Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – March 25, 2025: Songs of Laura Nyro; Bringing It All Back Home Revisited

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/595/69511.html

Themes: Part 1 – Songs of Laura Nyro (1947-1997); Part 2 – Bringing It All Back Home Revisited.

Part 1 – Songs of Laura Nyro (1947-1997)

Laura Nyro – who died of ovarian cancer in 1997 at age 49 – was a singer-songwriter from New York City who made a number of fine albums and whose songs were also done by artists from a variety of genres of music.

Laura Nyro- Eli’s Comin ‘

Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (Columbia/Legacy)

Darol Anger & Emy Phelps- Stoney End

Music of Our People (Darol Anger & Emy Phelps)

Laura Love- Stoned Soul Picnic

Fourteen Days (Zoë)

Laura Nyro- Wedding Bell Blues

More Than a New Discovery (Columbia)

David Clayton-Thomas- And When I Die

In Concert: A Musical Biography (Justin Time)

Billy Childs, Esperanza Spalding & Wayne Shorter- Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp

Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro (Sony Masterworks)

Laura Nyro- Save the Country

New York Tendaberry (Columbia/Legacy)

Part 2 – Bringing It All Back Home Revisited

Bob Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home was released 60 years ago this week on March 22, 1965. Even before Highway 61 Revisited, which came out later in 1965, Bringing It All Back Home marked Dylan’s first embrace of electric folk rock.

Dave Van Ronk- Subterranean Homesick Blues

To All My Friends in Far-Flung Places (Gazell)

The Flatlanders- She Belongs to Me

Treasure of Love (Rack ‘Em)

Ian Hanchet- Maggie’s Farm

Dealin’ from the Bottom (of My Heart) (Ian Hanchet)

Eliza Gilkyson- Love Minus Zero/No Limit

A Nod to Bob (Red House)

Queens of the Stone Age- Outlaw Blues

Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan (Amnesty International)

Ben Sidran- On the Road Again

Dylan Different (Bonsai)

Taj Mahal & The Phantom Blues Band- Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream

Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan (Amnesty International)

Jimmy LaFave- Mr. Tambourine Man

Trail Three (Music Road)

Julie Felix- Gates of Eden

Starry Eyed and Laughing… Songs by Bob Dylan (Remarkable)

The Duhks- It’s All Right, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

The Village: A Celebration of the Music of Greenwich Village (429)

Crowes Pasture- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue

Edge of America (Crowes Pasture)

An outtake from Bringing It All Back Home became the title song of an album released in 1965 by Joan Baez and one of her signature songs.

Joan Baez- Farewell, Angelina

Farewell, Angelina (Vanguard)

Next week: Part 1 – Remembering Jesse Colin Young (1941-2025); Part 2 – April Fools.

--Mike Regenstreif

Lowell Levinger – Get Together: Banana Recalls Youngbloods Classics

LOWELL LEVINGER

Get Together: Banana Recalls Youngbloods Classics

Grandpa Raccoon

lowelllevinger.com

Back when I was in high school – 1967-1971 – the Youngbloods were one of my favorite rock bands. I had most of the original LPs back in the day and I still occasionally revisit some of the CD reissues. I loved the way they integrated folk roots and occasionally jazz influences and acoustic and electric instrumentation into their music and I also greatly appreciated how they seamlessly drew on their own original songs, songs drawn from other writers, and some from traditional folk, jug band and blues sources.

The Youngbloods broke up around 1972 or so and now 40+ years later, on Get Together: Banana Recalls Youngbloods Classics, band member Lowell Levinger – aka Banana – pays tribute to his old band with a dozen songs and tunes that have remained part of his repertoire over the past four decades. That so much of the material holds up so well is a tribute both to how strong the songs were to begin with, to how Banana has matured as an interpreter, and to the really nice arrangements featuring collaborations with the likes of fellow-Youngblood Jesse Colin Young, David Grisman, Ry Cooder, Darol Anger, Duke Robillard and others on various tracks.

Among my favorite tracks are “Grizzly Bear,” a great old country blues song first recorded in 1928 by Jim Jackson; Jesse Colin Young’s haunting “Darkness, Darkness”; the bluegrass version of Banana’s “Hippie from Olema,” a great parody of Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee”; Robin Remailly’s “Euphoria,” a song the Youngbloods, no doubt, picked up from the Holy Modal Rounders (this version features some wild singing and fiddling from Rounder Peter Stampfel); the traditional “Stagger Lee” with some additional verses by Banana; Jesse Colin Young’s bouncy “Sugar Babe”; and, of course, Dino Valenti’s anthemic “Get Together,” the song for which the Youngbloods are most remembered.

Get Together: Banana Recalls Youngbloods Classics is a lot of fun to listen to as we, too, recall those Youngbloods classics.

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--Mike Regenstreif