Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – April 22, 2025: Songs for Earth 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/595/69923.html

Theme: Songs for Earth Day.

Earth Day has been observed on April 22 since 1970.

Tom Paxton- Whose Garden Was This

Tom Paxton 6 (Elektra)

Tom Paxton, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer- Dry Times

All New (Community Music)

Tom Paxton & Anne Hills- There Goes the Mountain

Under American Skies (Appleseed)

Lynn Miles with Keith Glass- Black Flowers

Road (Lynn Miles)

The Rifters- The Dollar Worth of Mother Earth

The Enchanted World (Howlin’ Dog)

Mary Gick- Waltz for the Trees

Six Tunes and a Song (Mary Gick)

Laurie Lewis- Trees

Trees (Spruce & Maple Music)

Kronos Quartet & Lee Knight- Garbage

Long Time Passing: Kronos Quartet & Friends Celebrate Pete Seeger (Smithsonian Folkways)

Malvina Reynolds- Skagit Valley Forever

Ear to the Ground: Topical Songs 1960-1978 (Smithsonian Folkways)

The Malvinas- God Bless the Grass

God Bless the Grass (Soona Songs)

Pete Seeger- If It Can’t Be Reduced

At 89 (Appleseed)

Pat Humphries- To My Old Brown Earth

Seeds: The Songs of Pete Seeger, Volume 3 (Appleseed)

Kim & Reggie Harris & Magpie- We Belong to the Earth

Spoken in Love: Kim & Reggie Harris and Magpie in Concert (Long Tail)

Susan Werner- Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

Classics (Sleeve Dog)

Tom Jones- Ol’ Mother Earth

Surrounded By Time (S-Curve)

HuDost- Fire of Eden

The Monkey in the Crown (Open Sesame Music)

Deb Seymour- Heart of the Earth

Sometimes You Gotta Wear Boots (Herkimer Productions)

Roy Zimmerman- Big Yellow Taxi

Road Map (Roy Zimmerman)

John McCutcheon- Earth

Cabin Fever: Songs from the Quarantine (Appalsongs)

Penny Lang- Power of the Earth

Somebody Else (She-Wolf)

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- Gentle Arms of Eden

Drum Hat Buddha (Signature Sounds)

Moonfruits- Brittle Earth

Salt (Co-Op)

Louis Armstrong- What a Wonderful World

What a Wonderful World (MCA)

Next week: “Dublin Blues” and Other Songs of Guy Clark.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday September 12, 2023: Part 1 – Conversation and Songs with author David Eisenstadt; Part 2 – Songs of Dave Carter

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/595/61910.html

Themes: Part 1 – Conversation and Songs with author David Eisenstadt; Part 2 – Songs of Dave Carter.

Part 1: Conversation and Songs with David Eisenstadt. My conversation with David was recorded on August 14 via Zoom. The songs heard before and during the interview are by artists featured in David’s new book, Musicians Under the Radar: 36 Notable Canadian Jewish Performers. Visit https://undertheradarbook.com/ for more information about David and his books. 

Theresa Tova- Der Saksofon Shpiler (The Saxophone Player)

You Ask Me Why: Tova Sings Beyle (Tova Entertainment)

Colin Linden- Angel Next to Me

bLOW (Highway 20)

Nikki Yanofsky- Comes Love

Nikki By Starlight (MNRK Music Group)

David Buchbinder- Freylekhs Tumbao

Odessa/Havana (Tzadik)

Socalled (Josh Dolgin) with The Kaiser Quartett- Roumanishe Kretchme

Di Frosh and other Yiddish Songs (Membran)

Part 2 – Songs of Dave Carter (1952-2002)

Dave Carter was a very fine singer and songwriter who died suddenly of a massive heart attack on July 19, 2002, less than a month before he would have turned 50. Dave was in his mid-40s when he teamed up with fiddler and singer Tracy Grammer to form a duo that took the folk music world by storm.

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- Annie’s Lover

When I Go (Dave Carter)

Ronny Cox- When I Go

Ronny Cox Live (Ronny Cox)

Priscilla Herdman- Gentle Arms of Eden

The Road Home (Redwing Music)

Tracy Grammer- Mother, I Climbed

Flower of Avalon (Signature Sounds)

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- Tanglewood Tree

Tanglewood Tree (Signature Sounds)

Lucy Kaplansky- Cowboy Singer

The Red Thread (Red House)

Diane Zeigler- Gentle Soldier of My Soul

Paintbrush (Diane Zeigler)

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- I Go Like the Raven

Drum Hat Buddha (Signature Sounds)

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- Seven is the Number

Seven is the Number (Tracy Grammer Music)

Full Frontal Folk- Cat-Eye Willie Claims His Lover

Sweet Mystery of Life (Full Frontal Folk)

The Kennedys- Gypsy Rose

Songs of the OPEN ROAD (Appleseed)

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- Farewell to Saint Delores

Tanglewood Tree (Signature Sounds)

Next week: September Songs – That’s How the Summer Slips Away.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday July 26, 2022: On the Road Again

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 prerecorded and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/57040.html

Theme: “On the Road Again” – songs about roads and highways, songs about leaving and songs about getting there.

Tom Rush- On the Road Again
Tom Rush/Take a Little Walk with Me (BGO)

Mike Regenstreif & Jimmy LaFave (2017)

Nat King Cole- (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66
The Extraordinary Nat King Cole (Capitol)
Jimmy LaFave- Rt. 66 One More Time
Highway Angels…Full Moon Rain (Night Tribe Music)
Joni Mitchell- Born to Take the Highway
Archives – Volume 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) (Rhino)
Humphrey & The Dumptrucks- Six Days of Paper Ladies
Six Days of Paper Ladies (Boot)

Eliza Gilkyson- Wanderin’
Songs from the River Wind (Howlin’ Dog)
Lynn Miles- My Road
Downpour (Lynn Miles)
Tom Russell- The Road It Gives, The Road It Takes Away
Borderland (HighTone)

Anne Hills- Follow That Road
Angle of the Light (Flying Fish)
Judy Mayhan- Morning and an Oldsmobile
Judy Mayhan (Decca)

Eve Goldberg & Mike Regenstreif (2013)

Eve Goldberg- Travelling Day
Ever Brightening Day (Sweet Patootie)
Caroline Doctorow- Northfield
I Carry All I Own: The Songs of Mary McCaslin (Narrow Lane)
Stan Rogers- Down the Road
From Coffee House to Concert Hall (Fogarty’s Cove)
Doug McArthur- Skyway
Letters from the Coast/Sisteron (Snow Goose Songs)

Lucy Kaplansky- Ford Econoline
Last Days of Summer (Lucyricky)
Rosalie Sorrels- Nevada Moon
Borderline Heart (Green Linnet)
Steel Rail- If By Midnight
Coming Home (Crossties)

David Francey- Highway 95
The Waking Hour (Jericho Beach Music)
Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- Highway 80 (She’s a Mighty Good Road)
Drum Hat Buddha (Signature Sounds)
Hank Snow- I’ve Been Everywhere
I’ve Been Everywhere (RCA)

Mike Regenstreif & Penny Lang (2005)

Penny Lang- Senses of Your Leave
Ain’t Life Sweet (She-Wolf)
Jesse Winchester- Midnight Bus
Third Down, 110 to Go (Stony Plain)
Charlie Musselwhite- My Road Lies in Darkness
Mississippi Sun (Alligator)
Danny Marks- Going Down the Road Feeling Bad
Cities in Blue (Danny Marks)

Boxcar Boys- On the Road to Cluj
Rye Whiskey (Fedora Upside Down)

Next week: The Legacy of Johnny Cash.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday November 6, 2021

Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU in Ottawa heard 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 Saturday Morning and base my programming on the Folk Roots/Folk Branches format I developed at CKUT in Montreal.

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

This episode of Saturday Morning was prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/54085.html

Mitch Greenhill- The Boy By the Chocolate Mill
Mitchology (Mitch Greenhill)

Peter Keane- Weary Blues
Blues/Ballads/Cowboy Songs (Peter Keane)
Doc Watson- The Clouds Gwine Roll Away
The Village Out West: The Lost Tapes of Alan Oakes – Field Recordings of the 1960s California Folk Music Scene (Smithsonian Folkways)
Bett Padgett- 500 Miles
Turning Over Stones (Ceilidhe’s Music)
Bob Jensen with James Keelaghan- My Skies
For the Sake of the Song (Bob Jensen)

James Gordon- When I Stayed Home
When I Stayed Home (James Gordon)
Dean Friedman- Halfway Normal World
American Lullaby (Real Life)
Carole Wise- New Frontier
The Long Way Home (Soulful Cricket)

Ian & Sylvia- You Were On My Mind
Northern Journey (Vanguard)
Sylvia Tyson- River Road
River Road & Other Stories (Outside Music)
Quartette- Arkansas Travelogue
Rocks and Roses (Outside Music)

Deborah Robins- The Three Ravens
Lone Journey (Zippety Whippet Music)
Roy Forbes- If I Were a Raven
Strikin’ Matches Live! (AKA)
Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- I Go Like the Raven
Drum Hat Buddha (Signature Sounds)

Q&A- You Never Let Me Down
Demo Listen Derby (Sonic Peach)
T. Buckley- Father’s Child
Frame By Frame (Fallen Tree)

Orrin Star- Waltzing Matilda/By the Rivers of Babylon
No Frets Barred (Flying Fish)

Brooksie Wells- Sweet Remembrance
Stops Time (Down Home Dive)
Ina May Wool- Rewrite the Ending
Rewrite the Ending (Voice of Binky Music)
Peter Keane- Almost Gone
Blues/Ballads/Cowboy Songs (Peter Keane)
Mala Oreen- Ragged Queen
Awake (Tourbo)

Mike Regenstreif & Garnet Rogers (2006)

Kaia Kater- The Right One
Grenades (Smithsonian Folkways)
Connie Kaldor- Whistle Gone
Love is a Truck (Coyote)
Garnet Rogers- Old Campfires
Summer’s End (Snow Goose Songs)

Socalled with The Kaiser Quartett- Yiddish Meydl
Di Frosh and other Yiddish Songs (Membran)
Martha Wainwright- Getting Older
Love Will Be Reborn (Peremone)

Ian Tamblyn- St. Kilda
Voice in the Wilderness (North Track)
Kate Weekes- A Day Called Summer
Taken By Surprise (Artiste Extrordinaire Originals)

Priscilla Herdman- No Man’s Land
Forgotten Dreams (Flying Fish)
Eric Bogle with John Munro- In Flanders Fields
A Toss of the Coin (Greentrax)
Garnet Rogers- 11:11
Sparrow’s Wing (Snow Goose Songs)

Dave Clarke- Remember When
The Healing Garden (Crossties)

Corey Harris- Boats Up River
The Insurrection Blues (M.C.)
Peter Keane- Special Rider Blues
Blues/Ballads/Cowboy Songs (Peter Keane)
Judy Henske- I Know You Rider
The Elektra Albums (Ace)
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee- Key to the Highway
Working Man Blues (Sunset Blvd.)

Over the Moon- Lonesome Bluebird
Chinook Waltz (Borealis)
Missy Burgess- Time
Missy Burgess with The Blue Train Live (Missy Burgess)

Lynne Hanson- Shadowland
Shadowland – single (Lynne Hanson)
Colin James- Raging River
Open Road (Stony Plain)
Maria Muldaur- I’m Vaccinated and Ready for Love
I’m Vaccinated and Ready for Love – single (Stony Plain)

Laura Love- Heart of Nat Turner
Uppity (Octoroon Biography)
Reggie Harris- Tree of Life
On Solid Ground (Reggie Harris Music)
Odetta- Freedom Trilogy: Oh Freedom, Come & Go with Me, I’m On My Way
Gonna Let It Shine (M.C.)

Leonard Cohen- Listen to the Hummingbird
Thanks for the Dance (Columbia/Legacy)
Anne Hills- Alexandra Leaving
Points of View (Appleseed)

Canadian Brass- Hallelujah
Canadiana (Linus/Canadian Brass)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on December 4. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm.

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday August 14, 2021

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 live at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and https://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web.

This episode of Saturday Morning was prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/53107.html

Atlantic Union- A Town This Size
The Whole Dance (Blue Island)

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer

Lucy Kaplansky- Cowboy Singer
The Red Thread (Red House)
Tracy Grammer- Mother, I Climbed
Flowers of Avalon (Signature Sounds)
Ronny Cox- When I Go
Ronny Cox Live (Ronny Cox)
Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- The Power and the Glory
Drum Hat Buddha (Signature Sounds)
Julie Felix- Gentle Arms of Eden
Rock Me Goddess (Remarkable)

Henry Thomas- Fishing Blues
Texas Worried Blues: Complete Recorded Works 1927-1929 (Yazoo)
Taj Mahal- Ain’t Gwine to Whistle Dixie (Any Mo’)
The Real Thing (Columbia/Legacy)
Kate Taylor- He Caught the Katy
Why Wait! (Red House)
Tom Rush- Sister Kate
Blues, Songs and Ballads (Fantasy)

Orit Shimoni- It All Comes Round Again
Lorem Ipsum (Orit Shimoni)
Al Grierson- Man of Steel
The Petals (Folkin’ Eh)

New Earth- Papardom
World Music from Canada’s West Coast (Blue Island)

Diana Jones- Mama Hold Your Baby
Song to a Refugee (Goldmine)
Jackson Browne- The Dreamer
Downhill from Everywhere (Inside Recordings)
Joni Mitchell- Deportees (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
Archives – Volume 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) (Rhino)

Michael Johnathon- The Painter
The Painter (PoetMan)
Anne Hills- My Daughter and Vincent Van Gogh
Points of View (Appleseed)
Priscilla Herdman- Vincent
Into the Stars (Stardreamer Music)

Pete Seeger

Kronos Quartet with Lee Knight- Step By Step
Long Time Passing: Kronos Quartet & Friends Celebrate Pete Seeger (Smithsonian Folkways)
Pete Seeger- The Water is Wide
Pete Seeger Now (Columbia)
Reggie Harris- High Over the Hudson
On Solid Ground (Reggie Harris Music)

Perla Batalla- Came So Far for Beauty
Bird on the Wire: The Songs of Leonard Cohen (Mechuda Music)
Leonard Cohen- The Goal
Thanks for the Dance (Columbia/Legacy)
Soweto Gospel Choir- Hallelujah
Freedom (Shanachie)
Robin & Linda Williams- Tower of Song
A Better Day A-Coming (Oakenwold Recordings)

Gina Forsyth- St. Ann’s Reel
Copper Rooster and Other Tunes and Tales (Waterbug)

Allison Russell- The Runner
Outside Child (Fantasy)
Allison Russell- Hy-Brasil
Outside Child (Fantasy)
Ana Egge- Lie Lie Lie
Between Us (StorySound)
Rob Lutes- By and By
Come Around (Lucky Bear)

Mark Rubin – Jew of Oklahoma- The Murder of Leo Frank
The Triumph of Assimilation (Rubinchik)

Dakota Dave Hull & Sean Blackburn- Drought Year
Ace Pickin’ and Sweet Harmony (Arabica)
Tom Northcott- The Rainmaker
Sunny Goodge Street: The Warner Bros. Recordings (Wounded Bird)
Colleen Kattau- When’s It Gonna Rain
So Much Going On (Windlight Studios)

Murray McLauchlan- If You’re Out There Jesus
Hourglass (True North)
Annie Gallup- Forget Me Not
Oh Everything (Galway Bay Music)
Joy Zimmerman- Where Will You Stand
The Canvas Before Us (Joy Zimmerman Music)

Jay Linden- August Night
Satchel (Jay Linden)
The Lucky Sisters- On an August Night
So Lucky (Patio)
Preservation Hall Jazz Band- August Nights
That’s It (Legacy)

Adeline- Josie-O
Adeline (Owl)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on September 11. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm.

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday April 24, 2021

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 live at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and https://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web.

This episode of Saturday Morning was prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/51715.html

 

John Hartford- Gentle On My Mind
Gentle On My Mind and Other Originals (RCA)

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings- Ginseng Sullivan
All the Good Times Are Past and Gone (Acony)
Marc Nerenberg- Ma Creole Belle
On the Street Again (Marc Nerenberg)
Moira Smiley & Voco- Oh Susannah
In Our Voices (Moira Smiley Music)

Last Forever- Pay Day at Coal Creek
No Place Like Home/Last Forever (2nd Story Sound)
Crys Matthews- How Many More
Changemakers (Crys Matthews)
Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi- I Shall Not Be Moved
They’re Calling Me Home (Nonesuch)

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

Joni Mitchell- Fare Thee Well (Dink’s Song)
Archives – Volume 1: The Early Years 1963-1967 (Rhino)
Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Heart Like a Wheel
Tell My Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Nonesuch)
Chaim Tannenbaum- Belfast Louis Falls in Love
Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)

Laura Smith- Souther’s Faithless Love (Just What I Need)
As Long As I’m Dreaming (Borealis)
JD Souther- Faithless Love
Natural History (Eone)
Craig Cardiff- Emm & May
All This Time Running (True North)

Tim Grimm- Carry Us Away
Gone (Vault)
Peggy Seeger- Tree of Love
First Farewell (Red Grape Music)
Reggie Harris- Come What May
On Solid Ground (Reggie Harris Music)
Ronney Abramson- Your Love Gets Me Around
Stowaway (Castor Island Music)

Darryl Purpose- Gentle Arms of Eden
Gentle Arms of Eden – single (Gamblers Grace Music)
Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- Farewell to Saint Delores
Tanglewood Tree (Signature Sounds)
Katy Moffatt- Sister Angelina
Chrysalis (Sunset Blvd. Records)
Gretchen Peters with Tom Russell- Guadalupe
One to the Heart, One to the Head (Scarlet Letter/Frontera)
Tom Russell- Angel of Lyon
Old Songs Yet to Sing (Frontera)

Jon Lawton- Goin’ to California
Virginny Sessions: Vol. 1 (Bigtone)
Thad Beckman- Mama, ‘Taint Long for Day
Blues Gone By (Thadzooks)
Lauren Sheehan- Statesboro Blues
Two Wings (Wilson River)
Guy Davis & Lea Gilmore- Some Cold Rainy Day
Juba Dance (M.C.)
Veronika Jackson- Go Down Sunshine
The Woman I Am (Acoustic with Heart Productions)

Anne Hills- Elusive Chemistry
Accidental August (Hand & Heart Music)
Dave Clarke- Lucinda
The Healing Garden (Crossties)
Rings & Things- Smoker’s Lullaby
Pearl Soup (Cooking Fat Music)
Montreal- What About the Wind?
A Summer’s Night (Stormy Forest)
Ian Tamblyn- Tiger Lily Road
Voice in the Wilderness (North Track)

Noel Paul Stookey- Jean Claude
Just Causes (Neworld)
Frank London with Karim Sulayman & Cantor Sveta Kundish- Nirdi Natan Reiho
Ghetto Songs (Felmay)

Maria Muldaur with Tuba Skinny- Let’s Get Happy Together
Let’s Get Happy Together (Stony Plain)
Jeff Healey- Some of These Days
The Best of the Stony Plain Years: Vintage Jazz, Swing and Blues (Stony Plain)
Annabelle Chvostek- String of Pearls
String of Pearls (Annabelle Chvostek)
Sussex- Don’t Wanna Wait
The Ocean Wide (Lucky Bear)
The Hot Sardines- Running Wild
French Fries + Champagne (Decca)

Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges- St. Louis Blues
Back to Back: Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Play the Blues (Verve)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on May 22. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm.

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Judy Collins – Strangers Again

JUDY COLLINS

Strangers Again

Wildflower/Cleopatra

judycollins.com

Fifty-five years after the release of her first LP, A Maid of Constant Sorrow, Judy Collins remains a remarkable singer with one of the most elegantly beautiful of voices – a voice that moves seemingly effortlessly from folk music to art songs and pop music.

Strangers Again, Judy’s latest album, much of which leans toward pop music, is a collection of duets with 12 male singers – some of whom I’ve been listening to for decades and some of whom I’d not heard of until now. As well, some of the songs were familiar to me while others I’d never heard before.

Among the standout tracks is Judy and Willie Nelson’s haunting version of Dave Carter’s “When I Go,” a song that turned out to be prophetic as Dave, a brilliant songwriter who only emerged in his mid-40s, died suddenly from a heart attack just weeks before his 50th birthday in 2002. With the most folk-oriented arrangement on the album, Judy and Willie capture the deep Native American spiritualism at the essence of the song.

Another standout is a version of Leonard Cohen’s sublime composition “Hallelujah” with Bhi Bhiman. Although the song has been covered to death by other artists, I’ve always thought it was almost written with Judy’s voice in mind and – especially given how many of Leonard’s songs Judy has recorded over the years – I’m surprised she hasn’t done before now.

Also among the highlights are the new versions of Ian Tyson’s “Someday Soon” with Jimmy Buffett and Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” with Don McLean, two of Judy’s greatest hits from decades ago, and Randy Newman’s “Feels Like Home” with Jackson Browne.

Judy Collins and Mike Regenstreif (2014).

Judy will be here in Ontario next month for three concerts on Friday, March 11, at Southminster United Church here in Ottawa (which I’m highly looking forward to); Saturday, March 12, at Hugh’s Room in Toronto; and Sunday, March 13, at Aeolian Hall in London. All three concerts will be opened by my old friend Garnet Rogers.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer – Little Blue Egg

DAVE CARTER & TRACY GRAMMER

Little Blue Egg

Red House Records

tracygrammer.com

Dave Carter was already into his mid-40s when he – and partner Tracy Grammer, who played violin and sang harmony – suddenly emerged in 1998 with an album called When I Go, an album which served notice that Dave was one of the most compelling and enigmatic singer-songwriters of our time. Then, after two more superb albums and concert and festival tours that established Dave and Tracy at the front ranks of the contemporary folk scene, Dave died suddenly in 2002 of a massive coronary, just weeks before his 50th birthday.

Those three albums by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, and a fourth, Seven is the Number, his final recordings, released posthumously, are among the most essential folk-rooted recordings of recent years.

Recently, Tracy discovered some demos recorded in their home studio between 1997 and 2002 and chose 11 of the songs – 10 of Dave’s and a superb version of “Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key,” lyrics by Woody Guthrie set to music by Billy Bragg for the Mermaid Avenue project – for Little Blue Egg, another most essential addition to Dave and Tracy’s discography.

Of the 10 songs written by Dave, I first heard three – “Hard to Make It,” “Any Way I Do” and “Gypsy Rose” – on Tracy’s excellent 2005 solo album, Flower of Avalon. The rest are new to me.

Among this album’s highlights are “Gypsy Rose,” a beautiful, poetic love song; “Cross of Jesus,” which describes three very different people – two in the third-person, one in the first-person – united by the crosses they wear and the sincerity with which they live their lives; and “September Sea,” in which Dave seems to have a prescient understanding that his life would be short and that Tracy would keep his flame alive.

Dave Carter is one of those rare songwriters whose work continues to reveal more with repeated listening over many years. The songs on Little Blue Egg are a welcome addition to his canon.

I'm now on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

I'm also on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif