Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday August 22, 2023: Remembering Robbie Robertson

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.

This episode of Stranger Songs was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/61634.html

Theme: Remembering Robbie Robertson (1943-2023).

Robbie Robertson (photo: Don Dixon/The Band website)

Robbie Robertson, the great guitarist and principal songwriter of The Band, died on Aguust 9, at age 80, following what his family said was a long illness.

The Band- Caledonia Mission

Music from Big Pink (Capitol)

The Staple Singers- The Weight

Stax Profiles (Stax)

Colin Linden (with Rick Danko)- Chest Fever

When the Spirit Comes (True North)

The Band- To Kingdom Come

Music from Big Pink (Capitol)

Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks- Come Love

Testimony (Universal)

The Band & Ronnie Hawkins- Who Do You Love

The Last Waltz (Rhino)

Happy & Artie Traum- Going Down to See Bessie (Bessie Smith)

Double-Back (Capitol)

Bob Dylan & The Band- Highway 61 Revisited

Before the Flood (Columbia/Legacy)

The Band- Up on Cripple Creek

Before the Flood (Columbia/Legacy)

Jack Williams- The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Four Good Days (Wind River)

Rosanne Cash- The Unfaithful Servant

Endless Highway: The Music of The Band (429)

The Band- Rockin’ Chair

The Band (Capitol)

The Band- The Shape I’m In

Stage Fright (Capitol)

Barrence Whitfield & Tom Russell- Daniel and the Sacred Harp

Cowboy Mambo (Stony Plain)

Colleen Rennison- Stage Fright

See the Sky About to Rain (Black Hen)

Robbie Robertson- Somewhere Down the Crazy River

Testimony (Universal)

David Clayton-Thomas- Ophelia

Canadiana (Antoinette/ILS)

The Roches- Acadian Driftwood

Endless Highway: The Music of The Band (429)

The Band- The Saga of Pepote Rouge

Islands Cross (Capitol)

The Band- The Weight

Music from Big Pink (Capitol)

Next week: Songs of Bruce Springsteen.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday February 28, 2023: A Tribute to Josh White

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 recorded and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/59557.html

Theme: A Tribute to Josh White (1914-1969).

Josh White was a highly influential blues, folk and jazz singer and guitarist. He made his first recordings in 1928 at about age 14 or 15 and his 1944 recording of “One Meatball” was the first song by a male, African American artist to sell a million copies. Josh White was honored earlier this month by Folk Alliance International with its Legacy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Two songs on this show – “Goodbye Josh” and “A Natural Man” – are tributes to Josh White. The other songs were all part of Josh White’s repertoire.

Josh White- Good Morning Blues

The Josh White Stories, Vols. I & II (Jasmine)

Josh White, Jr.- One Meatball

Live at the Raven Gallery (Silverwolf)

Madeleine Peyroux- Lonesome Road

Careless Love (Rounder)

Mr. Rick- Two Little Fishes

Mr. Rick Sings About God + Booze (Mr. Rick)

Sister Rosetta Tharpe- Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho

This Train in Concert (Sunset Blvd.)

Josh White- Things About Coming My Way

Spirituals & Blues (Elektra)

Louis Jordan- I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Years 1955-1958 (Jasmine)

Josh White, Jr. with Robin Batteau- You Won’t Let Me Go

Jazz, Ballads & Blues (Ryko)

Peter Yarrow- Goodbye Josh

Peter (Warner Bros.)

Peter, Paul & Mary- Betty and Dupree

See What Tomorrow Brings (Warner Bros.)

Jack Williams- A Natural Man

Walkin’ Dreams (Wind River)

Josh White- Strange Fruit

The Josh White Stories, Vols. I & II (Jasmine)

Crabtree & Mills- Miss Otis Regrets

Flight of Fancy (Free and Easy Music)

Bonnie Dobson- Dink’s Song

Take Me for a Walk in the Morning Dew (Hornbeam)

Odetta- House of the Rising Sun

Livin’ with the Blues (Vanguard)

Dave Van Ronk- St. James Infirmary

…and the tin pan bended, and the story ended… (Smithsonian Folkways)

Josh White- The Story of John Henry

The Story of John Henry: A Musical Narrative (Elektra)

Julian Fauth- Frankie & Johnny

The Weak and the Wicked, the Hard and the Strong (Electro-Fi)

Next week: Songs of Kris Kristofferson.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday May 24, 2022: More Songs of Bob Dylan

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 at home and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/56363.html

Theme: More Songs of Bob Dylan.

A year ago, in the week surrounding Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday, I presented three shows of Dylan songs on CKCU: two editions of Stranger Songs and one of the Saturday Morning Show. Given his prolific output over the past 60 years, I only scratched the surface of Dylan’s great songs. So, our theme on this edition of Stranger Songs – which falls on Dylan’s birthday – is More Songs of Bob Dylan – all of them interpretations by other artists.

Mike Regenstreif & Joan Baez (2003)

Tom Russell- Seven Curses
Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs (HighTone)
Martin Simpson- North Country Blues
Vagrant Stanzas (Topic)
Joan Baez- Love is Just a Four-Letter Word
Any Day Now (Vanguard)

Tim O'Brien- Tombstone Blues
Red On Blonde (Sugar Hill)
Richie Havens- Maggie’s Farm
Something Else Again (Verve Forecast)
Sneezy Waters & His Very Fine Band- I Threw It All Away
Live (Sneezy Waters)

Jack Williams & Mike Regenstreif (2016)

Barney Bentall & Valentino Trapani- You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Cosmic Dreamer (True North)
Ben Sidran- Tangled Up in Blue
Dylan Different (Bonsai)
Andrea Von Kampen- If You See Her, Say Hello
Old Country (Tone Tree Music)
Jack Williams- Buckets of Rain
Laughing in the Face of the Blues (Wind River)

Julie Felix- Romance in Durango
Starry Eyed and Laughing… Songs by Bob Dylan (Remarkable)
Tom Jones- One More Cup of Coffee
Surrounded By Time (S-Curve)
Cowboy Junkies- I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You
Dylan …Revisited (Uncut)

Guy Davis & Mike Regenstreif (2006)

Durham County Poets- Not Dark Yet
Out of the Woods (Durham County Poets)
Ian Hanchet- Everything is Broken
Dealin’ from the Bottom (of My Heart) (Ian Hanchet)
Guy Davis- Sweetheart Like You
A Nod to Bob (Red House)
Bettye LaVette- Going, Going, Gone
Things Have Changed (Verve)

The Copper Ponies- Ring Them Bells
Ring Them Bells (Hudson Harding)
Happy Traum- Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You
I Walk the Road Again (Roaring Stream)

Elana James- I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Black Beauty (Snarf)

Next week: Reflections on Freedom.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Steve Gillette -- The Man

STEVE GILLETTE
The Man
Compass Rose Music
abouttheman.com

The Man is a very different kind of album for Steve Gillette – one of the finest folk-oriented singer-songwriters since the 1960s. (His best-known song is “Darcy Farrow,” a standard of the folk repertoire since Ian & Sylvia recorded it about 45 years ago.)

The Man is a concept album that tells the story of Danny Murrow, a guitar player who was there at the dawn and flowering of the jazz age in the early decades of the 20th century leading up to and including the Great Depression and Second World War. Steve uses a combination of spoken word narration on top of instrumental versions of songs from that era, songs from those days he sings in Danny’s character, and several original songs that he wrote – and one Bessie Smith song that he rewrote – to move the story along.

Steve tells Danny’s story using a combination of fact and fiction. The fictional Danny interacts with all kinds of real musicians including the likes of Paul Whiteman, Bix Biederbecke, Bessie Smith, as well as John Hammond, the legendary talent scout and record producer. He picks up songs from Fats Waller, Count Basie and Yip Harburg and is affected by the contemporary events of the world from the racism of the era to the stock market crash and the loss of his son in the war – an event that leads him into a period of intense soul searching in which he concludes (in one of Steve's original songs) that "God is love, only love, nothing more, nothing less."

Steve surrounds himself with some great musicians on these tracks including the likes of Bill Shontz, Peter Davis, Dave Davies and Peter Ecklund on horns; Randy Wolchek and Steve’s late father, George Gillette, on piano; Jack Williams on guitar; Scott Petito, Glen Fukunaga and David Jackson on bass; Mark Graham on harmonica; and Paul Pearcy on drums. Among the all-star back-up singers are Cindy Mangsen; Kim and Reggie Harris; and Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino (Magpie).

I love what Steve has done with this album. In telling Danny’s fictional story, he’s also giving us a small slice of the early jazz world.

Steve has also put together a website about the project that is well worth checking out.

--Mike Regenstreif