Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – September 16, 2025: Pancho & Lefty and Other Songs of Townes Van Zandt

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/595/71992.html

Theme: Pancho & Lefty and Other Songs of Townes Van Zandt.

Townes Van Zandt – who was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1944 and died in Smyrna, Tennessee on January 1, 1997 at age 52 – was one of the greatest Texas singer-songwriters. Many of his songs are enduring classics still sung by many artists. 

Townes Van Zandt, Freddy Fender, Rubin Ramos & The Texas Revolution, Doug Sahm & Augie Meyer- Pancho & Lefty

Texas Rain: The Texas Hill Country Recordings (Tomato)

Nanci Griffith & Arlo Guthrie- Tecumseh Valley

Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)

Bob Jensen- Colorado Girl 

For the Sake of the Song (Bob Jensen)

Matthew Barber & Jill Barber- If I Needed You

The Family Album (Outside Music)

Catherine MacLennan- When She Don’t Need Me

When the Wind Blows: The Songs of Townes Van Zandt (Appaloosa)

The Wainwright Sisters- Our Mother the Mountain

Songs in the Dark (MapleMusic)

Townes Van Zandt- Kathleen

Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas (Tomato)

David Olney with Daniel Seymour- For the Sake of the Song

Evermore: The Final Live in Holland Sessions I (Strictly Country)

Kate & Edith- Rex’s Blues

Live at Kelso Hall (Kate & Edith)

Saul Broudy- No Lonesome Tune

Travels with Broudy (Saul Broudy)

The Be Good Tanyas- Waiting Around to Die

Chinatown (Nettwerk)

Townes Van Zandt- Columbine

Townes Van Zandt (Tomato)

David Broza- Night Dawn (Silver Dollar)

Night Dawn: The Unpublished Poetry of Townes Van Zandt (S-Curve)

Gretchen Peters & Tom Russell- Snowin’ on Raton

One to the Heart, One to the Head (Frontera/Scarlet Letter)

John Gorka- Snow Don’t Fall

Writing in the Margins (Red House)

Townes Van Zandt- Sad Cinderella

The Late Great Townes Van Zandt (Tomato)

Lucy Kaplansky- No Place to Fall 

The Lucy Story: unreleased and rare tracks, 1976-2023 (Lucyricky)

Steve Earle- (Quicksilver Dreams of) Maria

Townes: The Basics (New West)

Guy Clark- To Live is to Fly

Old Friends (Sugar Hill)

Townes Van Zandt & Kimmie Rhodes- Brother Flower

Texas Rain: The Texas Hill Country Recordings (Tomato)

Colleen Rennison- White Freightliner

See the Sky About to Rain (Black Hen Music)

Emmylou Harris- Pancho & Lefty

Luxury Liner (Warner Bros./Rhino)

Next week: Part 1 – If It Were Up to Me; Part 2 – Songs of Cole Porter.

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday September 12, 2020

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/128/49004.html

Gathering Time- You Were On My Mind

Old Friends (Triple-G Records)

Turtle Grenade- Turn, Turn, Turn

Put Down That Weapon – Make Music Not War (Y&T Music)

Kronos Quartet w/Lee Knight- Which Side Are You On?

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

Pete Seeger- Old Devil Time

Singalong, Sanders Theatre, 1980 (Smithsonian Folkways)

Beppe Gambetta- Wise Old Man/Forget About Me Not

Where the Wind Blows/Dove Tia O Vento (Borealis)

Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton- Willie Moore

Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton (Smithsonian Folkways)

Steel Rail- Once in a While

Coming Home (Crossties)

Lynn Miles- We’ll Look for Stars

We’ll Look for Stars (Must Have Music)

Rachelle Garniez- Frank Mills

Gone to Glory (StorySound)

Samoa Wilson with The Jim Kweskin Band- After You’ve Gone

I Just Want to Be Horizontal (Kingswood)

Cris Cuddy- (Long and Lonesome) Old Freight Train

Concert at the Slab (Vanishing Castle)

Bill Garrett- Northshore Train

Bill Garrett (Borealis)

Boxcar Boys- Freight Train

Rye Whiskey (Fedora Upside Down)

Mountain City Four- Mean Old Frisco

Mountain City Four (Mountain City Four)

New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers- K.C. Moan

Volume 1 (Stony Plain)

Leonard Cohen- Tower of Song

I’m Your Man (Columbia)

Extended Feature – A Hundred Floors above in the Tower of Song: A Tribute to Hank Williams. Most of the next 20 songs were written by Hank Williams (“My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It” is a traditional New Orleans song that he adapted). The fifth song in each of the four 5-song sets was inspired, in one way or another, by him.

