Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – October 28, 2025: Remembering Bob Franke and Danny Thompson

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/595/72570.html

Theme: Remembering Bob Franke (1947-2025) and Danny Thompson (1939-2025).

This is the first of two editions of Stranger Songs during CKCU’s annual funding drive for 2025, a funding drive falling just before CKCU celebrates 50 years of broadcasting on air – an incredible milestone for independent, listener-supported media in a day and age when independent, community-oriented media with programming curated, produced and hosted by a dedicated corps of volunteers, often experts in our fields, is harder and harder to come by. Please visit this link to support CKCU and Stranger Songs. https://www.canadahelps.org/me/6rUTtTVJ

Bob Franke was a great singer-songwriter who I knew as a friend for well over 50 years. When I took over running The Golem, a folk club in Montreal, in 1974, Bob was the third performer to play there and the first American. A few months ago, Bob and his wife, Joan Sherman, decided to leave Donald Trump’s America to make a new home for themselves in Guatemala. On October 13, Bob was crossing the street in Antigua, Guatemala when he was hit by a speeding motorcycle and suffered a broken pelvis. Bob had successful surgery to repair his pelvis but suffered two heart attacks while recovering in the ICU and died on October 16 at age 78.

The next 11 songs were written by Bob Franke.

Bob Franke- For Real

The Other Evening in Chicago (Waterbug)

Claudia Schmidt- Hard Love 

Reimagining (Claudia Schmidt)

Stan Rogers- Love Can’t Be Bitter All the Time

Songs of a Lifetime: Discoveries – Rare Live Recordings (Fogarty’s Cove/Borealis)

Bob Franke- Love Bravely, Elizabeth

The Other Evening in Chicago (Waterbug)

Susie Burke & David Surette- A Healing In This Night

Sometimes In the Evening (Madrina Music)

Kim & Reggie Harris- Walkin’ in the Wilderness

Rock of Ages (Appleseed)

Short Sisters- Straw Against the Chill

A Planet Dancing Slow (Black Socks Press)

Bob Franke & Noel Paul Stookey- Turn Back, O Man

The Heart of the Flower (Daring)

Garnet Rogers- Hallelujah! The Great Storm is Over 

Speaking Softly in the Dark (Snow Goose Songs)

Bill Garrett- Thanksgiving Eve 

Seems to Me (Borealis)

Bob Franke- The Roads are Long in Canada

Long Roads, Short Visits (Daring)

Danny Thompson – who died on September 23 at age 86 – was probably the definitive bass player of the British folk revival, first as a member of the group Pentangle, and then as bassist for countless concert and recording artists. The rest of the show features Danny’s superb musicianship.

Pentangle- Let No Man Steal Your Thyme

Finale: An Evening with Pentangle (Topic)

Marianne Faithfull- Sally Free and Easy

North Country Maid (Decca)

Maddy Prior & June Tabor- The Grey Funnel Line

Silly Sisters (Shanachie)

Richard Thompson & Danny Thompson- Sweetheart on the Barricade

Industry (Hannibal)

Savourna Stevenson, June Tabor & Danny Thompson- Broom of Cowdenknowes

Singing the Storm (Cooking Vinyl/True North)

Eric Bibb & North Country Fair with Danny Thompson- Tell Ol’ Bill

The Happiest Man in the World (Stony Plain)

Darrell Scott- Urge for Going

Modern Hymns (Appleseed)

Pentangle- Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

Finale: An Evening with Pentangle (Topic)

Next week: Conversation and Songs with Connie Kaldor.

--Mike Regenstreif

Eric Bibb & North Country Far with Danny Thompson – The Happiest Man in the World

ERIC BIBB & NORTH COUNTRY FAR WITH DANNY THOMPSON

The Happiest Man in the World

Stony Plain Records

ericbibb.com

Just six months after the release of Lead Belly’s Gold, Eric Bibb’s brilliant tribute to the seminal folk and blues artist Lead Belly, Eric returns with The Happiest Man in the World, a set of mostly original, but firmly in-the-tradition songs.

As I’ve noted before, Eric has been an extremely prolific artist over the past couple of decades but he keeps things fresh, from one album to the next, both by consistently writing and choosing great material and by varying his use of collaborative musicians. On this set he’s working with North Country Far – a trio of Finnish musicians including Olli Haavisto on Dobro, pedal steel and Hawaiian guitar; Janne Haavisto on drums and percussion; and Petri Hakala on mandolin, mandola, fiddle and guitar – and legendary British bassist Danny Thompson who provide always tasteful and never obtrusive back-up for Eric’s own inspired singing and guitar and banjo playing.

Eric sets the tone for the album with the upbeat title track, a declaration of love that makes him the happiest man in the world. The theme continues on a number of other songs including “Toolin’ Down the Road,” which celebrates sitting in the passenger seat while the woman he loves is at the wheel; “I’ll Farm for You,” which uses metaphors of farm life to proclaim love; “Born to Be Your Man,” which uses a litany of famous names – some of them real people, some of them biblical and folkloric figures, even cartoon characters – to provide points of comparison for his love; and “King Size Bed,” featuring Petri’s dancing mandolin playing.

Among my favorite tracks on The Happiest Man in the World are “Tossin’ an’ Turnin’,” a blues to complement Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads; the soulful “Creole Café,” sung from the perspective of a blues-singing husband deeply in love with his wife who runs a small café out in the country; and a lovely version of the traditional “Tell Ol’ Bill,” which Eric has recorded a couple of times before, and which always reminds me of my late friend Dave Van Ronk.

Michael Jerome Browne, Mike Regenstreif & Eric Bibb (2005)

There are cameo appearances by several other musicians and singers on a few songs including the album’s finale, a bluesy version of the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me,” which features Montreal’s own Michael Jerome Browne, who has frequently toured with Eric, on slide and 12-string guitars.

Despite the fact that Eric has recorded so many albums in recent years, each of his recordings is a treat and The Happiest Man in the World is no exception.

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--Mike Regenstreif