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.

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/595/61330.html

Theme: Art & Artists.

Bob Dylan- When I Paint My Masterpiece

Shadow Kingdom (Columbia/Legacy)

Joni Mitchell- The Gallery

Clouds (Reprise)

Mike Regenstreif & Murray McLauchlan on Zoom (2021)

Murray McLauchlan- A Thomson Day (For Tom Thomson)

Hourglass (True North)

Ian Tamblyn- A.Y.

Walking in the Footsteps: Celebrating the Group of Seven (Art Gallery of Sudbury)

David Mallett- Phil Brown

Inches & Miles 1977-1980 (Flying Fish)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Hommage à Grungie

Tell My Sister – Dancer with Bruised Knees (Nonesuch)

Nikki Parrott- Mona Lisa

Unforgettable: The Nat King Cole Songbook (Venus)

Jay Linden- Salvador Dali

Ordinary Sunrise (Americana North)

Rain Perry- René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War

Internal Combustion (Precipitous)

John McCutcheon- Monet Refuses the Operation

Cabin Fever: Songs from the Quarantine (Appalsongs)

Michael Johnathon- The Painter

The Painter (PoetMan)

Mike Regenstreif & Anne Hills (2001)

Anne Hills- My Daughter and Vincent Van Gogh

Points of View (Appleseed)

Priscilla Herdman- Vincent

Into the Stars (Stardreamer Music)

Gretchen Peters- Picasso and Me

Gretchen Peters (Valley Entertainment)

Guy Clark- Picasso’s Mandolin

Boats to Build (Asylum)

Jamie O'Reilly- Waving to Picasso

Swimming Deeper (Bird Avenue Publishing)

June Tabor- Paint Me, Redouté

Rosa Mudi (Green Linnet)

Judy Collins- Gauguin

Paradise (Wildflower)

Doug McArthur- The Painter’s Song

Letters from the Coast/Sisteron (Snow Goose Songs)

Ian Tyson- The Gift

All the Good’Uns (Stony Plain)

R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders- Fine Artiste

R. Crumb’s Music Sampler (MQ Publications)

Next week: He was a Friend of Mine: Thinking of Dave Van Ronk.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday January 24, 2023: Songs of – or inspired by – the Spanish Civil War

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/595/59086.html

Theme: Songs of – or inspired by – the Spanish Civil War.

Woody Guthrie- Jarama Valley

Songs of the Spanish Civil War, Volumes 1 & 2 (Smithsonian Folkways)

Shay Black & Aoife Clancy- Viva la Quinte Brigada

Spain in My Heart: Songs of the Spanish Civil War (Appleseed)

Lila Downs- El Quinto Regimiento

Spain in My Heart: Songs of the Spanish Civil War (Appleseed)

Windborne- Viva la Quince Brigada

Of Hard Times & Harmony (Wand’ring Feet)

Jamie O'Reilly & Michael Smith- Song of the International Brigade

Pasiones: Songs of the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (Bird Avenue)

Jack Hardy- Orphan from Madrid/Guernica

Landmark (Great Divide)

Charlie Haden- Els Segadors (The Reapers)

Ballad of the Fallen (ECM)

Rosalie Sorrels- Eddie’s Song

Strangers in Another Country: The Songs of Bruce “Utah” Phillips (Red House)

John McCutcheon- The Abraham Lincoln Brigade

Spain in My Heart: Songs of the Spanish Civil War (Appleseed)

Pete Seeger, Tom Glazer, Baldwin (Butch) Hawes & Bess Hawes- Si Me Quieres Escribir

Songs of the Spanish Civil War, Volumes 1 & 2 (Smithsonian Folkways)

Jamie O'Reilly & Michael Smith- Freheit!: Song of the Thaelmann Batallion

Pasiones: Songs of the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (Bird Avenue)

Paul Robeson- The Peat Bog Soldiers

Songs of Free Men: A Paul Robeson Recital (Columbia Masterworks)

Jack Hardy- In Memory of Federico Garcia Lorca

Noir (Great Divide)

Jamie O'Reilly & Michael Smith- Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias

Pasiones: Songs of the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (Bird Avenue)

Ben Sidran- On Defeating Death/Absent Soul

The Concert for Garcia Lorca (Go Jazz)

Joel & Jamaica Rafael- Los Cuatro Generales

Spain in My Heart: Songs of the Spanish Civil War (Appleseed)

Jamie O'Reilly & Michael Smith- Gunner Name of Bill

Pasiones: Songs of the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (Bird Avenue)

Laurie Lewis- Taste of Ashes

Spain in My Heart: Songs of the Spanish Civil War (Appleseed)

Charlie Haden- La Pasionaria

Ballad of the Fallen (ECM)

Next week: Songs I’ve Heard Leon Redbone Sing.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday January 18, 2022: Songs of Leonard Cohen – The Middle Years

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/595/54885.html

Theme: Songs of Leonard Cohen – The Middle Years

This edition of Stranger Songs was inspired by the book, Leonard Cohen Untold Stories: From This Broken Hill by Michael Posner, the second of what will be three volumes of Leonard Cohen’s untold stories. From This Broken Hill covers Leonard Cohen’s life from the early-1970s until the late-1980s and the songs of Leonard Cohen on this show were written during that period.

Colleen Rennison- Why Don’t You Try
See the Sky About to Rain (Black Hen)
Holly Near- A Singer Must Die
2018 (Calico Tracks Music)
Leonard Cohen- Lover Lover Lover
New Skin for the Old Ceremony (Columbia)
Tower of Song- Chelsea House #2
In City and in Forest (Tower of Song)
Judy Collins- Take This Longing
Judy Collins Sings Leonard Cohen: Democracy (Elektra/Rhino)
Rufus Wainwright & Amsterdam Sinfonietta- Who By Fire
Rufus Wainwright & Amsterdam Sinfonietta Live (BMG/Modern)

Perla Batalla- Came So Far for Beauty
Bird on the Wire: The Songs of Leonard Cohen (Mechuda Music)
Leonard Cohen- The Window
Recent Songs (Columbia)
Emmylou Harris- Ballad of a Runaway Horse (Ballad of the Absent Mare)
Cowgirl’s Prayer (Asylum)

The Klezmer Conservatory Band- Dance Me to the End of Love
Dance Me to the End of Love (Rounder)
The Once- Coming Back to You
The Once (Borealis)
Jennifer Warnes- Night Comes On
Famous Blue Raincoat: The Songs of Leonard Cohen – 20th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)
Leonard Cohen- The Captain
Various Positions (Columbia)
SONiA disappear fear- Hallelujah
By My Silence (Disappear Records)

Jamie O'Reilly & Michael Smith- Song of Bernadette
Songs of a Catholic Childhood (J. O’Reilly Productions)

Mad Pudding- First We Take Manhattan
Grand Hotel (Sliced Bread)
Leonard Cohen- I’m Your Man
I’m Your Man (Columbia)
Tom Russell- Tower of Song
Selections from Love & Fear plus bonus out-takes (HighTone)

Canadian Brass- Hallelujah
Canadiana (Linus/Canadian Brass)

Next week: London, Longing for Home.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday March 16, 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 #6 – was prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/51230.html

 

Theme: Irish and Irish-inspired songs

The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem- Come By the Hills
The Bold Fenian Men (Columbia)

Moore & McGregor- The Fields of Athenry
Dream with Me (Ivernia)
Brendan Nolan- The Forty Shades of Green
Live at the Side Door (Ould Segosha)
Kirk MacGeachy & David Gossage- The Irish Rover
The Shroud of Erin (Kirk MacGeachy & David Gossage)

Doug McArthur- The Morning I Left Galway
The Horses of the Sea: A Personal Exploration of Ireland (Doug McArthur)
Maria Dunn- From Dublin with Love
Joyful Banner Blazing (Distant Whisper)

Alana & Leigh Cline- The Kerry Lassie Medley: Mother and Child/The Monaghan Twig/The Basket of Oysters/The Kerry Lassie
Alana & Leigh Cline (Scimitar)

Marty Morrissey- Kilkelly
The Ancient Ground (Marty Morrissey)
Highland Weavers- The Star of the County Down
Work O’ The Weavers (Highland Weavers)
Tim Henderson- No Irish Need Apply
Among the Best (Snake Hollow Music)
Ian & Sylvia- Little Beggarman
The Lost Tapes (Stony Plain)

Jack Hardy- Willie Goggin’s Hat
The Passing (Prime CD)
Runa- The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Live (Runa)
The Irish Rovers- The Black Velvet Band
The Best of the Irish Rovers (MCA)
Tara O'Grady- Wild Rover
Black Irish (Tara O’Grady)

Susan McKeown & Lorin Sklamberg- Oakum
Saints & Tzadiks (World Village)
The Dubliners- The Auld Triangle
Spirit of the Irish: The Ultimate Collection (Sanctuary)
The Burns Sisters- From Clare to Here
Looking Back: Our Irish American Souls (Sisters Music)
Makem & Spain- Nae Awa’ to Bide Awa’
Four Pounds a Day (New Folk)

Jamie O'Reilly & The Rogues- Cockles and Mussels
A Collection of Rogues’ Recordings (J. O’Reilly Productions)
The Pogues- Sally Maclennane
Rum, Sodomy & the Lash (WEA)
Stephen Mendel- The Parting Glass
Sing Me a Story (Stephen Mendel)

Kevin Burke's Open House- Paddy the Caffler/Glen Cottage Polka/Tolka Polka
Hoofandmouth (Green Linnet)

Next week – A Tribute to the late Bob Nesbitt, founder and director of the Ottawa Grassroots Festival: Songs by artists who performed at the Ottawa Grassroots Festival over the years.

