Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – February 22, 2025

Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa on Saturday mornings from 7 until 10 am (Eastern time) and available for on-demand streaming anytime. I am one of the four rotating hosts of the Saturday Morning show. 

This episode of Saturday Morning was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/69061.html

Humphrey & The Dumptrucks- Merry Mansion Quadrology: Merry Mansion; Magician; Front Door; Red White & Blue

Six Days of Paper Ladies (Boot)

Boreal- Song for a Winter’s Night

Winterbirds (Boreal)

Mike Regenstreif & Lynn Miles (2013)

Lynn Miles- Just Let It Snow

Winter (Lynn Miles)

Steel Rail- A Thousand Miles of Snow

A Thousand Miles of Snow (Crossties)

Rosalie Sorrels & Mike Regenstreif (1993)

Rosalie Sorrels- Snowing On Raton

Borderline Heart (Green Linnet)

Ronney Abramson & Mike Regenstreif (2016)

Ronney Abramson- Long Lonely Winter

Stowaway (Castor Island Music)

Laurie MacAllister & David Glaser- Birches

The Lies the Poets Tell (Laurie MacAllister)

Mike Regenstreif & Bill Morrissey (2005)

Bill Morrissey- Ice Fishing

North (Philo)

Joel Mabus & Mike Regenstreif (2001)

Joel Mabus- Five Kinds of Snow

Promised Land (Fossil)

Herdman, Hills & Mangsen- The Druggist

At the Turning of the Year (Hand & Heart Music)

The Roches- My Winter Coat

Where Do I Come From: Selected Songs (StorySound)

Crys Matthews- In Her House

Reclamation (Crys Matthews)

Bradstreet & Keesee- The Land Beyond

Live in London (Street)

Kim Beggs- Miles & Miles Away

Beneath Your Skin (Out of a Paperbag Productions)

Cindy Kallet- Ride in the Light

Ride in the Light (Sleepy Creek Music)

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis & Karine Polwart- Send Love

Looking for the Thread (Lambent Light/Thirty Tigers)

In memory of John Roberts (1944-2025)

John Roberts- Rambleaway

Spencer the Rover is Alive and Well… (Swallowtail)

John Roberts & Tony Barrand- We Have Fed Our Sea

Naulakha Redux: Songs of Rudyard Kipling (Golden Hind Music)

John Roberts & Debra Cowan- Drive Dull Care Away

Ballads Long & Short: The Best of Every Sort (Golden Hind Music)

John Roberts & Tony Barrand- Row On

Twiddlum Twaddlum (Golden Hind Music)

Rosanne Cash- My Old Man

Rhythm & Romance (Columbia)

Rhiannon Giddens- Up Above My Head

Tomorrow is My Turn (Nonesuch)

Laura Cortese- Into the Dark

Into the Dark (Laura Cortese)

Roy Zimmerman- Big Yellow Taxi

Road Map (Roy Zimmerman)

Tim Grimm- Broken Truth 

Broken Truth – single (Vault) 

Ian Robb & James Stephens- God and The Orange Clown

Declining …with thanks (Fallen Angle Music)

Lemon Bucket Orkestra- Da Ishly Divky

Cuckoo (Lemon Bucket Orkestra)

Alice Howe & Freebo- A Case of You

Live (Know Howe Music)

Perla Batalla- A Thousand Kisses Deep

A Letter to Leonard Cohen: Tribute to a Friend (Mechuda Music)

Orit Shimoni- My Flying Shoes

Lorem Ipsum (Orit Shimoni)

Lisa Gutkin- For All of You

From Here On In (Lisa Gutkin)

The Twangtown Paramours- Old Friends

The Wind will Change Again (Inside Edge)

NEeMA with Emmylou Harris- For You

Painting My Wall Gold (Neemaste Productions)

John McCutcheon with Windborne- Blessing

Field of Stars (Appalsongs)

Jim Brewer- Corrina, Corrina

Take It Easy Greasy (Earwig/Riverlark Music)

Odetta- Rock Island Line

Lookin’ for a Home: Thanks to Leadbelly (M.C.)

Guy Davis & Mike Regenstreif (2006)

Guy Davis- Don’t Know Where I’m Bound

The Legend of Sugarbelly (M.C.)

Fabrizio Poggi with Shar White- I Want Jesus to Walk with Me

Healing Blues (Appaloosa)

Mike Regenstreif & Priscilla Herdman (2000)

Priscilla Herdman- Waltzing with Bears

Stardreamer (Alacazam)

Natalie Merchant with The Klezmatics- The Dancing Bear

Leave Your Sleep (Nonesuch)

Dave Van Ronk- Teddy Bears’ Picnic

Songs for Ageing Children (Cadet)

Jenny Scheinman- Every Bear That Ever There Was

All Species Parade (Royal Potato Family)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on March 22. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday February 15, 2022: Part 1 – Remembering Tony Barrand and Norma Waterson; Part 2 – Love Songs

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/595/55205.html

Themes: Part 1 – Remembering Tony Barrand and Norma Waterson; Part 2 – Love Songs

In memory of Tony Barrand (1945-2022)

John Roberts & Tony Barrand- Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy
A Present from the Gentlemen (Golden Hind Music)
John Roberts & Tony Barrand- A Smuggler’s Song
A Present from the Gentlemen (Golden Hind Music)
John Roberts & Tony Barrand- A Pilgrim’s Way
Twiddlum Twaddlum (Golden Hind Music)

In memory of Norma Waterson (1939-2022)

The Watersons- I am a Rover
Troubadours of British Folk, Volume 1 (Rhino)
Waterson:Carthy- Polly’s Love
Common Tongue (Topic)
Norma Waterson- Black Muddy River
Norma Waterson (Hannibal)

Love Songs

Dave Van Ronk- Another Time and Place
Down in Washington Square (Smithsonian Folkways)
Reggie Harris & Colleen Kattau- Maybe It’s Love
On Solid Ground (Reggie Harris Music)
Steel Rail- Once in a While
Coming Home (Crossties)
Quartette- First Love Waltz
Rocks and Roses (Outside Music)

Miranda Mulholland- Heart Like a Wheel
By Appointment or Chance (Roaring Girl)
Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Foolish You
Tell My Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Nonesuch)
Chaim Tannenbaum- (Talk to Me of) Mendocino
Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)

Tom Russell & Mike Regenstreif (2018)

Eliza Gilkyson- Don’t Stop Lovin’ Me
Songs from the River Wind (Howlin’ Dog)
Tom Russell & The Norwegian Wind Ensemble- Finding You
Aztec Jazz (Frontera)
HuDost- Deliverance
Anthems of Home (HuDost Music)
Bruce Cockburn- Anything Anytime Anywhere
Greatest Hits (1970-2020) (True North)

Annabelle Chvostek- Dance Me to the End of Love
Dance Me to the End of Love – single (Annabelle Chvostek)
Nina Simone- Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair
Nina Simone for Lovers: Deluxe Edition (Verve)
The Twangtown Paramours- Anyone But You
Double Down on a Bad Thing (Inside Edge)
Josie Bello- Love That’s Real
Resilience (Josie Bello)

Next week: Songs of Fats Waller

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

John Roberts & Debra Cowan – Ballads Long & Short: The Best of Every Kind

JOHN ROBERTS & DEBRA COWAN

Ballads Long & Short: The Best of Every Kind

Golden Hind Music

goldenhindmusic.com

John Roberts, who moved from England to the United States in the 1960s, has long been known for his fine performances and recordings of traditional folksongs – primarily in a duo with fellow British expatriate Tony Barrand. It was at least 45 years ago that I first encountered John and Tony and have seen them often over the decades (and John occasionally as a solo artist).

Debra Cowan is an American singer of traditional songs I first encountered much more recently – maybe 15 years ago. Ballads Long & Short: The Best of Every Kind is the first recorded result of an occasional partnership of John and Debra that began when they booked some split billed concerts together in 2009 and discovered they enjoyed singing together.

The focus on this album – as you might gather from both the album title and past work of both artists – is on traditional balladry (in folk music a ballad is a story song as opposed to a jazz or pop ballad which is any song played slowly or quietly); even the occasional song with a credited writer sounds like a traditional ballad. The approach, too, is very traditional with some of the songs performed a cappella and John’s banjo or concertina as the only instrumentation on most of the others. The only additional musician is Bill Cooley who adds a lovely guitar accompaniment to “Fair Annie.”

Most tracks feature either John or Debra singing together or one or the other singing lead with the other adding a harmony vocal.

The album opens with a nice duet on “Drive Dull Care Away,” a traditional song collected in Prince Edward Island, with a message about how eternity evens out the results for the rich and the poor.

Among the highlights of the songs featuring John are “The Tailor’s Breeches,” a cautionary tale about what can happen when too much wine dulls the senses in the presence of a woman who might be up to no good; and “Jim Jones,” an Australian convict’s ballad.

Debra shines on the lovely “Fair Annie,” the album’s longest ballad; and on Chris Sugden’s “Combing the Mane,” a faux-pirate ballad set on the Spanish Mane that’s a lot of fun.

Other’s I particularly enjoyed include “Gypsum Davy,” a variant of the familiar “Gypsy Laddie” or “Gypsy Davy” ballad; and “Anderson’s Coast,” another Australian song.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif