Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday September 14, 2019

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 at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and http://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web.

This episode of Saturday Morning can be streamed on-demand at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/44679.html

Terri Hendrix- Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key

Talk to a Human: Project 5.3 (Wilory)

I was deeply saddened by the passing of Mitch Podolak on August 25. I first met Mitch in June 1974 and he told me he was starting a folk festival in Winnipeg. I didn't go to the first Winnipeg Folk Festival that summer but I was there many times through the 1970s and ‘80s. I shared friendship, many a meal, much music, and the occasional fierce argument with Mitch in many places over the years. His influence – like that of Estelle Klein – is felt every time I plan a radio show. Perhaps the most excited I ever saw Mitch at the Winnipeg Folk Festival was when Pete Seeger sang “L’Internationale.”

Pete Seeger- L’Internationale

Singalong, Sanders Theatre, 1980 (Smithsonian Folkways)

The Duhks- Pretty Boy Floyd/Stoney Point

Your Daughters & Your Sons (Sugar Hill)

The Small Glories- Winnipeg

Assiniboine & the Red (Red House)

Stan Rogers- The Mary Ellen Carter

Between the Breaks…Live! (Fogarty’s Cove/Borealis)

Martin Simpson performs Sunday, October 6, 8 pm, at Rosemount Hall, 41 Rosemount Avenue. Visit www.oldsod.ca for tickets or information.

Martin Simpson- Kimbie

Rooted (Topic)

Katie Dahl- Anna Lee

Wildwood (Leaky Boat)

Andy Antipin w/Sharon Katz & Mara Levine- I’m Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table

I’m Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table (Andy Atipin)

Blue Flame String Band- Blues Stay Away from Me

Blue Flame String Band (Flying Fish)

Nefesh Mountain performs Thursday, September 19 at Kehillat Beth Israel synagogue, 1400 Coldrey Avenue. They’ll be doing a family concert at 5:30 pm and an adult-focused all-ages concert at 7 pm. Call 613-728-3501 or visit https://kehillatbethisrael.shulcloud.com/form/nefesh-mountain.html for more info or tickets.

Nefesh Mountain- Halleluyah

Beneath the Open Sky (Eric Lindberg & Doni Zasloff)

Lynn Miles performs Saturday, September 21 at the Westboro Masonic Hall, 430 Churchill Avenue North. Visit www.rasputins.org for more info or tickets.

Lynn Miles- Million Brilliant

Downpour (Lynn Miles)

Old Man Luedecke performs Thursday, October 10 at the National Arts Centre Fourth Stage. Visit https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/23023 for more info or tickets.

Old Man Luedecke- Easy Money

Easy Money (True North)

Rob Lutes performs Thursday, October 24 at the National Arts Centre Fourth Stage. Visit https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/21896 for more info or tickets.

Rob Lutes- Believe in Something

Walk in the Dark (Lucky Bear)

Tom Russell- Red Velvet

Play One More: The Songs of Ian & Sylvia (True North)

Ian & Sylvia- Summer Wages

The Lost Tapes (Stony Plain)

Kim Wallach- The Cowboy and the Umbrella

Chatter of the Finches (Black Socks Press)

Ian & Sylvia- Four Strong Winds

The Lost Tapes (Stony Plain)

Extended Feature: Songs and Tunes of Bruce Cockburn. The next 15 songs and tunes were written by Bruce Cockburn.

Bruce Cockburn- Musical Friends

Bruce Cockburn (True North)

Teresa Ennis- Going to the Country

Space (BeaverBank Empire)

Tom Rush- One Day I Walk

Ladies Love Outlaws (Columbia)

Claire Lynch- All the Diamonds in the World

North By South (Compass)

Bruce Cockburn- Sweetness and Light

Crowing Ignites (True North)

Mike Regenstreif & Bruce Cockburn (2017)

Bruce Cockburn- Lovers in a Dangerous Time

Slice O Life: Live Solo (True North)

Dawn Tyler Watson & Paul Deslauriers- Mama Just Wants to Barrelhouse All Night Long

En Duo (Justin Time)

David Wiffen- Up on the Hillside

Coast to Coast Fever (EMI)

Maria Muldaur- Southland of the Heart

Southland of the Heart (Telarc)

Bruce Cockburn- Blind Willie

Crowing Ignites (True North)

Bruce Cockburn- Forty Years in the Wilderness

Bone On Bone (True North)

Judy Collins- Pacing the Cage

Portrait of an American Girl (Wildflower)

Salamander Crossing- Child of the Wind

Henry Street – A Retrospective (Signature Sounds)

Grace Griffith- Wondering Where the Lions Are

Minstrel Song (Blix Street)

Bruce Cockburn- Bardo Rush

Crowing Ignites (True North)

“Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story,” starring Ben Caplan, returns to the Babs Asper Theatre at the National Arts Centre from October 17-27. Visit https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/21514 for more information.

Ben Caplan- Traveller’s Curse

Old Stock (Rhyme and Reason)

Lisa Gutkin, Aaron Halva & Company- Welcome to Amerike: Vot can you makh

Indecent: Original Broadway Cast Recording (Yellow Sound Label)

Sharon Goldman- Tuesday Morning Sun

Every Trip Around the Sun (Sharon Goldman)

Susan Werner- What He Said in Jackson Square

NOLA: Susan Werner Goes to New Orleans (Sleeve Dog)

Lisa Bastoni- Dogs of New Orleans

How We Want to Live (Sweet Ondine Music)

Christine Lavin & The Calithumpians- The Liar Tweets Tonight

The Best of Christine Lavin (Christine Lavin)

The Four Bitchin' Babes w/Mary Travers- What Was I Thinking

The Best of Christine Lavin (Christine Lavin)

Tim Grimm- Too Hard Drivin’

Heart Land Again (Vault)

Shelley Posen- Back at Bub’s

Ontario Moon (Well Done Music)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on October 12.

Find me on Twitter. @MikeRegenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

OCFF Conference

I had a most excellent time at the annual conference of the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals (OCFF) this past weekend in Ottawa. I attended some interesting panels and meetings – including State of the Folk Nation, at which a recent PhD in ethnomusicology was totally unconvincing in his theories about what folk music is – and heard a lot of great music from both young performers I was experiencing for the first time and veteran artists I’ve been listening to for decades. It was also a wonderful opportunity to see some old friends and make some new ones.
It was an honour for me to be one of the conference’s mentors. As a mentor, I spent time working with several promising artists whose paths in folk music I look forward to following in the years to come.

Congratulations to Paul Mills, OCFF’s retiring president and Executive Director Peter MacDonald, along with the other board members, staff, and volunteers, for a superbly-organized event.

Speaking of old friends, I was very happy to see William (Grit) Laskin receive the Estelle Klein Award. Named for the visionary artistic director of the Mariposa Folk Festival in the 1960s and ‘70s, the award is the OCFF’s annual recognition of lifetime achievement and Grit is a most-worthy recipient.

Andy Frank of Roots Music Canada did an excellent job of putting together this video tribute to Grit on the occasion of his receiving the Estelle Klein Award.



--Mike Regenstreif

Ottawa Folk Festival, August 13-15

By this time next week, we’ll be well into this year’s edition of the Ottawa Folk Festival. It kicks off on Friday evening, August 13, and continues all day and evening on Saturday and Sunday. As I mentioned a year ago, the folk festival has long been my favourite Ottawa festival. Years before I actually started working in Ottawa in 2007, I was making an annual trip to the nation’s capital for the Ottawa Folk Festival.

This is a year of great change for the Ottawa Folk Festival. Chris White, the founding artistic director stepped down last fall after 16 years at the helm. The new artistic director is Dylan Griffith, who came to the Ottawa Folk Festival after four years directing the Dawson City Music Festival in the Yukon.

It seems to be a year of generational change for the festival. Despite the presence of certain older artists, most notably the legendary Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, there is a greater emphasis on younger artists or on artists like Arrested Development, who are drawn from musical genres more likely to appeal to a younger demographic than the traditional folk festival audience.

This is not to say that there’s a lack of the kind of artists that have long been associated with folk festivals. Among them are the Old Sod Band, an instrumental band that includes Ann Downey and Ian Robb of Finest Kind; the Foggy Hogtown Boys, probably Ontario’s finest bluegrass band; Lynn Miles, a world class singer-songwriter from Ottawa who did an amazing set at the festival a few years ago just before headliner Emmylou Harris; and such other notable Canadian singer-songwriters as Jenny Whiteley, Chris MacLean, Jon Brooks and Kim Beggs.

Among the other artists I’m looking forward to hearing are Calexico, the southwestern atmospheric band; country rocker Carolyn Mark; and Ladies of the Canyon, a Montreal trio that I introduced at the Festival Folk sur le canal in Montreal in 2009.

As someone whose first folk festivals included the Estelle Klein-era Mariposa Folk Festivals of the 1970s, I’ve always felt that the daytime workshops are the heart-and-soul of the folk festival experience. The daytime schedule has now been posted and there are a bunch of workshop sessions that I’m really looking forward to.

I’ve had that honour and privilege of hosting many workshops at the Ottawa Folk Festival over the years. Among my favourites was a panel discussion in 2007 with me, Nora Guthrie, Kris Kristofferson and Jimmy LaFave discussing Woody Guthrie and his enduring influence. This year, I’ll be sitting down on stage with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – long one of folk music’s most influential and enduring legendary figures – to talk about his remarkable career that now stretches over a 60-year period. Jack was already a legend when I first met him back in 1971. The session, called A Conversation with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, is from noon to 1:00 pm on the indoor hall stage.

Pictured: (Left) Mike Regenstreif, Nora Guthrie, Kris Kristifferson and Jimmy LaFave at the 2007 Ottawa Folk Festival. (Right) Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Mike Regenstreif at the 2006 Pop Montreal Festival.

--Mike Regenstreif

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (June 22-June 28)

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 (and around the world via the web for most of those years). Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued for some time as occasional features on CKUT, and is now a blog. Here’s the 43rd 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.

June 23, 1994: Extended feature- Bill Morrissey.
June 27, 1996: Show theme- All Canadian music.
June 26, 1997: Show theme- Songs of Stan Rogers.
June 22, 2000: Guest- Connie Kaldor.
June 24, 2004: Extended feature- Tribute to the late Estelle Klein.
June 23, 2005: Guest- Connie Kaldor.
June 28, 2007: Guest- Catherine Russell.

Pictured: Catherine Russell and Mike Regenstreif at CKUT during Folk Roots/Folk Branches on June 28, 2007.

--Mike Regenstreif