love
Where Do I Come From: Selected Songs (StorySound)
David Massengill- Jesus, the Fugitive Prince
The Return (Plump)

Jay Ungar & Molly Mason with Tony Trischka- Christmas Eve
The Pleasures of Winter (Fiddle & Dance)

Next week: Mike Regenstreif's top 10 folk-rooted and folk-branched albums of 2021

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Michael Peter Smith 1941-2020

Although I’ve known for five or six weeks that this news was coming soon, I am deeply saddened today to learn that Michael Peter Smith died yesterday of colon cancer at age 78.

Let us go to the banks of the ocean
Where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee
Long ago, I used to be a young man
And dear Margaret remembers that for me

–The chorus of “The Dutchman” by Michael Smith

I was introduced to the songwriting of Michael Smith in 1972 when Steve Goodman led off Somebody Else’s Troubles, his second LP, with Michael’s song, “The Dutchman.” The song stunned me with its lyrical and melodic beauty and with how deeply the depth of the Dutchman’s character and his dementia was compassionately revealed. In 1973, when Steve did a four or five-night gig in Montreal, I got to spend some time with him and he told me a little about Michael and did several more of his great songs.

Many years later, probably sometime around the turn of this century, the great songwriter Tom Russell and I were talking about songs and songwriters and we both picked “The Dutchman” as an all-time favorite song. Tom later recorded a great version of “The Dutchman” on his 2003 album, Modern Art.

It was at some folk festival somewhere in the mid-1980s – I went to a lot of festivals in those days – that I first met Michael and saw him perform. I do recall that it was my late close friend Bruce Kaplan, the founder of Flying Fish Records in Chicago, who introduced us around the time that Michael made his first Flying Fish album. Michael was a riveting performer on stage – then and every time I saw him.

I didn’t get many chances to spend time with Michael – maybe a half-dozen or so times over the years – but I think of several occasions in recent years that I so enjoyed his company and being in his audience. In 2003, Michael came to the Champlain Valley Folk Festival in Vermont as part of Fourtold – a group he formed with Anne Hills, Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen – where I was one of the MCs. I was thrilled to have Michael participate in the songwriters’ workshop I hosted annually for seven years at Champlain Valley.

In 2005, when the Folk Alliance International conference was held in Montreal, I invited several performers from the conference to perform live on my Folk Roots/Folk Branches show on CKUT and one of my most cherished radio memories is of Michael and Anne Hills singing their beautiful duet version of “The Dutchman” while I sat two or three feet away in the studio.

Our most recent in-person visit was in December 2014 when Sylvie and I were on vacation on the Gulf Coast in Florida and Michael was doing a Sunday afternoon concert in Tampa, about a 40-minute drive from where we were. The concert was superb and it was great to spend some time with him before and after the show. I treasure the photo – which I call “Michaels with Folded Arms” – that Sylvie took during our visit that day.

Sadly, Michael’s passing comes less than six months after Barbara Barrow, his wife of 52 years and frequent singing partner, died from complications of Parkinson’s disease.

During his final weeks in hospice, Michael was cared for by Jamie O’Reilly, his long-time agent and musical collaborator, and by Anne Hills. On Facebook today, Jamie said Michael made this statement 13 days ago: “And then I realized my life was totally complete and everything I asked for in my life was there. Was there for me. And I felt so grateful. I felt so grateful. I had a wonderful true-life adventure.”

I always include an extended feature when I host the Saturday Morning show on CKCU in Ottawa every fourth week and on June 22, 2019 the feature was “Songs of Michael Smith” – 15 of his songs performed by Michael and a bunch of other artists. You can stream the show by clicking on “LISTEN NOW” at this link.

Michael left us with so many great songs and recordings. I don’t imagine that I will ever stop listening to them or stop playing them on my future radio shows. One of his songs I’ll be playing when I next host the Saturday Morning show on August 15 is “We Become Birds.”

 

Do you see birds on trees
How they leave to get a drink or a bite to eat
Fly away and others follow

 

And the whole day goes by
Birds and more birds
We become birds when we die
We fly away but we come back
We become birds when we die

 

When you're put here it's for a reason
Think of all the people the Lord hasn't sent here
I'm so happy I've been given this time here
Don't want to waste my time on this earth

 

And the whole day goes by
Birds and more birds
We become birds when we die
We fly away but we come back
We become birds when we die

 

He won't hand you
A piece of paper with a map on it no sir
He'll whisper something
And at first you might not even hear
It may take time
You may make mistakes
But if you pray
He'll lead you to your direction

 

And the whole day goes by
Birds and more birds
We become birds when we die
We fly away but we come back
We become birds when we die

I know because sometimes I just want to
Lift off
Go right to the mesa and
Have a feast
Eat our bread
Stand in a circle
Hear my grandmother talk about our people

Although I’ve never been one to believe in such things as reincarnation, I do imagine that Michael Smith must now be a bird, perhaps singing on “the banks of the ocean where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee.”

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

–Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday October 13, 2018

Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU in Ottawa heard live on Saturday mornings from 7 until 10 am (Eastern time) and then available for on-demand streaming. I am one of the four rotating hosts of Saturday Morning and base my programming on the Folk Roots/Folk Branches format I developed at CKUT in Montreal.

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

This episode of Saturday Morning can be streamed on-demand at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/39790.html

Extended feature: Songs of Autumn.

Tom Russell- Gallo del Cielo

Old Songs Yet to Sing (Frontera)

Matthew Byrne- Farewell to Tarwathie

Horizon Lines (Matthew Byrne)

Reggie Harris- Hunt the Whale

Ready to Go (Reggie Harris Music)

Archie Fisher & Garnet Rogers- The Last Leviathan

Off the Map (Snow Goose Songs)

Michael Jerling- I Never Thought

Family Recipe (Fool’s Hill Music)

Old Man Luedecke- Mole in the Ground

Mole in the Ground (Old Man Luedecke)

Kathy Kallick Band- Solid Gone

Horrible World (Live Oak)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Goin’ Back to Harlan

Matapedia (Hannibal)

Linda Thompson- I Might Learn to Love Him Later On (Tra-La-La-La)

Linda Thompson Presents My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m on the Stage (Omnivore)

Martha Wainwright- Beautiful Dreamer

Linda Thompson Presents My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m on the Stage (Omnivore)

Colin Firth- My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m on the Stage

Linda Thompson Presents My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m on the Stage (Omnivore)

Loudon Wainwright III- Your Mother and I

Years in the Making (StorySound)

Lucy Wainwright III- In Relation to Disaster

Little Beast (Lucy Wainwright Roche)

Loudon Wainwright III- Rowena

Years in the Making (StorySound)

 The next 16 songs are the extended feature: Songs of Autumn.

Wade Hemsworth with the Mountain City Four- The Wild Goose

Wade Hemsworth with The Mountain City Four (Peter Weldon)

The Short Sisters- Autumn

A Planet Dancing Slow (Black Socks Press)

Dave Mallett- Autumn

This Town (Vanguard)

Laura Smith- My Bonny

B’tween the Earth and My Soul (Cornermuse)

Priscilla Herdman- Talk to Me of Mendocino

Forgotten Dreams (Flying Fish)

Anne Hills- Brown Leaves

Angle of the Light (Flying Fish)

Cindy Mangsen- October Roses

Songs of Experience (Redwing)

Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy- White Swans and Black/Grey October Clouds

Two for the Early Dew (Shanachie)

Gordon Lightfoot- Changes

The Original Lightfoot (EMI)

Mara Levine- Leaves That are Green

Jewels and Harmony (Mara’s Creations)

Steel Rail- Late Autumn Days

The Road Less Travelled (Crossties)

Kate Wolf- Who Knows Where the Time Goes

Give Yourself to Love (Rhino)

Nanci Griffith- October Reasons

Poet In My Window (Philo)

Bok, Muir & Trickett- Turning Toward the Morning

Turning Toward the Morning (Folk-Legacy)

Darol Anger & Emy Phelps- Killin’ the Blues

Music of Our People (Darol Anger & Emy Phelps)

Dave Van Ronk- Urge for Going

,,,and the tin pan bended, and the story ended (Smithsonian Folkways)

Lucy Kaplansky- Old Friends

Everyday Street (Lucy Kaplansky)

Braden Gates- Best of Me

Pictures of Us (Borealis)

Lennie Gallant- Ghosts in This Town

Time Travel (Lennie Gallant)

Kate Campbell- Damn Sure Blue

Damn Sure Blue (Large River Music)

Sneezy Waters- Portland Town

Sneezy Waters Live (Sneezy Waters)

Vince Halfhide- Careers

Vince Halfhide (Vince Halfhide)

The Vanier Playboys- Steppin’ to the Rhythm

The Vanier Playboys (The Vanier Playboys)

Colin James- Soul of a Man

Miles to Go (True North)

Blu Lu Barker- Lyin’ in Jail

Don’t You Feel My Leg (Delmark)

Maria Muldaur- Georgia Grind

Don’t You Feel My Leg: The Naught Bawdy Blues of Blu Lu Barker (The Last Music Company)

Gaye Adegbalola with Roddy Barnes- The Dirty Dozens

Neo-Classic Blues (Hot Toddy Music)

Rory Block- Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl

A Woman’s Soul: A Tribute to Bessie Smith (Stony Plain)

Jay Sewall- Jay’s Boogie Woogie

Payin’ My Dues: 50 Years of Blues (Mack)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on November 10.

Find me on Twitter. @MikeRegenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif