Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday November 5, 2022

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 recorded on October 3 and can already be streamed on-demand at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/58218.html

This show airs during CKCU’s Annual Funding Drive for 2022. Please visit https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/76213 to make your charitable donation to help us continue bringing you creative, volunteer-programmed, listener-supported community radio for another year.

Stillhouse Junkies- El Camino

Small Towns (Dark Shadow Recording)

Sneezy Waters & Mike Regenstreif (2013)

Sneezy Waters- Brother, Can You Spare a Dime

Sneezy Waters (Sneezy Waters)

Hannah Shira Naiman- The Grouse

The Wheels Won’t Go (Hannah Shira Naiman)

Ofra Harnoy- Lonely Waterloo

On the Rock (Analekta)

Jamie Anderson- Public Radio

Better Than Chocolate (Tsunami)

Darryl Purpose- A Place Where Everyone Sings

Two Good Hands EP (Darryl Purpose)

The Dumptrucks- Clyde Beattie

Selections (Laughing Cactus)

Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard- Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar

Pioneering Women of Bluegrass: The Definitive Collection (Smithsonian Folkways)

Zachary Lucky- Rex’s Blues

Songs for Hard Times (Zachary Lucky)

The Claytones- If I Needed You

Reserva (Rip Roar Music)

Townes Van Zandt- Highway Kind

Sunshine Boy: The Unheard Studio Sessions and Demos (Omnivore)

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

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

Jesse Winchester- Yankee Lady

Jesse Winchester (Stony Plain)

Steve Lundquist with Mike Fjerstad- I Wave Bye-Bye

Acting a Fool (Steve Lundquist)

Suzie Vinnick- Raino

Fall Back Home (Suzie Vinnick)

Walter Hyatt- In November

King Tears (MCA)

Tom Mitchell- When Nobody’s Lookin’

Old Cloth (Yabut Music)

Mike Regenstreif & Tony Turner (2018)

Tony Turner- Heart of Your Man

A Matter of Time (Tony Turner)

Doug McArthur- 1911

Letters from the Coast/Sisteron (Snow Goose Songs)

Lynn Miles- Million Brilliant

Downpour (Lynn Miles)

Ian Tamblyn- Voice in the Wilderness

Voice in the Wilderness (North Track)

Garnet Rogers- Sweet Spot

Summer’s End (Snow Goose Songs)

Amy Speace- My Father’s House

Tuscon (Windbone)

John Fusco- Coyote Man

Borderlands (Rocket 88)

Linda Ronstadt with Emmylou Harris- Across the Border

Feels Like Home: Songs from the Sonoran Borderlands – Linda Ronstadt’s Musical Odyssey (Putomayo)

Tom Russell- Down the Rio Grande

Borderland (HighTone)

Mountain City Four- All the Good Times

Mountain City Four (Omnivore)

Rory Block- Freight Train

Ain’t Nobody Worried: Celebrating Great Women of Song (Stony Plain)

Fink, Marxer, Gleaves- Oh Babe, It Ain’t No Lie

Shout and Shine (Community Music)

Deborah Robins- Shake Sugaree

Home Fires (Zippety Whippet Music)

Elizabeth Cotten- Fare You Well, My Darling

Shake Sugaree (Smithsonian Folkways)

James Keelaghan- Walk On

Second-Hand (Borealis)

Tom Chapin featuring The Chapin Sisters- Hold Our Ground Forever

Hold Our Ground (Sundance Music)

Penny Lang & Mike Regenstreif (1976) photo: Felicity Fanjoy

Penny Lang- Never Turning Back

Carry On Children (She-Wolf)

Reggie Harris- Sing Out/March On/Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round

On Solid Ground (Reggie Harris Music)

Sean Gagnier- South Coast

Circle Harbor (Sean Gagnier)

Finest Kind- Going to the West

Lost in a Song (Fallen Angle)

The Dumptrucks- Dobro Song

Selections (Laughing Cactus)

Abbie Gardner- Down the Mountain

DobroSinger (Abbie Gardner)

Chaim Tannenbaum, Dane Lanken, Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Dig My Grave

The McGarrigle Hour (Hannibal)

Loudon Wainwright III- Town & Country

Lifetime Achievement (StorySound)

Terra Spencer & Ben Caplan- Mr. M

Old News (Terra Spencer & Ben Caplan)

Mary Chapin Carpenter- Traveler’s Prayer

One Night Lonely (Lambent Light)

Philip Dyson- Maple Leaf Rag

Scott Joplin, The King of Ragtime: Complete Piano Works (Decca)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on December 3. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm. And, I’ll be hosting Canadian Spaces on Saturday November 19 from 10 am-noon.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Guy Davis & Fabrizio Poggi – Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train

GUY DAVIS & FABRIZIO POGGI

Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train

M.C. Records

guydavis.com

mc-records.com

The magnificent blues duo of singer/harmonica master Sonny Terry and singer/guitarist Brownie McGhee were the first really old musicians I ever got to know. 

Let me qualify what I mean by “really old.” They were 10 to 15 years older than my parents and 10 to 15 years younger than my grandparents. But most of the artists I was encountering in coffeehouses when I was 15 or 16 were in their 20s and 30s and Sonny and Brownie were in their 50s (younger than I am now) – so they seemed “really old.”

Sonny and Brownie started working as duo in the early-1940s and had been playing together for nearly three decades by the time I met them sometime in 1969 or ’70. Sonny and Brownie were playing a five-night gig at the Back Door – a great, but short-lived folk club in Montreal – and I think I went at least three or four of those nights. I remember their sets as being fantastic. I particularly loved songs like “Rock Island Line” that they would sing together. And I remember being fascinated watching the muscles in Brownie’s arms move as he played guitar.

On one of those nights, I screwed up my courage and asked if I could talk to them about Woody Guthrie. I had become fascinated with Woody and had been listening to his records and reading everything I could about him. I had seen their names associated with Woody and I recognized that the amazing and distinctive harmonica player I was listening to at the Back Door was the same harmonica player I heard on some of the Woody Guthrie records I had. Sonny and Brownie were both most gracious in talking with the curious kid that I was. Speakiing with them was an incredible experience that taught me so much more than I realized at the time.

By the mid-1970s, I was producing concerts in Montreal and was honored to present a couple of shows with Sonny and Brownie.

On Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train, Guy Davis, one of the finest blues artists of my generation, combines with the excellent Italian harmonica player Fabrizio Poggi for what Guy describes as “a love letter to Sonny and Brownie.”

Indeed, the entire album is a loving homage to the inspiring folk-blues masters. Guy and Fabrizio include several of Sonny and Brownie’s original songs and a bunch of other songs drawn from their extensive repertoire. Of special note, though, is the opening title track. Guy says he improvised “Sonny and Brownie’s Last Train”during the recording session. The song lets us know how he feels about Sonny and Brownie and about how unique and special they were.

  

Brownie McGhee (left) and Sonny Terry

While I enjoyed the entire 12-song set from start to finish, some of my favorite numbers included Brownie’s “Walk On,” which, as much as any song, could be called his signature song (I remember driving with him once in Montreal and his car’s California license plate read “Walk On”); “Take This Hammer” and “Midnight Special,” two songs Sonny and Brownie got from their friend Lead Belly; “Step It Up and Go,” a bouncy tune favored by a lot of the Piedmont style bluesmen of their generation; and a sweet version of “Freight Train” that hues closer to Elizabeth Cotton’s original than to Sonny and Brownie’s variant.

As the guitarist, Guy recalls Brownie while Fabrizio on harmonica recalls Sonny for those of us who were lucky enough to have seen Sonny and Brownie on stage (see the drawing on the CD cover). I’ll note, though, that Guy is the only singer tackling songs on which both Brownie and Sonny variously took the lead vocals. I’ll also note that Guy is playing both harmonica and guitar on “Shortnin’ Bread” (while Fabrizio plays kick drum) while on the title track, both Guy (right channel) and Fabrizio (left channel) are playing harmonica.

Guy and Fabrizio’s Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train sent me back to the subjects of the homage. Over the past week as I’ve listened to and enjoyed Guy Davis and Fabrizio Poggi doing these songs, I’ve also been listening to and enjoying albums by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.

Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train was released in the U.S. on March 24. It will be released here in Canada on March 31.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Peter Keane – Rural Electrification

PETER KEANE

Rural Electrification

Littlehat.com

I was a big fan of Peter Keane’s four earlier albums and their subtle mixtures of in-the-tradition originals and interpretations of country blues and folk classics. After about 13 years since his last album, Peter has resurfaced with Rural Electrification, an album that is both a continuation of what he’s done on earlier albums, and a departure.

The album continues where Peter left off as he remains a wonderfully subtle song interpreter. Most of these songs date from the 1920s and ‘30s and he gets to the essence of each song with his superb fingerpicking and easy going singing. Everything you could want in the guitar arrangement – and it’s a solo album, just Peter’s guitar and vocals – is there, and there are no unnecessary vocal gymnastics to distract from the lyrics.

The departure is that Peter played acoustic guitars on his earlier albums and – as hinted at in the album title, Rural Electrification – he’s playing an electric guitar, a rich-sounding Gretsch hollow-body, on this one. Happily, the switch to electric guitar doesn’t mean he’s cranking the volume to 11, adding feedback or weird effects, or rocking out. Mostly, the difference is in a bigger range of tone and some added sustain and reverb. The sound remains as purely musical as on the acoustic guitar. I wouldn’t say I like it more or less than Peter’s acoustic work, it’s just a little different.

Among my favorite tracks are Mississippi John Hurt’s “Nobody’s Dirty Business,” Elizabeth Cotten’s “When I Get Home,” the Mississippi Sheiks’ “Sitting on Top of the World,” Goebel Reeves’ “Hobo’s Lullaby” (which is often cited as Woody Guthrie’s favorite song), and his own “Almost Gone,” the only new song in the 12-song set.

Whether Peter sticks with the electric guitar or goes back to acoustic, or uses both, I do hope it will be much sooner than 13 years when we hear from him again.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Jane Voss & Hoyle Osborne – Never No More Blues; Get to the Heart; Pullin’ Through

JANE VOSS & HOYLE OSBORNE

Never No More Blues; Get to the Heart; Pullin’ Through

Ripple Recordings

janevoss.com

Jane Voss & Hoyle Osborne, who have been making great music together for 35 or so years have just released a fabulous new album, Never No More Blues, and have also recently reissued two of their earliest LPs, Get to the Heart and Pullin’ Through, which I don’t believe have ever been on CD before.

Never No More Blues is an absolutely sublime set of songs and tunes dating from the early days of classic blues, jazz, ragtime and country music – many of them showing the extent to which musical styles and influences were already blending in the early decades of the last century.

With 17 tracks stretching more than 77 minutes, it’s a very full set with nary a wasted moment. Jane is a great blues singer and does wonderful interpretations of such tunes as Ma Rainey’s “Farewell Daddy Blues,” Alberta Hunter’s “Downhearted Blues” and a version of “Blues (My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me),” based on a 1919 version by Esther Walker, a slower, very different version than the one popularized in the ‘60s by Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band.

Some of my favorites in the set include Elizabeth Cotten’s “(That’s Why) I’m Going Away,” which Jane sings with a gentle country lilt; Jimmie Rodger’s “Drunken Bar Room Blues,” in which the blues and early country music collide (I’ve always heard this song as a relative of “St. James Infirmary”); “Cheer Up! Smile! Nertz!” a Depression-era song that lampooned the efforts of popular culture of the day to get people’s minds off their troubles; and “Leaving Home,” a version of “Frankie and Johnny” recorded by Charlie Poole in 1926.

Jane (lead vocals and guitar) and Hoyle (piano, vocals and guitar) are joined throughout the album by The Blue Blazes, a stellar group that includes fiddler Suzy Thompson, guitarists Eric Thompson and Tony Marcus, both of whom also play mandolin and banjo, and bassist Stuart Brotman, who also plays tuba.

The Blue Blazes are heard to great effect on three terrific instrumentals built around Hoyle’s formidable skills playing ragtime and jazz piano. “St. Louis Tickle,” adapted for the guitar by Dave Van Ronk, is returned to pianistic roots. “Ape Man,” written by pianist Jimmy Blythe is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, while the extended version of William H. Tyers’ 1911 composition, “Panama (A Characteristic Novelty),” is sweet and lovely.

Jane and Hoyle’s first album as a duo, Get to the Heart, originally released back in 1981, was one of my favorite LPs of the day. The album opens with Jane’s, “Gateway Blues (Blues for Bessie), an infectious and unforgettable tribute to Bessie Smith, and continues with a mix of original and borrowed tunes including Hoyle’s “Salamander Shuffle,” a wonderful piano instrumental; Jane’s title track, which explains all the right reasons for singing and playing music; and Larry Clinton’s “The Devil with the Devil,” a swinging, personal declaration of independence.

Their second album, Pullin’ Through from 1983, includes more of the (equally great) same with a mix of old tunes like Memphis Minnie’s “In My Girlish Days” and “I’m Pulling Through,” a jazz ballad recorded by Billie Holiday, with in-the-tradition originals like Jane’s “Good-for-Nothin’ Blues” and “I’ve Been on the Road Too Long.”

Pullin’ Through also includes several great songs dating from the 1970s folk scene. These include Malvina Reynolds’ “On the Rim of the World,” a sad, compelling portrait of a homeless young girl; Tommy Thompson’s “Hot Buttered Rum,” a dreary-but-lovely love song set in the dead of winter; and Bob Bossin’s “Show Us the Length,” a hilarious response to high school beauty pageant culture. The latter is one of two bonus tracks on the CD reissue that were originally released on a 45-rpm single in 1983.

I will indulge myself with a personal reminisce of one of those songs. In 1973, I produced a double-bill concert at Dawson College in Montreal with Malvina and Bruce “Utah” Phillips. Before the concert, Malvina asked me for some tape so she could tape the lyrics to a new song she’d written that day to the mic stand. So I produced the world premiere performance of “On the Rim of the World.”

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif