Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – April 9, 2024: Songs I’ve Heard Tom Rush Sing

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/595/64667.html

Theme: Songs I’ve Heard Tom Rush Sing.

Tom Rush – who is now 83 years old – has been performing and recording for more than 60 years. This show includes songs from Tom’s new album, “Gardens Old, Flowers New,” as well as other artists doing songs Tom has recorded over the years.

Tom Rush- Sailing

Gardens Old, Flowers New (Appleseed) 

Woody Guthrie- Do Re Mi

This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings Vol. 1 (Smithsonian Folkways)

Ian Tyson- Windy Bill

Old Corrals and Sagebrush & Other Cowboy Culture Classics (Stony Plain)

Eric Von Schmidt- Joshua Gone Barbados

Baby, Let Me Lay It On You (Gazell)

Blind Willie McTell- Statesboro Blues

The Rough Guide to Blind Willie McTell (World Music Network)

Tom Rush- Gimme Some of It

Gardens Old, Flowers New (Appleseed) 

The Duhks- Mighty Storm

Fast Paced World (Sugar Hill)

Lauren Sheehan- I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate

The Light Still Burns (Wilson River)

Emmylou Harris- No Regrets

Bluebird (Reprise)

Bruce Cockburn- One Day I Walk

Greatest Hits (1970-2020) (True North)

Jesse Winchester- Biloxi 

Jesse Winchester (Stony Plain) 

Tom Rush- The Harbor

Gardens Old, Flowers New (Appleseed) 

Joni Mitchell- Urge for Going

Archives – Volume 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) (Rhino)

Murray McLauchlan- Old Man’s Song

Songs from the Street: The Best of Murray McLauchlan (True North)

Eddie Holstein- Jazzman

Eddie Holstein (Eddie Holstein)

David Wiffen- Driving Wheel

David Wiffen (Fantasy)

Tom Rush- It All Comes Down to Love

Gardens Old, Flowers New (Appleseed) 

3’s a Crowd- Gnostic Serenade

Christopher’s Movie Matinee (Dunhill)

Michael Smith- This Here Mandolin (Hobo’s Mandolin)

There (Flying Fish)

Bonnie Koloc- Colors of the Sun

Rediscovered (Mr. Biscuit)

Guy Clark- Desperados Waiting for a Train

Keepers: a live recording (Sugar Hill)

Tom Rush- Glory Road 

Gardens Old, Flowers New (Appleseed) 

Tom Rush- One More Time Around the Sun

Gardens Old, Flowers New (Appleseed) 

Next week: New York State of Mind.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday May 4, 2021

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU in Ottawa on Tuesday afternoons 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 at home and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/51831.html

Theme: The Second Stranger Songs Fantasy Concert, a whole show of music recorded live in concert. We will have a "Stranger Songs Fantasy Concert" on our first show of every month until it’s safe for us to return to live music in person.

Big Daddy Wilson- Stranger
Live in Europe: From Bremen to Paris (Phamosa)

Sneezy Waters & His Very Fine Band- Walkin’ Round Town
Live (Sneezy Waters)
James Talley- Down on the Corner
Journey – The Second Voyage (Cimarron)
Penny Lang- Jailer, Bring Me Water
Penny Lang & Friends Live (She-Wolf)
Taj Mahal & The Hula Blues Band- Corinna
Live from Kauai (Kuleana)
Odetta with The Holmes Brothers- This Little Light of Mine
Gonna Let It Shine (M.C.)

Mike Regenstreif & Barbara Dane (2017)

Arlo Guthrie- St. James Infirmary
Here Come the Kids (Rising Son)
Barbara Dane- Mama Yancey’s Advice
Hot Jazz, Cool Blues & Hard-Hitting Songs (Smithsonian Folkways)
Bonnie Koloc- Jazzman
Seems Like Yesterday (Mr. Biscuit)
Eddie Holstein- Back in the Saddle Again
Eddie Holstein (Eddie Holstein)

Norah Jones- (Talk to Me of) Mendocino
Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle (Nonesuch)
Anna McGarrigle, Sylvan Lanken & Lily Lanken- On My Way to Town
Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle (Nonesuch)
Martha Wainwright- Matapedia
Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Eva Cassidy- Tall Trees in Georgia
Live at Blues Alley (Blix Street)
Doug McArthur- Black Eyed Susan
Thunder Into Heaven (Patio)
The Wailin' Jennys- Begin
Live at The Mauch Chunk Opera House (Outside)

Mary Gauthier- The Rocket
Live at Blue Rock (In the Black)
Bill Chambers- I Drink
Live at the Pub Tamworth (Universal)
Tom Mitchell- Wasted Rose
1976 live recording – used with permission

Next week – Songs Inspired by the Pandemic

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Bonnie Koloc -- Beginnings

BONNIE KOLOC
Beginnings
Mr. Biscuit
bonniekoloc.com

I first met Steve Goodman back in 1973 or ’74 when he did a four-night stand at the soon-to-be-defunct Karma Coffee House in Montreal. Hanging out with him then, we talked a lot about music and it was from Steve that I first heard of Bonnie Koloc. She was one of the best singers around, he told me.

I took Steve’s advice and sought out Bonnie’s early LPs – and what she’s done since – and she’s never failed to draw me in with her gorgeous voice and intelligent folk-pop (with touches of blues and jazz) approach.

Bonnie’s first LP came out in 1971 but she was already well-established as one of top performers on the Chicago folk club scene that included such peers as Steve, John Prine and Fred Holstein. But the music on Beginnings – released for the first time more than 40 years after it was recorded – dates from two 1969 live sets recorded by Rich Warren, then the student host of a folk music show on his college’s radio station. (For many years now, Rich has been the host of the legendary Midnight Special program on WFMT in Chicago.)

Listening to Beginnings, it’s quite obvious that Bonnie was already a great singer and performer; in fact, I would say it’s more even more obvious here than on some of her early LPs with their studio polish.

The sweetly sad “Rainy Day Lady” is Bonnie’s only original among the 16-song, hour-long set mostly devoted to her superb interpretations of tunes drawn from such well-known writers as Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell as well as from local artists like Eddie Holstein and Steve Goodman (who was still completely unknown beyond the Chicago folk scene).

Among my favourites on the CD are Bonnie’s versions of Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (despite a couple of lyrical deviations)” and “Just Like a Woman”; Goodman’s “Song for David”; Eddie Holstein's "Victoria's Moring"; and one of the best interpretations I’ve ever heard of Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”

She also does fine versions of such classics as Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child,” George Gershwin’s “Summertime” and Bessie Smith’s “You’ve Been a Good Old Wagon.”

Bonnie is supported throughout the album by the excellent playing of guitarist Ray Frank and bassist George Stevens. John Mathis plays flute on three songs and two others feature a guy named Bob (from the bar) on harmonica.

--Mike Regenstreif

Sing Out Magazine! Summer 2009

My copy of the Summer 2009 issue of Sing Out! Magazine arrived in today’s mail. The cover story is on Feufollet.

As usual, this issue of Sing Out! has a bunch of my CD reviews including:

Bruce Cockburn- Slice O Life: Live Solo (True North/Rounder)
Debra Cowan- Fond Desire Farewell (Falling Mountain)
Guy Davis- Sweetheart Like You (Red House)
Ray Doyle- The Emigrant Trail: A Journey West (Emigrant Trail)
Justin Townes Earle- Midnight at the Movies (Bloodshot)
Flatlanders- Hills and Valleys (New West)
Good Lovelies- Good Lovelies (Good Lovelies)
Eddie Holstein- Eddie Holstein (Eddie Holstien)
John Lee Hooker- 50 Years: John Lee Hooker Anthology (Shout! Factory)
Eilen Jewell- Sea of Tears (Signature Sounds)
Gretchen Peters with Tom Russell- One to the Heart, One to the Head (Frontera/Scarlet Letter)
Harvey Reid- Of Wind and Water (Woodpecker)
Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women- Havin’ the Last Word (Alligator)
Sometymes Why- Your Heart is a Glorious Machine (Signature Sounds)
Various Artists- Red House 25: A Silver Anniversary Retrospective (Red House)
Various Artists- Singing Through the Hard Times: A Tribute to Utah Phillips (Righteous Babe)
William Elliott Whitmore- Animals in the Dark (Anti-)
Jesse Winchester- Love Filling Station (Appleseed)

--Mike Regenstreif