Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – February 18, 2025: Songs from Gullah Traditions

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/595/68957.html

Theme: Songs from Gullah Traditions.

The Gullah people are an African American group – descended from enslaved people from West Africa – who live in the coastal plains and sea islands of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida and have a rich tradition of folksongs.

Bessie Jones & The Georgia Sea Island Singers- O Day

Get in Union (Tompkins Square)

Bessie Jones & The Georgia Sea Island Singers- Buzzard Lope

Get in Union (Tompkins Square)

Reggie Harris- Sheep, Sheep/Little David

Ready to Go (Reggie Harris Music)

Ken Whiteley and the Beulah Band- Beulah Land

Ken Whiteley and the Beulah Band (Borealis)

Ranky Tanky- That’s Alright

Ranky Tanky (Resilience Music)

David Rea- Kindlin’ Wood/Things are Coming My Way

X 7 (Gitsu)

Bessie Jones & The Georgia Sea Island Singers- Sink ‘Em Low

Get in Union (Tompkins Square)

Ranky Tanky- Join the Band

Ranky Tanky (Resilience Music)

Ken Whiteley- Michael Row

Long Time Travelling (Ken Whiteley)

Kim & Reggie Harris with Baby Jay- Row de Boat

Get On Board: Underground Railroad & Civil Rights Freedom Songs, Volume 2 (Appleseed)

Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project with Tim O'Brien- Before This Time Another Year

Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project (Borealis)

Bessie Jones & The Georgia Sea Island Singers- Sign of the Judgement

Get in Union (Tompkins Square)

The Duhks- Moses Don’t Get Lost

Migrations (Sugar Hill)

The Duhks- Turtle Dove

Migrations (Sugar Hill)

Penny Lang- Let Me Fly

Stone + Sand + Sea + Sky (Borealis)

Ranky Tanky- Watch That Star

Ranky Tanky (Resilience Music)

Bessie Jones & The Georgia Sea Island Singers- Once There was No Sun

The Complete Friends of Old Time Music Concert (Smithsonian Folkways)

John Davis & The Georgia Sea Island Singers- Adam in the Garden

The Complete Friends of Old Time Music Concert (Smithsonian Folkways)

Bessie Jones & The Georgia Sea Island Singers- Who Built the Ark

The Complete Friends of Old Time Music Concert (Smithsonian Folkways)

John Davis & The Georgia Sea Island Singers- Let My Children Go

The Complete Friends of Old Time Music Concert (Smithsonian Folkways)

Peter Davis & The Georgia Sea Island Singers- My God is a Rock

The Complete Friends of Old Time Music Concert (Smithsonian Folkways)

Bruce Springsteen & The Sessions Band- Pay Me My Money Down

Live in Dublin (Columbia)

Ranky Tanky- Ranky Tanky

Ranky Tanky (Resilience Music)

Bessie Jones & The Georgia Sea Island Singers- You Better Mind

Put Your Hand On Your Hip and Let Your Backbone Slip: Songs and Games from the Georgia Sea Islands (Rounder)

Bessie Jones & The Georgia Sea Island Singers- May Be the Last Time, I Don’t Know

Put Your Hand On Your Hip and Let Your Backbone Slip: Songs and Games from the Georgia Sea Islands (Rounder)

Next week: A Tribute to Nina Simone.

--Mike Regenstreif 

Mary Gauthier – Live at Blue Rock

MARY GAUTHIER
Live at Blue Rock
In the Black 
marygauthier.com

Mary Gauthier, who was born in New Orleans to a mother she never knew and given up for adoption, had a troubled childhood that led to problems with alcohol and drugs. By the 1990s, she was clean and channeling her creativity into songwriting and performing emerging with her first album in 1997 at age 35. She has since released seven more albums of no nonsense, melodic songs that go deep into the soul and mind.

Live at Blue Rock, her first album recorded in concert, includes eight of her best songs and three superbly-interpreted songs by Canadian songwriter Fred Eaglesmith.

Among the strongest tracks are “I Drink,” a brutally honest first-person account of alcoholism rooted in an abusive childhood; “Karla Faye,” a harrowing narrative about Karla Faye Tucker, a murderer and the first woman to be executed in Texas since 1863; “Blood is Blood,” an expression of feelings by a woman who grew up not knowing anything about her birth parents; and “Wheel Inside the Wheel,” an epic song inspired by the circle of life as represented in an ultimate New Orleans Mardi Gras parade.

The Eaglesmith material is highlighted by “The Rocket,” which brilliantly captures the feelings of an old man at a train station watching the trains roll in and out with his lifetime’s memories.

Mary’s conversational singing style and seemingly effortless melodies draw you into these compelling songs and never let go. Her singing and guitar playing are nicely complemented by contributions from percussionist Mike Meadows and Duhks fiddler Tania Elizabeth.

Mary has several Canadian concert dates coming up including October 9 at Hugh’s Room in Toronto; October 10 at the National Arts Centre Fourth Stage in Ottawa; October 11 at Le Divan Orange in Montreal; and, October 12 at the Branch Restaurant in Kemptville.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Kat Goldman – Gypsy Girl

KAT GOLDMAN

Gypsy Girl

katgoldmanmusic.com

(This review is from the April 23, 2012 issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.)

In 2004, Kat Goldman was a promising Toronto-based singer and songwriter preparing to move to New York where her music was causing a stir. Goldman’s first CD, The Great Disappearing Act, had been released in 2000 to critical acclaim and “Annabel,” a song from that album, found favour with a number of other artists, including the Winnipeg band, The Duhks, who recorded it on a Juno-nominated CD. The song also inspired the Giller Prize-nominated novel, Annabel by author Kathleen Winter.

But the move to New York never happened because Goldman was seriously injured when a car crashed into a bagel shop she was visiting, necessitating multiple surgeries and two years of rehabilitation. She came back with a second CD, Sing Your Song, in 2007, and has now released the lovely Gypsy Girl, her third.

Reflecting the transitory implications of her album’s title track, Goldman now divides her time between Toronto and Boston where she studies English literature at Harvard and Boston Universities. Some of the songs were recorded in Boston and some in Toronto; all of them written with poetic craftsmanship and compelling melodies enhanced by arrangements which blend both folk and pop influences.

Among the highlights are “World Away,” inspired by her intertwined lives as a Toronto singer and songwriter and Boston student; “Letter From Paris,” in which she seemingly escapes or hides from both identities; and, perhaps, best of all, “Gypsy Girl,” in which she sings about the compulsion to move and to travel and to explore new places which drives so many artistic souls.

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

I'm also on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

 --Mike Regenstreif

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (March 16-March 22)

Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now a blog. Here’s the 29th instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

March 17, 1994: Extended feature- Irish music.
March 16, 1995: Extended feature- Irish music.
March 20, 1997: Extended feature- Klezmer music.
March 19, 1998: Guest- Bill Bourne.
March 18, 1999: Guest- Tom Russell. Special presentation- Tom Russell’s folk-opera, The Man from God Knows Where.
March 16, 2000: Extended feature- Irish music.
March 20, 2003: Extended feature- Tom Russell & Andrew Hardin recorded in concert in Montreal, part two.
March 18, 2004: Guest- Heather Rose Bridger.
March 16, 2006: Guests- The Duhks.
March 20, 2008 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Tribute to the late Willie P. Bennett.

Pictured: Tom Russell, Mike Regenstreif and Andrew Hardin at the Green Room in Montreal.

--Mike Regenstreif