Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – July 22, 2025: Flood Water

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/595/71197.html

Theme: Flood Water.

There have always been floods but, with climate change, they’re happening more often and in more places. I began to think about this theme earlier this month as I watched the news coverage about the tragic floods in Texas.

Eric Bibb- Flood Water

Booker’s Guitar (Telarc)

Roomful of Blues- Texas Flood

The First Album (Hyena)

Josh White- Backwater Blues

Empty Bed Blues (Elektra)

Guy Davis- Georgia Flood

You Don’t Know My Mind (Red House)

Big Bill Broonzy- Southern Flood Blues

Big Bill’s Blues (Portrait)

Michael Jerome Browne- Louisiana 1927

That’s Where It’s At! (Borealis)

Joan Baez- Money for Floods

Gone from Danger (Guardian)

The Fairfield Four- Noah

I Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray (Warner Bros.)

Joel Mabus- The Preacher & the Flood

Retold (Fossil)

Murray McLauchlan- Red River Flood

Songs from the Street: The Best of Murray McLauchlan (True North)

Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley- Manitoba Flood

Scrap Metal Blues (Electro-Fi)

Johnny Cash- Five Feet High and Rising

Change of Address: The Singles As and Bs, 1958-1962 (Jasmine)

Tom Russell & Iris DeMent- Big Water

The Long Way Around (HighTone)

Ramblin' Jack Elliott- Rising High Water Blues

A Stranger Here (Anti-)

Martin Grosswendt- Mississippi Heavy Water Blues

Call and Response (Les Moore Productions)

Bill Staines- Louisiana Storm

The Second Million Miles (Red House)

John McCutcheon- Hell and High Water

Field of Stars (Appalsongs)

Muireann Bradleu- When the Levee Breaks

I Kept These Old Blues (Decca/Verve Forecast)

Happy Traum- Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood)

Just for the Love of It (Lark’s Nest Music)

Joe Ely- A Flood On Our Hands

Streets of Sin (Rounder)

Michael Jerling- After the Flood

Halfway Home (Fool’s Hill Music)

Tom Rush, Jamie Hartford, Odetta, Emmylou Harris, Carolyn Hester, Nanci Griffith & Frank Christian- Wasn’t That a Mighty Storm

Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) (Elektra)

Next week: Remembering Robert Resnik (1953-2025).

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – January 7, 2025: Remembering Josh White, Jr. , Alan Senauke and David Mallett

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/595/68479.html

Theme: Remembering Josh White, Jr. (1940-2024), Alan Senauke (1947-2024) and David Mallett (1951-2024).

The theme on this edition of Stranger Songs is Remembering Josh White Jr., Alan Senauke and David Mallett, three old friends who passed away last month. I’d known all three of them since the 1970s and all of them had played at the Golem, the Montreal folk club I ran in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Josh White, Jr. died on December 28 at age 84. Josh – who was affectionately known as Donny off stage – began his career at age 4 when his father, Josh White, the legendary blues and folk singer and guitarist, began bringing the young boy up on stage to perform a song or two with him. Josh White Jr. had a remarkable career that literally spanned 80 years. Josh was a wonderful performer of folk and blues material and a masterful interpreter of his father’s repertoire.

Josh White, Jr.- Say a Prayer for a Stranger

Live at the Raven Gallery (Silverwolf)

Josh White, Jr.- The Dutchman

Live at the Raven Gallery (Silverwolf)

Josh White, Jr.- It’s Chilly Out Tonight

Live at the Raven Gallery (Silverwolf)

Josh White, Jr.- Cortelia Clark

Cortelia Clark (Silverwolf)

Josh White, Jr.- One Meatball

Live at the Raven Gallery (Silverwolf)

Josh White, Jr. & Robin Batteau- St. James Infirmary

Jazz, Ballads & Blues (Ryko)

I first met Alan Senauke – who died on December 22 at age 77 – in the late-1970s when he was the editor of Sing Out, the authoritative folk music magazine, and performing with Howie Tarnower as The Fiction Brothers. He was also a member of several other groups including The Blue Flame Stringband – with Kate Brislin and Suzy & Eric Thompson – and a solo artist.

Country Cooking with The Fiction Brothers- The Harder They Come

Country Cooking with The Fiction Brothers (Flying Fish)

Country Cooking with The Fiction Brothers- Joe Hill’s Will

Country Cooking with The Fiction Brothers (Flying Fish)

Alan Senauke- Wise County Jail

Wooden Man: Old Songs from the Southern School (Native and Fine)

Alan Senauke- Meeting is Over

Wooden Man: Old Songs from the Southern School (Native and Fine)

Blue Flame String Band- Blues Stay Away from Me

Blue Flame String Band (Flying Fish)

David Mallett was a gifted singer and songwriter from Maine who died on December 17 at age 73. In addition to his own recordings and performances, David’s songs were widely sung and recorded by many other artists.

David Mallett- Fire

Inches & Miles 1977-1980 (Flying Fish)

Peter, Paul & Mary- Garden Song

Around the Campfire (Warner Bros.)

Miscellaney of Folk- Moon Upon the Left

Atlantic Sounds (Miscellaney of Folk)

Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy- Ballad of St. Anne’s Reel

The Makem & Clancy Collection (Shanachie)

David Mallett- Dulcimer

Inches & Miles 1977-1980 (Flying Fish)

David Mallett- Open Doors & Windows

Open Doors & Windows (Flying Fish)

Kathy Mattea- Summer of My Dreams

Time Passes By (Mercury)

Priscilla Herdman- Thanks to Mother Mercy

Seasons of Change (Flying Fish)

David Mallett- Hope for One and All

…In the Falling Dark (Vanguard)

Next week: Remembering Peter Yarrow.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – February 6, 2024: A Tribute to Odetta

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/595/63807.html

Theme: A Tribute to Odetta (1930-2008).

Odetta, the magnificent and highly influential African American folk and blues singer, who died in 2008 at the age of 77, was born Odetta Holmes in Birmingham, Alabama. She originally trained to be an opera singer and her earliest professional jobs were in musical theatre. In 1949, while singing in the touring company of Finian’s Rainbow, she met some folksingers and fell in love with the genre. From then on, she turned her attention to folk and blues, performing concerts and recording prolifically starting in the mid-1950s.

I met Odetta for the first time in 1977 in the hallway of the hotel we were staying at during the Philadelphia Folk Festival. I was there with Priscilla Herdman, who knew Odetta, and when she introduced us, Odetta gave me one of her big hugs. In the 1980s, I brought Odetta to The Golem, the folk club I ran in Montreal, numerous times.

Odetta, pianist Dave Keyes & Mike Regenstreif (2008)

The last time I got to work with Odetta was when I hosted a workshop with her at the 2008 Ottawa Folk Festival, just a few months before she passed away. I was deeply honored when she told me that my friendship over the years meant a lot to her.

All of the songs on this show were from Odetta’s repertoire.

Odetta- Stranger Here

Sometimes I Feel Like Cryin’ (RCA)

Lead Belly with The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet- Alabama Bound

Take This Hammer – When the Sun Goes Down, Vol. 5 (Bluebird)

Bessie Smith- Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out

Bessie Smith: The Absolutely Essential 3 CD Collection (Big3)

Josh White- House of the Rising Sun

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

Odetta- Roberta

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

Odetta- Freedom Trilogy: Oh Freedom/Come & Go with Me/I’m On My Way

Gonna Let It Shine (M.C.)

Gina Coleman- Glory Glory

Tell Me Who You Are: A Live Tribute to Odetta (Guitar One) 

Kim & Reggie Harris- Wade in the Water

Steal Away: Songs of the Underground Railroad (Appleseed)

Odetta- Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

Odetta at Carnegie Hall (Vanguard)

Bob Dylan- No More Auction Block

The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 [Rare & Unreleased] 1961-1991 (Columbia)

Odetta- Blowin’ in the Wind

Odetta Sings Dylan (RCA)

Chaim Tannenbaum- Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos

Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)

Rhiannon Giddens- Waterboy

Tomorrow is My Turn (Nonesuch)

Sweet Honey in the Rock- The Midnight Special

A Tribute: Live! Jazz at Lincoln Centre (Appleseed)

Coco Love Alcorn- This Little Light of Mine

Rebirth (Coco Love Alcorn)

Odetta & The Holmes Brothers- Down By the Riverside

Gonna Let It Shine (M.C.)

Tom Jones- Hit or Miss

Spirit in the Room (Island)

Penny Lang- Careless Love

Stone + Sand + Sea + Sky (Borealis)

Misty Blues- Go Down, Sunshine

Tell Me Who You Are: A Live Tribute to Odetta (Guitar One) 

Odetta & Dr. John- Oh Papa

Blues Everywhere I Go (M.C.)

Odetta- Goodnight Irene

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

Next week: A Tribute Jelly Roll Morton on Mardi Gras Day.

--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 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.

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/595/58052.html

Theme: Songs of Yip Harburg (1896-1981) and Hoagy Carmichael (1899-1981).

Part 1 – Songs of Yip Harburg. E.Y. “Yip” Harburg – who died in 1981 at age 84 – was a lyricist who collaborated with several composers. This show includes some of Harburg’s collaborations with Jay Gorney, Harold Arlen, Earl Robinson and Burton Lane.

Yip Harburg (circa 1950)

Deborah Holland- Brother, Can You Spare a Dime

The Panic is On: Songs from the Great Depression (Gadfly)

Ella Fitzgerald- Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is Dead

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook (Verve)

Stephen Mendel- If I Only had a Brain

Sing Me a Story (Stephen Mendel)

Ian Tyson- Somewhere Over the Rainbow

All the Good ’Uns Vol. 2 (Stony Plain)

The Juggernauts- Lydia, the Tattooed Lady

Live Lunch (The Juggernauts)

Chaim Tannenbaum- It’s Only a Paper Moon

Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)

Josh White- Free and Equal Blues

From New York to London: The Classic Recordings (Jasmine)

Happy Traum- How are Things in Glocca Morra?

There’s a Bright Side Somewhere (Lark’s Nest Music)

Part 2 – Songs of Hoagy Carmichael. Hoagland Howard “Hoagy” Carmichael – who died in 1981 at age 82 – was among the most successful songwriters of the Tin Pan Alley era.

Hoagy Carmichael (1947)

Ray Charles- Georgia on My Mind

Singular Genius: The Complete ABC Singles (Concord)

Jane Voss & Hoyle Osborne- Bread and Gravy

Beyond the Boundaries (Ripple)

Amos Garrett- New Orleans

Amosbehavin’ (Stony Plain)

Maria Muldaur with Hoagy Carmichael- Rockin’ Chair

Sweet Harmony (Reprise)

David Clayton-Thomas- Stardust

Combo (Antionette)

Dave Van Ronk & Christine Lavin- Two Sleepy People

Hummin’ to Myself (Gazell)

Martha Seyler & Robert Resnik- Skylark

Martha Sings & Robert Plays (Martha Seyler & Robert Resnik)

Cindy Church, George Koller & Joe Sealy- I Get Along Without You Very Well

The Nearness of You: A Tribute to the Music of Hoagy Carmichael (Seajam)

Judy Henske- Baltimore Oriole

The Elektra Albums (Ace)

Loudon Wainwright III with Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks- Heart and Soul

I’d Rather Lead a Band (Search Party) 

Jeff Healey- Hong Kong Blues

The Best of the Stony Plain Years: Vintage Jazz, Swing and Blues (Stony Plain)

Junior Brown- Riverboat Shuffle

Mixed Bag (Curb)

Hoagy Carmichael- Lazybones

Stardust Melody (Bluebird)

Leon Redbone- Lazy River

Up a Lazy River (Rounder)

Geoff Muldaur & Amos Garrett- Washboard Blues

Geoff Muldaur & Amos Garrett (Flying Fish)

Cindy Church, George Koller & Joe Sealy- In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening

The Nearness of You: A Tribute to the Music of Hoagy Carmichael (Seajam)

Next week: Radio.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Eric Bibb & JJ Milteau – Lead Belly’s Gold

ERIC BIBB & JJ MILTEAU

Lead Belly’s Gold

Stony Plain Records

ericbibb.com

Lead Belly (Huddie Ledbetter, 1888-1949) was one of the most definitive and influential of all American folk and blues singers. He lived a life of a legend that included early years growing up in the Deep South at a time of intense racism and spent time in Texas and Louisiana prisons for killing two men. Legend has it that he sang his way out of prison in 1934, earning a pardon from the governor of Louisiana.

Lead Belly’s recordings from the 1930s and ‘40s, and his repertoire – songs that he wrote and traditional songs that he adapted – have been cornerstones of the folk and blues revivals from the 1930s to the present and his tremendous influence has also been felt by artists from other music genres from rock to jazz.

Pete Seeger, who was inspired by Lead Belly to play 12-string guitar, once told me that the greatest thing he ever did in music was to help spread the songs of Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie after they could no longer do so. And I have fond memories of sitting with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee – the first musicians older than my parents who I had the chance to get to know – as they told me stories about their friends Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie. I don’t think I ever saw Pete or Sonny and Brownie do a concert that didn’t include a Lead Belly song.

Eric Bibb is one of my favorite contemporary folk and blues artists and I’ve written about many of his terrific albums over the years. As the son of the late Leon Bibb, an acclaimed singer and actor who passed away last month at age 93, Eric grew up in a musical milieu in New York City in which Lead Belly songs would have been familiar to him virtually from birth. Now, Eric, who has lived most of his adult life in Europe, has teamed with French harmonica player Jean-Jacques (JJ) Milteau to record Lead Belly’s Gold, a magnificent collection of 13 songs from Lead Belly’s repertoire and three original songs written and sung from what they imagine to be Lead Belly’s perspective. The first 11 tracks were recorded in concert at the Sunset, a Paris jazz club, while the other five are studio recordings.

Each of the Lead Belly songs is a well-known classic, and even though I’ve heard each of them countless times over many decades, they all sound fresh and contemporary thanks to Eric and JJ’s outstanding performances.

Some of these renditions, notably the allegorical “Grey Goose” and the topical “Bourgeois Blues, are incredibly powerful. Some others, like “Bring a Little Water, Sylvie,” “Midnight Special,” “Pick a Bale of Cotton,” “Titanic” and “Rock Island Line,” are completely infectious.

Among my other favorites are the haunting renditions of “House of the Rising Sun” and “Where Did You Sleep Last Night.”

Lead Belly

All three of the original songs – two written by Eric and one by Eric and JJ – are also excellent. “When I Get to Dallas,” is sung from the perspective of the young Lead Belly en route there to be a street singer. In “Chauffeur Blues,” which very appropriately follows “Bourgeois Blues,” Eric imagines how Lead Belly might look back at the indignity of being a servant for exploitative folklorist John Lomax after his parole. And, in “Swimmin’ in a River of Songs,” the album’s finale, Eric imagines Lead Belly looking back at some of the memorable events of his life, all experienced while “swimmin’ in a river of songs.”

As always, Eric’s singing and guitar playing is brilliant throughout and he is ably assisted by JJ’s fine harmonica playing and Larry Crockett’s drums and percussion. Gilles Michel plays bass on several songs while Michael Jerome Browne is on 12-string guitar and mandolin on “Swimmin’ in a River of Songs.” Michael Robinson and/or Big Daddy Wilson's backing vocals are heard on several songs. Wilson’s singing reminds me of Sam Gary’s singing with Josh White.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif