Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday September 7, 2024

Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa 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 the Saturday Morning show. 

This episode of Saturday Morning was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/66757.html

Jay Linden- Blue Skies of September

Satchel (Jay Linden)

Steel Rail- That’s How the Summer Slips Away

River Song (Crossties)

Garnet Rogers- Summer’s End

The Best Times After All: Live (Snow Goose Songs)

David Francey- Far End of Summer

Far End of Summer (Laker)

Jim Rooney with Happy Traum, Bill Keith & Tony Brown- Done Laid Around (Gotta Travel On)

Mud Acres: Music Among Friends (Rounder)

Aaron Burdett- The Same River Twice

Bluegrass Sings Paxton (Mountain Home)

Della Mae & Tom Paxton- I Can’t Help but Wonder Where I’m Bound

Bluegrass Sings Paxton (Mountain Home)

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer with Chao Tran- Little Betty Ann/Kitchen Girl/Midu Mountain Song

From China to Appalachia (Community Music)

Carolyn Shulman- Little Sparrow

Heart on a Wire (Carolyn Shulman)

Kate McDonnell- Hard Heart

Trapeze (Dog Eared Discs)

Bill & Colleen Cade- Saturday Morning

Bill & Colleen Cade (Bill & Colleen Cade)

Bill Staines- Lone Star Hotel Café

Old Dogs (Red House)

Bill Hearne- The Cape

Always Trust Your Cape (Howlin’ Dog) 

Guy Clark- Picasso’s Mandolin

Boats to Build (Asylum)

Portage- Mrs. Belle’s Set

Portage (Portage)

Greg Blake- Leaving London

Bluegrass Sings Paxton (Mountain Home)

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

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Tell My Sister

Tell My Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Chaim Tannenbaum- London, Longing for Home

Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)

Jack Nissenson/Mountain City Four- Shenendoah

Mountain City Four (Omnivore)

Rufus Wainwright- Darling This Will Never Do

Linda Thompson: Proxy Music (StorySound)

Mike Regenstreif & Priscilla Herdman (1978) photo: Ron Petronko

Priscilla Herdman- No Telling

The Road Home (Redwing Music)

Robin Holcomb- Kind Treatment

One Way or Another, Vol. 2 (Westerlies)

Teni Rane- Goldenrod

Goldenrod (Teni Rane)

Hana Zara- Anabelle

Bloom Where You Fall (People of Orphalese)

Cat Power- Desolation Row

Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert (Domino)

Larry & Joe featuring Mati Mormandi- Adiós Muchacho

Manos Panamericanos (Larry & Joe)

Durham County Poets- Hand Me Down Blues

Hand Me Down Blues (Durham County Poets)

Guy Davis & Mike Regenstreif (2006)

Guy Davis- Kokomo Alley

The Legend of Sugarbelly (M.C.)

Duke Robillard- Boogie Woogie Country Girl

Roll With Me (Stony Plain)

Colin James- In My Own Dream

Chasing the Sun (Stony Plain)

Mike Regenstreif & Durham County Poets (2014)

Durham County Poets- I’ve Been Living with the Blues

Hand Me Down Blues (Durham County Poets)

Elvis Presley- That’s All Right

Memphis (RCA/Legacy)

Mountain City Four- Mean Old Frisco

Mountain City Four (Omnivore)

Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup- Greyhound Bus

Mean Ole Frisco (Collectables)

Elvis Presley- My Baby Left Me

Memphis (RCA/Legacy)

Lynne Hanson- Weeds

Just a Poet (Lynne Hanson)

Larry Folk- Madeira Way

Lessen the Blue (Folkscript Music)

Rosanne Cash- Biloxi

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

Bailey Bigger- Mississippi You’re On My Mind

Coyote Red (Madjack)

Mike Regenstreif & Jesse Winchester (2009)

Jesse Winchester- Midnight Bus

Third Down, 110 to Go (Stony Plain)

Alice Gerrard- The Things I Notice Now

Bluegrass Sings Paxton (Mountain Home)

Mike Regenstreif & Tom Paxton (2009)

Tom Paxton- Peace Will Come

Politics Live (Flying Fish)

Alison Brown- Leaving Cottondale

Simple Pleasures (Compass)

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

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday June 8, 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/595/52246.html

Theme: Thinking About Elvis. Elvis Presley, who died in 1977 at the very young age of 42, is probably the most mythologized figure in the history of popular music. This show features a few of Elvis’s recordings, some versions of songs from his repertoire performed by other artists, and some songs that were at least partially inspired Elvis.

Doug McArthur- Boots & Saddles
Tears Like Rain (Doug McArthur)

Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys- Blue Moon of Kentucky
Live Recordings 1956-1959 (Smithsonian Folkways)
Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup- That’s All Right (Mama)
Mean Ole Frisco (Collectables)
Elvis Presley- Treat Me Nice
Elvis Presley Sings Leiber & Stoller (RCA/Legacy)
Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley- Hound Dog
Gold Cadillac (G-Three)
The Persuasions- Return to Sender
Comin’ At Ya (Flying Fish)
Elvis Presley- Jailhouse Rock
Elvis Presley Sings Leiber & Stoller (RCA/Legacy)
Gillian Welch- Elvis Presley Blues
Time (The Revelator) (Acony/Stony Plain)

Jesse Winchester & Mike Regenstreif (2006)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Tryin’ to Get to You
Pronto Monto (Ominivore)
Stephen Barry Band- Mystery Train
Live (Fix it in the Mix Music)
Elvis Presley- Don’t Be Cruel
50 Worldwide Gold Hits (BMG)
Jesse Winchester- Just Like New
Gentleman of Leisure (Sugar Hill)

Ian & Sylvia- Swing Down, Chariot
Northern Journey (Vanguard)
Elvis Presley- Saved
Elvis Presley Sings Leiber & Stoller (RCA/Legacy)
Kate Campbell- Tupelo’s Too Far
The Portable Kate Campbell (Compadre)

Carl Perkins- Blue Suede Shoes
The Rockin’ Guitar Man (Jasmine)
Holly Cole- Viva Las Vegas
Night (Rumpus Room)
Elvis Presley- Poor Boy
For LP Fans Only (RCA)
Mary Coughlan- Heartbreak Hotel
Uncertain Pleasures (EastWest)
Jimmy LaFave- Elvis Loved His Momma
Texoma (Bohemia Beat)

Linda Ronstadt- Love Me Tender
Living in the USA (Asylum)
Elvis Presley- All Shook Up
50 Worldwide Gold Hits (BMG)
Arlo Guthrie- Can’t Help Falling in Love
More Together Again in Concert (Rising Son)
Ken Tizzard- King is Gone
All Together Now (Ken Tizzard)

Elvis Presley- Suspicious Minds
From Elvis in Memphis (RCA)

Next week – Working in the Coal Mine

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Doug McArthur – Tears Like Rain

DOUG McARTHUR

Tears Like Rain

dougmcarthur.ca

My direct involvement in the folk music scene started circa 1970 when I began volunteering at the Yellow Door, a Montreal coffee house that recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with a marvelous homecoming concert that I helped to MC.

Doug McArthur was one of the artists that I first encountered at the Yellow Door. He was playing there one weekend in the early-‘70s when a girl named Debbie brought her Sweet 16 birthday party to the Yellow Door. While Debbie may have wanted to hear folk music, most of her friends couldn’t have cared less; so it wasn’t the normally attentive audience we were used to in that little basement folk club. Doug, though, took it in stride, played the night and later parlayed the story of “Debbie’s Birthday Party” into a hilarious comedy routine.

“Tears Like Rain” was one of the songs I remember hearing Doug play at the Yellow Door in those days. It had opening lines, “Mr. Conductor, your train runs too slow, I paid for my ticket, I’m ready to go” and a chorus, “Oh Lord, tears like rain, Linda’s got the blues again,” that have stuck with me as an earworm for about 45 years. The earworm would always hit whenever I’d be on a train – particularly while the train sat in the station. For some reason, though, Doug never released the song on any of the albums he’s done over the years and I don’t recall hearing him do it live after the ‘70s.

Finally, though, the song has turned up as the title track of Tears Like Rain, a marvelous 10-song, 45-minute collection that includes several previously-released songs along with the newly-released material.

This version of “Tears Like Rain” has a swampier arrangement than I remember from the Yellow Door, but the almost-spoken lyrics remain compelling and it’s great to hear the full song again.

Among my other favorites on this CD is “Stumble From Vesuvio,” originally recorded on Angels of the Mission Trail, an elegant song-cycle Doug recorded with Jeffra that evokes earlier times in California. “Stumble From Vesuvio” imagines a literary café in San Francisco where time-out-of-place writers like Jack Kerouac, Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London mingle.

Another old favorite is “Boots & Saddles” – this version rearranged and rerecorded – a song set at a roadside diner and gas station run by Betty and Joe. Bill Monroe stops there in 1949 and Elvis Presley eight years later. Betty and Joe wish they could leave with Bill or Elvis – but they can’t. In the final verse, Doug represents all the singer, songwriters and musicians who, years later, are inspired by the likes of those legends.

Among the other highlights are “The Morning I Left Galway,” a beautiful song about leaving that city in Ireland (it could be sung by an emigrant leaving home or even by a tourist captivated by the city and country) and “The Big Canoe,” a spoken-word piece set against atmospheric music that draws on folkloric legends (or perhaps imagined folkloric legends) inspired by the river that runs through Wakefield, Quebec, the village north of Ottawa where Doug lives, and the Algonquin indigenous people who traditionally lived in the area.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Kate & Anna McGarrigle – Pronto Monto

KATE & ANNA McGARRIGLE

Pronto Monto

Omnivore Recordings

mcgarrigles.com

omnivorerecordings.com

I worked with Kate & Anna McGarrigle – first producing concerts in Montreal, then booking concerts for them as an agent across Canada and in the United States at such venues as the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Convocation Hall (Toronto), Carnegie Hall (New York), and others – between 1974 and 1980.

During those years they recorded and released three LPs on Warner Bros. Records: Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Dancer with Bruised Knees, and Pronto Monto. The first two LPs were reissued fairly early in the CD era – and more recently in the 3-CD set Tell My Sister (the third CD is of early, previously unreleased demos) – but the third LP, Pronto Monto, released in 1978, has been out of print for at least 35 years. Finally, though, it is now reissued on CD for the first time.

While the first two LPs were critically acclaimed, they didn’t meet the major label sales standards that Warner Bros. expected. So there was an attempt, at the production level, to give Kate and Anna more of a pop sound on Pronto Monto. Songwriter David Nichtern, who had a major hit with Maria Muldaur’s recording of “Midnight at the Oasis,” was brought in to produce the album and a number of Los Angeles and New York A-list studio musicians played on it (along with key McGarrigle sidemen Chaim Tannenbaum, Peter Weldon, Dane Lanken, Ken Pearson, Pat Donaldson and Scot Lang).

The thing is, though, Kate and Anna were never (thankfully) cookie-cutter pop singers. They were always idiosyncratic, rootsy singers and songwriters – and that was a major part of what their charm was about. And – thankfully – that added pop gloss could not, and did not, really hide their idiosyncrasies and rootsy charm on Pronto Monto.

I haven’t had a working turntable for many years so it had been a long time since I’d listened to Pronto Monto. It’s been quite a delight to listen to the album again after so much time. Among my favorite tracks are Kate’s clever “NA CL”; Kate’s “Stella By Artois,” which celebrated the dawning of her decade-long relationship with British bass player Pat Donaldson; Anna’s “Bundle of Sorrow, Bundle of Joy,” which celebrated the birth of her son, Sylvan Lanken, who, by now, is close to 40 years old; and Kate’s “Come Back Baby,” a gently-rolling blues.

I also still really like their covers of “Tryin’ to Get to You,” an Elvis Presley B-side from his Sun Records days that was a rock ‘n’ roll highlight of Kate and Anna’s late-‘70s concerts; and Galt McDermot and William Dumaresq’s lovely goodnight song, “Cover Up My Head” (written years before Montrealer McDermot achieved fame for composing the Broadway hit “Hair”).

Pronto Monto has been the missing Kate & Anna McGarrigle album for far too long. It’s really nice to have it back (and to now have all of their albums on my shelves as accessible CDs).

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif