Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday July 19, 2022: Songs of Woody Guthrie, Part 2 – “New” Songs from the Archives

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU in Ottawa on Tuesdays 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 and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/56977.html

Theme: Songs of Woody Guthrie, Part 2 – “New” Songs from the Archives.

In the 1990s, Nora Guthrie, Woody Guthrie’s daughter who was then maintaining the Woody Guthrie Archives, discovered the lyrics to literally thousands of songs that Woody Guthrie wrote that he never set to music or whose tunes were never recorded and lost. Nora began to distribute sets of lyrics to contemporary musicians she thought would bring these songs to life. On this show, we’re listening to some of those songs.

Visit https://www.woodyguthrie.org/ for more information on Woody Guthrie.

Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion- Folksong
Folksong (RTE 8)

Billy Bragg & Wilco- Walt Whitman’s Niece
Mermaid Avenue (Elektra)
Folk Uke- California Stars
Starfucker (Folk Uke)
Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer- Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key
Little Blue Egg (Red House)
Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer- Birds and Ships
Postcards (Community Music)

The Del McCoury Band- The New York Trains
Del and Woody (McCoury Music)
Ellis Paul & Vance Gilbert- This Morning I am Born Again
Side of the Road (Philo)

The Klezmatics- Mermaid’s Avenue
Wonder Wheel: Lyrics by Woody Guthrie (Jewish Music Group)
Lisa Gutkin- Gonna Get Through This World
From Here On In (Lisa Gutkin)
Wenzel- I Don’t Feel at Home on the Bowery No More
Ticky Tock: Wenzel Sings Woody Guthrie (Conträr Musik)
Jonatha Brooke- Madonna on the Curb
The Works (Bad Dog)

Mike Regenstreif, Nora Guthrie, Kris Kristofferson & Jimmy LaFave talking about Woody Guthrie at the 2007 Ottawa Folk Festival

Eliza Gilkyson- Beach Haven
2020 (Red House)
Jimmy LaFave- Peace Town
Peace Town (Music Road)
Janis Ian- I Hear You Sing Again
Best of Janis Ian: The Autobiography Collection (Rude Girl)
Corey Harris- Teabag Blues
Greens from the Garden (Alligator)

John McCutcheon- Old Cap Moore
This Land: Woody Guthrie’s America (Appalsongs)
Madeleine Peyroux & Rob Wasserman- Wild Card in the Hole
Note of Hope: A Celebration of Woody Guthrie (429)
Joel Rafael Band- Dance a Little Longer
Woodeye: Songs of Woody Guthrie (Inside Recordings)
Lucinda Williams- House of Earth
Ghosts of Highway 20 (Highway 20)

Arlo Guthrie- My Peace
Here Come the Kids (Rising Son)

Next week: On the Road Again.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Folk Uke – Reincarnation

FOLK UKE

Reincarnation

Folk Uke

folkuke.com

I’m not sure how long they’ve actually been playing together but Folk Uke has been on my radar since 2005 when they released their first CD – just called Folk Uke – and it generated some significant airplay on the Folk Roots/Folk Branches radio program. The duo of Cathy Guthrie and Amy Nelson blended their voices so simply and so beautifully, you’d swear they were sisters (I have heard Cathy singing with her real sisters and that sounds pretty great, too).

Although they’re not siblings, both Cathy and Amy do come from musical families. Cathy is one of several musically talented children of old friend Arlo Guthrie (and grandchildren of Woody Guthrie) and Amy’s dad is Willie Nelson. Both fathers have contributed some back-up playing to both Folk Uke CDs.

Folk Uke’s style is seemingly simple -- mostly built around their voices which harmonize and intertwine so closely it’s hard to really tell who’s who, and their ukuleles (with Amy also playing guitar). Most of the back-up arrangements are low-key keeping most of the attention most of the time on Cathy and Amy. But they simply ooze charm throughout most of the set, whether singing sweet love songs Harry Nilsson’s “He Needs Me” and “Reincarnation” or put-downs and break-up songs like “My Little Singer,” “Quattro Momento” and “Filthy Floors.”

Cathy and Amy also show they can be artistically fearless by taking a bitterly ironic approach – which risks misinterpretation – to the subject of domestic violence in “I Miss My Boyfriend.” While they sing from the perspective of a woman missing her abusive boyfriend, Shooter Jennings speaks from jail as the violent boyfriend.

Folk Uke’s harmonies and stripped down approach is a delight to hear.

BTW, along with Cathy and Amy, some other progeny of musical parents contributed to this album. Cathy’s brother, Abe Guthrie, played piano and bass and co-produced the sessions; Shooter Jennings, who plays the role of the incarcerated boyfriend in “I Miss My Boyfriend,” is Waylon Jennings’ son; Casey Kristofferson, who co-wrote “Blessed and Cursed” is the daughter of Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge; and Gabriel Rhodes, who was one of the album’s recording engineers, is the son of Kimmie Rhodes.

--Mike Regenstreif