Ranch Romance- Why Don’t You Love Me (Like You Used to Do)

Western Dream (Sugar Hill)

Rosanne Cash- Take These Chains from My Heart

The List (Manhattan)

Oh Susanna- You Win Again

Sleepy Little Sailor – Deluxe Edition (MVKA)

Hank Williams- Move It On Over

40 Greatest Hits (Polydor)

Kevin Head- Thanks Hank

Live (Kevin Head Music)

Hank Williams 1951

Robert Jones & Matt Watroba- Mind Your Own Business

Common Chords (Common Chords Records)

The Wailin' Jennys- Weary Blues from Waiting

Fifteen (True North)

Norah Jones- Cold, Cold Heart

Come Away with Me (Blue Note)

Hank Williams- Honky Tonk Blues

40 Greatest Hits (Polydor)

John Gorka- Hank Senior Moment

The Company You Keep (Red House)

Sneezy Waters- Jambalaya

Sneezy Waters Sings Hank Williams (Borealis)

Ball & Chain- I Just Don’t Like This Kind of Livin’

Trouble All the Time (Ball & Chain)

Leon Redbone- Your Cheatin’ Heart

From Branch to Branch (Emerald City)

Hank Williams- My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It

40 Greatest Hits (Polydor)

Tom Russell- Hank and Audrey

Museum of Memories 1972-2002 (Dark Angel)

Blue Velvet Band- Ramblin’ Man

Sweet Moments with the Blue Velvet Band (Warner Bros.)

Tim Williams- I Heard That Lonesome Blow

Sorrow Bound: Hank Williams Re-examined (Ruby Moon)

Jenny Reynolds- I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

Any Kind of Angel (Jenny Reynolds)

Hank Williams- Moanin’ the Blues

40 Greatest Hits (Polydor)

Johnny Cash & Waylon Jennings- The Night Hank Williams Came to Town

Johnny Cash is Coming to Town (Mercury)

Jamie Anderson- Six Feet Away

Songs from Home (Jamie Anderson)

Lorin Sklamberg & Polina Shepherd w/A Besere Velt Yiddish Chorus- Kh’hob dem kheyshek (I am willing)

150 Voices (Lorin Sklamberg & Polina Shepherd)

Lara Herscovitch- Now Hear This

Highway Philosophers (Lara Herscovitch)

Jesse Winchester, the self-titled debut album by my late friend Jesse Winchester, was released 50 years ago. The next four songs mark that milestone.

Jesse Winchester- The Brand New Tennessee Waltz

Jesse Winchester (Stony Plain)

James Taylor- Payday

Quiet About It: A Tribute to Jesse Winchester (Mailboat)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle & Emmylou Harris- Skip Rope Song

The McGarrigle Hour (Hannibal)

Jesse Winchester- Yankee Lady

Jesse Winchester (Stony Plain)

Blind Boys of Alabama- Pray for Peace

Almost Home (BBOA)

Bettye LaVette- Strange Fruit

Blackbirds (Verve)

Ronnie Earle & The Broadcasters- Blues for George Floyd

Rise Up (Stony Plain)

Mike Glick- We Shall Be Free

Alternative Facts & Other White Lies (Generations Music)

Jane Godfrey- The Moon Tonight

Imagine We Have Wings (Jane Godfrey)

VickiKristinaBarcelona- God’s Away on Business

Pawn Shop Radio (StorySound)

Jim Wurster- For What It’s Worth

Put Down That Weapon – Make Music Not War (Y&T Music)

Brian Blain- Water Song

I’m Not Fifty Anymore (Brian Blain)

David Broza- Saturday Morning

En Casa Limón (S-Curve)

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

Find me on Twitter. @MikeRegenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

David Broza – East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem (DVD documentary)

DAVID BROZA

East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem (DVD documentary)

Film Movement

davidbroza.com/

(A version of this review was published in the September 26, 2016 issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.)

In 2014, I wrote about Israeli singer-songwriter David Broza’s extraordinary CD, East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem. Broza recorded that album in an East Jerusalem recording studio collaborating with a diverse group of Israeli, Palestinian and American – Jewish, Muslim and Christian – singers and musicians. This DVD is an 84-minute documentary about the making of that album.

The film and the music made by Broza and his friends show what is possible in the Middle East when Israelis and Palestinians come together to make music, share meals and walks, and relate to each other as friends and collaborators.

Beyond the making of the album, some of the most inspiring scenes of are of Broza and Palestinian hip-hop artist Muhammad Mughrabi conducting music workshops for children in a Palestinian refugee camp, and of Broza and Palestinian musician and filmmaker Issa Freij talking together as they walk through the streets of the city on Jerusalem Day.

That walk by Broza and Freij also includes a sad and discouraging moment as the pair encounters competing demonstrations in which one group chants “Death to the Jews” while the other chants “Death to the Arabs.”

Broza’s album East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem was a remarkable achievement and this documentary shows how it came to be.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif