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.
Folk-rooted and folk-branched reviews, commentaries, radio playlists and suggestions from veteran music journalist and broadcaster Mike Regenstreif.
Monday, August 12, 2024
Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – August 20, 2024: Murder Ballads
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.
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
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.
Thursday, November 2, 2023
Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – November 7, 2023: Addendums to Past Themes
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.
Tuesday, July 18, 2023
Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday August 1, 2023: Art & Artists
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.
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Mike Regenstreif & Murray McLauchlan on Zoom (2021) |
Murray McLauchlan- A Thomson Day (For Tom Thomson)
Saturday, June 17, 2023
Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday June 20, 2023: The Philosophy of Modern Song, Part 2
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.
Sunday, March 5, 2023
Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday March 14, 2023: Roving Gamblers
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.
Friday, January 6, 2023
Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday January 10, 2023: Remembering Ian Tyson
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.
Ian Tyson, who died on December 29th at age 89, was one of Canada’s greatest and most influential singers and songwriters – from his days in the 1960s and early-‘70s as half of the legendary folk duo Ian & Sylvia, through his focus on country music in the later Ian & Sylvia years and the early part of his solo career, and to his revitalization and virtual reinvention of cowboy music from the early-1980s through the 2000s.
Friday, October 21, 2022
Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday October 25, 2022: Songs of Yip Harburg & Hoagy Carmichael
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.
Monday, October 17, 2022
Canadian Spaces – CKCU – Saturday October 22, 2022
Canadian Spaces on CKCU in Ottawa is Canada’s longest-running folk music radio program. It is heard Saturday mornings from 10:00 am until noon (Eastern time).
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday July 12, 2022: Songs of Woody Guthrie, Part 1 – Classic Songs
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/595/56876.html
Theme: Songs of Woody Guthrie, Part 1 – Classic Songs
Woody Guthrie – whose active career as a folksinger, songwriter and author was relatively brief, from the late-1930s until the early-1950s – was the most important folk-rooted songwriter of the first half of the 20th century and an inspiration to contemporaries like Pete Seeger and to subsequent generations of folksingers and songwriters who have followed. When Bob Dylan first came to New York as a 20-year-old in 1961, it was in search of Woody Guthrie who had been hospitalized since 1956 for Huntington’s disease, the hereditary neurological disease that would eventually take his life in 1967 at age 55.
Visit https://www.woodyguthrie.org/ for more information on Woody Guthrie.
Woody Guthrie- Hard Travelin’
Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection (Smithsonian Folkways)
Sneezy Waters & Mike Regenstreif (2013) Photo: Chris White
Judy Collins- Pastures of Plenty
Bohemian (Wildflower)
Happy Traum- I Ain’t Got No Home
Just for the Love of It (Lark’s Nest Music)
Cosy Sheridan- Ramblin’ Round
A Beautiful Sound (Cosy Sheridan)
Nanci Griffith & Guy Clark- Do Re Mi
Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)
Sneezy Waters & His Very Fine Band- Deportee
Live (Sneezy Waters)
Woody Guthrie- Why, Oh Why?
Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection (Smithsonian Folkways)
Robert Resnik & Gigi Weisman- Car Song (Riding in My Car)
Sweet Potatoes and Home Grown Tomatoes (Fletcher Free Library)
Pete Seeger- Woody’s Rag
Darling Corey and Goofing-Off Suite (Smithsonian Folkways)Mike Regenstreif & Arlo Guthrie (1996)
Woody Guthrie- Pretty Boy Floyd
Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection (Smithsonian Folkways)
Crowes Pasture- Belle Star
Rambling Round: A Woody Guthrie Tribute (Crowes Pasture)
Joel Rafael Band- When the Curfew Blows
Woodeye: Songs of Woody Guthrie (Inside Recordings)
Arlo Guthrie- 1913 Massacre
Here Come the Kids (Rising Son)
Rosalie Sorrels- The Philadelphia Lawyer
Folksongs of Idaho and Utah (Folkways)
Ian Tyson- Oklahoma Hills
Old Corrals and Sagebrush & Other Cowboy Culture Classics (Stony Plain)
Peter Rowan- New York Town
Calling You from My Mountain (Rebel)
Scott Wolfson & Other Heroes- Hard, Ain’t It Hard
Hard, Ain’t It Hard – single (Scott Wolfson & Other Heroes)Mike Regenstreif & James Talley (2005)
Woody Guthrie- Talking Dustbowl
Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection (Smithsonian Folkways)
James Talley- Dustbowl Refugee
Woody Guthrie and Songs of My Oklahoma Home (Cimarron)
Jory Nash- So Long, It’s Been Good to Know Yuh
Folk Jazz Blues & Soul (Thin Man)
Ramblin' Jack Elliott- Tom Joad
Hard Travelin’: songs by Woody Guthrie and others (Fantasy)
Odetta- The Great Historical Bum (The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done)
Ballad for Americans and Other American Ballads (Vanguard)
The Vanaver Caravan- Peace Pin Boogie
Pastures of Plenty: Songs of Woody Guthrie (Coming Together Festival Productions)
Woody Guthrie- Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad
Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection (Smithsonian Folkways)
Will Geer- I hate a song that makes you think you are not any good (narration)
Woody Guthrie: The Tribute Concerts – Hollywood Bowl 1970 (Bear Family)
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings- This Land is Your Land
Just Dropped in (To See What Condition My Rendition Was In) (Daptone)
Next week: Songs of Woody Guthrie, Part 2: “New” Songs from the Archives
Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif
--Mike Regenstreif
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday May 10, 2022: “Rooty Toot Toot for the Moon”
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/595/56173.html
Theme: “Rooty Toot Toot for the Moon”
Tom Paxton- Looking for the Moon
Looking for the Moon (Appleseed)
Over the Moon- Over the Moon
Moondancer (Over the Moon)
Shelley Posen- Ontario Moon
Ontario Moon (Well Done Music)
Leon Redbone- Shine On Harvest Moon
Double Time (Warner Bros.)
Chaim Tannenbaum- It’s Only a Paper Moon
Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)
Patti Casey with Paul Asbell- Blue Moon
Just an Old Sweet Song (Long Shot Music)
Martha Seyler & Robert Resnik- Blue Moon of Kentucky
Martha Sings & Robert Plays (Martha Seyler & Robert Resnik)
Pat Alger- Once in a Very Blue Moon
True Love & Other Short Stories (Sugar Hill)
Noel Paul Stookey- I’ll Be Seeing You
Fazz: Now & Then (Neworld Multimedia)
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Mike Regenstreif & Erik Frandsen (1976) photo: Felicity Fanjoy |
Erik Frandsen- Dig That Moon
Antiques: New & Used (Erik Frandsen)
Nanci Griffith- Grapefruit Moon
Ruby’s Torch (Rounder)
Billie Holiday- I Wished On the Moon
Songs for Distingué Lovers (Verve)
Durham County Poets- The Moon Won’t Go Down
Hand Me Down Blues (Durham County Poets)
Ben Bullington- Ring Around the Moon
White Sulphur Springs (Ben Bullington)
Lily Henley- Alta Alta Va La Luna
Oras Dezaoradas (Lior Éditions)
Perla Batalla- Cuando Sale la Luna
Discoteca Batalla (Mechuda Music)
Tom Russell- Walking On the Moon
Old Songs Yet to Sing (Frontera)
Maggie & Terre Roche- Underneath the Moon
Where Do I Come From: Selected Songs (StorySound)
Kevin Head- Full Moon
Hear Them Callin’ (Kevin Head)
Ian Tyson- Horsethief Moon
Eighteen Inches of Rain (Stony Plain)
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Mike Regenstreif, Tom Paxton & Joel Mabus (2001) phto: Janice Hanson |
Joel Mabus- The Moon May Never Shine This Way Again
Time & Truth (Fossil)
Vance Gilbert- Unfamiliar Moon
Unfamiliar Moon (Disismye Music)
Missy Burgess- Drive to the Moon
Play Me Sweet (Missy Burgess)
David Francey- Big Texas Moon
Empty Train (Laker Music)
Lui Collins- Rooty Toot Toot for the Moon
Baptism of Fire (Green Linnet)
Next week: These Songs are for the Birds.
Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif
--Mike Regenstreif
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday August 31, 2021: Remembering Nanci Griffith (1953-2021)
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/595/53257.html
Theme: Remembering Nanci Griffith (1953-2021)
Nanci Griffith – a superb and influential singer, songwriter and performer – died on August 13th at age 68. The show includes some of Nanci’s recordings, some of her collaborations with other artists, and some of her songs performed by other artists.
Nanci Griffith- There’s a Light Beyond These Woods
There’s a Light Beyond These Woods (Philo)
Nanci Griffith- Julie Anne
Poet In My Window (Philo)
Kathy Mattea- Love at the Five & Dime
Walk the Way the Wind Blows (Mercury)
Nanci Griffith- Daddy Said
Once In a Very Blue Moon (Philo)
It's been a long time since I’d seen her or been in touch, but Nanci and I were close in the 1980s when she came to Montreal frequently to play concerts at The Golem, the folk club I was then running. She'd always stay with me and we had some great times. One day she wrote the song, “Banks of the Pontchartrain,” in my apartment.
Nanci Griffith- Banks of the Pontchartrain
The Last of the True Believers (Philo)
Tom Russell & Nanci Griffith- St. Olav’s Gate
The Long Way Around (HighTone)
Suzy Bogguss- Outbound Plane
Aces (EMI)
Nanci Griffith- Time Alone
Once In a Very Blue Moon (Philo)
Nanci Griffith & Arlo Guthrie- Tecumseh Valley
Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)
Nanci Griffith- Up Against the Rain
The Loving Kind (Rounder)
Nanci Griffith- Ten Degrees and Colder
Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)
Nanci Griffith- You Were On My Mind
Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) (Elektra)
Nanci Griffith & Tom Russell- Summer Wages
Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) (Elektra)
Nanci Griffith & Ian Tyson- Canadian Whiskey
Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) (Elektra)
Jimmy Buffett & Nanci Griffith- Someone I Used to Love
License to Chill (Mailboat)
Caroline Doctorow- Trouble In the Fields
Trouble In the Fields: An Artists’ Tribute to Nanci Griffith (Paradiddle)
Red Molly- Lookin’ for the Time
Trouble In the Fields: An Artists’ Tribute to Nanci Griffith (Paradiddle)
The Kennedys- I’m Not Drivin’ These Wheels
Trouble In the Fields: An Artists’ Tribute to Nanci Griffith (Paradiddle)
Nanci Griffith- Hell No (I’m Not Alright)
Intersection (Hell No)
Nanci Griffith with The London Symphony Orchestra- Late Night Grande Hotel
The Dust Bowl Symphony (Elektra)
Emmylou Harris & Willie Nelson- Gulf Coast Highway
Duets (Reprise)
Nanci Griffith with Carolyn Hester- Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound
Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)
Lucy Kaplansky- I Wish It Would Rain
Everyday Street (Lucy Kaplansky)
Nanci Griffith- The Wing and the Wheel
The Last of the True Believers (Philo)
Nanci Griffith- Spin On a Red Brick Floor
One Fair Summer Evening (MCA)
Next week: A Tribute to The Everly Brothers
Find me on Twitter. www.twitter.com/mikeregenstreif
And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif
--Mike Regenstreif
Friday, April 16, 2021
Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday April 20, 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 – Episode #11 – was prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/51656.html
Theme: Celebrating Spring
Garnet Rogers- Old Campfires
Summer’s End (Snow Goose Songs)
Kim Wallach- Come, Spring
Chatter of the Finches (Black Socks Press)
Richie Havens- Here Comes the Sun
Alarm Clock (Stormy Forest)
Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy- Rambles of Spring
The Makem & Clancy Collection (Shanachie)
Wade Hemsworth with the Mountain City Four- The Blackfly Song
Wade Hemsworth with the Mountain City Four (Peter Weldon)
Connie Kaldor- Spring on the Prairies
Wood River (Coyote)
Ian Tyson- Springtime
Cowboyography (Stony Plain)
David Mallett- Greenin’ Up
Midnight on the Water (North Road)
Bruce Cockburn- April in Memphis
Crowing Ignites (True North)
Rosalie Sorrels with Mitch Greenhill- Go With Me
If I Could Be the Rain (Folk-Legacy)
Mark Stepakoff featuring Rose Polenzani- April Fools
Any Port in a Storm (Mark Stepakoff)
Finest Kind- April Morning
Heart’s Delight (Fallen Angle)
Tex König- One Morning in May
Königsblende (Music Cellar)
Grace Griffith- May Morning
Passing Through (Blix Street)
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Mike Regenstreif & Tom Paxton (2009) |
Tom Paxton- Virginia Morning
Redemption Road (Pax)
Rod MacDonald- Second Spring
Boulevard (Blue Flute Music)
Jacques Brel- Au Printemps
The Very Best of Jacques Brel (Select)
Frida's Brow- Spring
Frida’s Brow (Frida’s Brow)
Marie Lynn-Hammond- Flying/Spring of ‘44
Marie-Lynn Hammond/Vignettes (Vignettes Media)
Quartette- Spring of ‘45
Work of the Heart (Denon)
Mark Perry- Springtime
Recollections (Northern Sky)
Eleni Mandell- I Believe in Spring
Snakebite (Zedtone)
Erin McKeown- They Say It’s Spring
Sing You Sinners (Nettwerk)
Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches- When the Red, Red Robin
Very Next Thing (On the Bol)
Lew London- Swingtime in Springtime
Swingtime in Springtime (Philo)
Suzy Bogguss- Jumping Into Spring
Swing (Compadre)
Modern Jazz Quartet- I’ll Remember April
European Concert (Atlantic)
Next week – April in Paris
Find me on Twitter. www.twitter.com/mikeregenstreif
And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif
--Mike Regenstreif
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday March 2, 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 – Episode #4 – was prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/51049.html
Today’s theme: Tom Russell Tributes – Some of the songs Tom Russell has written – or, in a couple of cases, co-written – about other artists. Also, a song from each of the artists Tom was paying tribute to.
Gram Parsons- Return of the Grievous Angel
Grievous Angel (Reprise)
Tom Russell with Patricia Hardin- Joshua Tree
The Tom Russell Anthology: Veteran’s Day (Shout! Factory)
Bill Haley & The Comets- Rock Around the Clock
Bill Rocks (Bear Family)
Dave Alvin & The Guilty Men- Haley’s Comet
Out in California (HighTone)
Nina Simone- Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
To Love Somebody (RCA)
Tom Russell & The Norwegian Wind Ensemble- Nina Simone
Aztec Jazz (Frontera)
Ian Tyson- Wolves No Longer Sing
Carnero Vaquero (Stony Plain)
Tom Russell- I’ll Never Leave These Old Horses Folk Hotel (Frontera)
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Tom Russell & Mike Regenstreif (2018) |
Rosalie Sorrels- Travelin’ Lady
My Last Go Round (Red House)
Tom Russell- Pork Roast and Poetry
Tribute to the Travelin’ Lady Rosalie Sorrels (Tribute to Rosalie Sorrels)
Bob Dylan- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (Columbia/Legacy)
Tom Russell- Mesabi
Mesabi (Shout! Factory)
Édith Piaf- La Vie en Rose
30e Anniversaire (EMI France)
Sylvia Tyson- Chocolate Cigarettes
Gypsy Cadillac (Silver City)
Dave Van Ronk- Another Time and Place
Down in Washington Square (Smithsonian Folkways)
Tom Russell- Van Ronk
Hotwalker (HighTone)
Jack Kerouac with Steve Allen- MacDougal Street Blues
The Kerouac Collection (Rhino)
Tom Russell- October in the Railroad Earth
October in the Railroad Earth (Frontera)
Next week – Songs of Malvina Reynolds.
Find me on Twitter. www.twitter.com/mikeregenstreif
And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif
--Mike Regenstreif