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Michael Peter Smith 1941-2020

Although I’ve known for five or six weeks that this news was coming soon, I am deeply saddened today to learn that Michael Peter Smith died yesterday of colon cancer at age 78.

Let us go to the banks of the ocean
Where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee
Long ago, I used to be a young man
And dear Margaret remembers that for me

–The chorus of “The Dutchman” by Michael Smith

I was introduced to the songwriting of Michael Smith in 1972 when Steve Goodman led off Somebody Else’s Troubles, his second LP, with Michael’s song, “The Dutchman.” The song stunned me with its lyrical and melodic beauty and with how deeply the depth of the Dutchman’s character and his dementia was compassionately revealed. In 1973, when Steve did a four or five-night gig in Montreal, I got to spend some time with him and he told me a little about Michael and did several more of his great songs.

Many years later, probably sometime around the turn of this century, the great songwriter Tom Russell and I were talking about songs and songwriters and we both picked “The Dutchman” as an all-time favorite song. Tom later recorded a great version of “The Dutchman” on his 2003 album, Modern Art.

It was at some folk festival somewhere in the mid-1980s – I went to a lot of festivals in those days – that I first met Michael and saw him perform. I do recall that it was my late close friend Bruce Kaplan, the founder of Flying Fish Records in Chicago, who introduced us around the time that Michael made his first Flying Fish album. Michael was a riveting performer on stage – then and every time I saw him.

I didn’t get many chances to spend time with Michael – maybe a half-dozen or so times over the years – but I think of several occasions in recent years that I so enjoyed his company and being in his audience. In 2003, Michael came to the Champlain Valley Folk Festival in Vermont as part of Fourtold – a group he formed with Anne Hills, Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen – where I was one of the MCs. I was thrilled to have Michael participate in the songwriters’ workshop I hosted annually for seven years at Champlain Valley.

In 2005, when the Folk Alliance International conference was held in Montreal, I invited several performers from the conference to perform live on my Folk Roots/Folk Branches show on CKUT and one of my most cherished radio memories is of Michael and Anne Hills singing their beautiful duet version of “The Dutchman” while I sat two or three feet away in the studio.

Our most recent in-person visit was in December 2014 when Sylvie and I were on vacation on the Gulf Coast in Florida and Michael was doing a Sunday afternoon concert in Tampa, about a 40-minute drive from where we were. The concert was superb and it was great to spend some time with him before and after the show. I treasure the photo – which I call “Michaels with Folded Arms” – that Sylvie took during our visit that day.

Sadly, Michael’s passing comes less than six months after Barbara Barrow, his wife of 52 years and frequent singing partner, died from complications of Parkinson’s disease.

During his final weeks in hospice, Michael was cared for by Jamie O’Reilly, his long-time agent and musical collaborator, and by Anne Hills. On Facebook today, Jamie said Michael made this statement 13 days ago: “And then I realized my life was totally complete and everything I asked for in my life was there. Was there for me. And I felt so grateful. I felt so grateful. I had a wonderful true-life adventure.”

I always include an extended feature when I host the Saturday Morning show on CKCU in Ottawa every fourth week and on June 22, 2019 the feature was “Songs of Michael Smith” – 15 of his songs performed by Michael and a bunch of other artists. You can stream the show by clicking on “LISTEN NOW” at this link.

Michael left us with so many great songs and recordings. I don’t imagine that I will ever stop listening to them or stop playing them on my future radio shows. One of his songs I’ll be playing when I next host the Saturday Morning show on August 15 is “We Become Birds.”

 

Do you see birds on trees
How they leave to get a drink or a bite to eat
Fly away and others follow

 

And the whole day goes by
Birds and more birds
We become birds when we die
We fly away but we come back
We become birds when we die

 

When you're put here it's for a reason
Think of all the people the Lord hasn't sent here
I'm so happy I've been given this time here
Don't want to waste my time on this earth

 

And the whole day goes by
Birds and more birds
We become birds when we die
We fly away but we come back
We become birds when we die

 

He won't hand you
A piece of paper with a map on it no sir
He'll whisper something
And at first you might not even hear
It may take time
You may make mistakes
But if you pray
He'll lead you to your direction

 

And the whole day goes by
Birds and more birds
We become birds when we die
We fly away but we come back
We become birds when we die

I know because sometimes I just want to
Lift off
Go right to the mesa and
Have a feast
Eat our bread
Stand in a circle
Hear my grandmother talk about our people

Although I’ve never been one to believe in such things as reincarnation, I do imagine that Michael Smith must now be a bird, perhaps singing on “the banks of the ocean where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee.”

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

–Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday June 22, 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/128/43530.html

David Newland- No Way to Stay Warm

Northbound: The Northwest Passage in Story and Song (David Newland)

The Afro-Métis Nation (featuring Russ Kelley)- It’s a Wonder

Constitution (The Afro-Métis Nation)

Our Native Daughters (featuring Allison Russell w/Rhiannon Giddens & Leyla McCalla)- You’re Not Alone

Songs of Our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways)

Rising Appalachia- Sassafras

Leylines (Rising Appalachia)

Joel Rafael- Glory Bound

Rose Avenue (Inside)

Brooksie Wells- Maybe Not

In My Pocket (Down Home Diva)

Jay Linden- It’s a Crooked Train

Under the Radar (Jay Linden)

Tom Mitchell- Eastern Beer

1976 live recording – used with permission

Steve Howell & Jason Weinheimer- There’ll Be Some Changes Made

History Rhymes (Out of the Past Music)

Tom Russell- Small Engine Repair

October in the Railroad Earth (Frontera)

Jamie Andersen- Man in Black

The Truth Appears (Tsunami)

Crowes Pasture- Slow It Down

Slow It Down (Crowes Pasture)

The Lark and the Loon- Take the Stairs

2 (Jeff Rolfzen & Rocky Steen-Rolfzen)

Old Man Luedecke- Wake Up Call

Easy Money (True North)

Extended feature: Songs of Michael Smith – the next 15 songs were written by Michael Smith.

Steve Goodman- Roving Cowboy (Ballad of Dan Moody)

Words We Can Dance To (Red Pajamas)

Claudia Schmidt & Betsy Redhed- Spoon River

Claudia Schmidt (Flying Fish)

Anne Hills- Rondi’s Birthday

October Child (Flying Fish)

Michael Smith- The Ballad of Elizabeth Dark

Such Things are Finely Done (Tales from the Tavern)

Mike Regenstreif & Michael Smith in Tampa (2014)

Jamie O'Reilly- Waving to Picasso

Swimming Deeper (Bird Avenue Publishing)

Tom Rush- Hobo’s Mandolin (This Here Mandolin)

Ladies Love Outlaws (Columbia)

Bonnie Koloc- Crazy Mary

Timeless (Mr. Biscuit)

Michael Smith- Sister Clarissa

Such Things are Finely Done (Tales from the Tavern)

Fourtold- Panther in Michigan

Fourtold (Appleseed)

Skyline with Tony Trischka- Stranded in the Moonlight

Ticket Back: A Retrospective (Flying Fish)

Michael Smith- Coffeehouse Days

Michael Margaret Pat & Kate (Wind River)

Barbara Barrow- A Real Good One

Remembering Fred: A Tribute to Fred Holstein (The Remembering Fred Group)

Small Potatoes- I Brought My Father with Me

Time Flies (Folk Era)

John Gorka- The Dutchman

So Dark You See (Red House)

Michael Smith- Such Things are Finely Done

Such Things are Finely Done (Tales from the Tavern)

Judy Collins- Suzanne

Judy Collins Sings Leonard Cohen: Democracy (Elektra/Rhino)

Steel Rail- Wooden Ships

River Song (Crossties)

Jesse Winchester- I Wave Bye Bye

Gentleman of Leisure (Sugar Hill)

Susan Werner- The Night I Ate New Orleans

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

Victor Mecyssne (Victor Anthony)- Going to New Orleans

Hush Money (Sweetfish)

Jennifer Warnes- I Am the Big Easy

Another Time, Another Place (BMG)

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee- Rock Island Line

Blues Masters, Vol. 5 (Storyville)

Stephen Barry Band- Poor Boy

Live (Fix it in the Mix Music)

Stephen Barry Band- Crazy Man

Live (Fix it in the Mix Music)

J. Reissner- Rocks Have Been My Pillow

Fallen Star (J. Reissner)

Stephen Barry Band- Pickin’ the Blues

Live (Fix it in the Mix Music)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on July 20.

Find me on Twitter. @MikeRegenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif