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.

CKCU can be heard live at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and 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/595/58976.html

Theme: Remembering Ian Tyson (1933-2022).

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. 

Two of the songs on the show were inspired by Ian Tyson, the rest were written, or co-written, by him.

Ian & Sylvia- Four Strong Winds

Four Strong Winds (Vanguard)

Fourtold- Four Rode By

Fourtold (Appleseed)

Judy Collins- Someday Soon

Who Knows Where the Time Goes (Elektra)

Bill Garrett- Red Velvet

Bill Garrett (Borealis)

Tom Russell- Short Grass

Play One More: The Songs of Ian & Sylvia (True North)

Bill Staines- The French Girl

Beneath Some Lucky Star (Red House)

Ian & Sylvia- Lonely Girls

Play One More (Vanguard)

“The Cowboy and the Umbrella” was written by Kim Wallach. In the liner notes to “Chatter of the Finches,” Kim writes that the song is “a fictionalized account of watching Ian Tyson judge the Kerrville Folk Festival in the ‘80s. I moved the setting to the bar at YO Ranch Hilton.”

Kim Wallach- The Cowboy and the Umbrella

Chatter of the Finches (Black Socks Press)

Wanda Fischer- Friends of Mine

Singing Along with the Radio (Wanda Fischer)

Tom Russell- Play One More

Play One More: The Songs of Ian & Sylvia (True North)

Anne Hills & Jan Burda- Wild Geese

Don’t Panic (Flying Fish)

Bill Morrissey & Greg Brown- Summer Wages

Friend of Mine (Philo)

Ian & Sylvia- Long Long Time to Get Old

Great Speckled Bird (Stony Plain)

Ian Tyson- Cowboys Don’t Cry

I Outgrew the Wagon (Stony Plain)

David Rea- The Gift

X 7 (Gitsu)

Ramblin' Jack Elliott- Will James

South Coast (Red House)

Michael Martin Murphey- Cowboy Pride

Cowboy Songs (Warner Bros.)

Corb Lund- Road to Las Cruces

Songs My Friends Wrote (New West)

Over the Moon- Moondancer

Moondancer (Over the Moon)

Ian Tyson- Lost Herd

Lost Herd (Stony Plain)

“I’ll Never Leave These Old Horses” was written by Tom Russell, a frequent songwriting collaborator of Ian Tyson’s. It was inspired by a conversation Tom had with Ian.

Tom Russell- I’ll Never Leave These Old Horses

Folk Hotel (Frontera)

Tom Russell & Ian Tyson- Navajo Rug

Cowboy’d All to Hell (Frontera)

Ian Tyson- Wolves No Longer Sing

Carnero Vaquero (Stony Plain)

Ian Tyson- ‘Til the Circle is Through

All the Good’Uns (Stony Plain)

Next week: Songs and Conversation with Shelley Posen.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday May 17, 2022: These Songs are for the Birds

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/595/56250.html

Theme: These Songs are for the Birds.

Some of these songs are literal in their avian imagery. Some are metaphorical.

Bruce Cockburn- For the Birds
Sunwheel Dance: Deluxe Edition (True North)

Mike Regenstreif & Marc Nerenberg (2009)

Mike Stevens & Polly Harris- Like a Little Bird
Breathe In the World Breathe Out Music (Stony Plain)
Don Armstrong- Hey Little Bird
Mother Don’t Give Up on Me Now (Ronstadt Record Co.)
Marc Nerenberg- Little Birdie: A Reimagined Traditional Song
Little Birdie: Birds, Beasts & Banjo Blues (Marc Nerenberg)
Happy & Artie Traum- Golden Bird
Happy and Artie Traum (Capitol)
Judy Henske- High Flying Bird
The Elektra Albums (Ace)

Lynn Miles- All the Birds
Black Flowers Vol. 4 (Lynn Miles)
Michael ‘Earnie’ Taylor- Swans Upon the Avon
Folk ‘n’ Western (Laughing Cactus Music)
Finest Kind- I Heard the Bluebird Sing
Lost in a Song (Fallen Angle)

Bill Staines- This Song is for the Birds
Third Time Around (Catfish)

Kim Wallach- Settle In (Chatter of the Finches)
Chatter of the Finches (Black Socks Press)
Vanessa Lively- I am a Skylark
Truth Is (Animada)
Martha Seyler & Robert Resnik- Skylark
Martha Sings & Robert Plays (Martha Seyler & Robert Resnik)
Perla Batalla- Cucurrucucu Paloma
Discoteca Batalla (Mechuda Music)

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer- Redwinged Blackbird
Get Up and Do Right (Community Music)
Ian Tamblyn- The Birds
Voice in the Wilderness (North Track)
Julie Felix- The Heron
Rock Me Goddess (Remarkable)
Sneezy Waters- Bird of Paradise
A Letter Home (Sneezy Waters)

Mike Regenstreif & Michael Smith (2014)

Brian QTN- To Be Done
OsculEARiosophy (Brian QTN)
Anya Hinkle- My Faithful Sparrow
Eden and Her Borderlands (Organic)
Michael Smith- We Become Birds
Love Letter on a Fish (Tales from the Tavern)

Diana Jones- Love Song to a Bird
Song to a Refugee (Goldmine)
Tom Russell- Wild Geese
Play One More: The Songs of Ian & Sylvia (True North)
Last Forever- The Nightingale’s Song
No Place Like Home/Last Forever (2nd Story Sound)

Natalie MacMaster- The Golden Eagle
Sketches (Linus)

Next week: More Songs of Bob Dylan.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday July 13, 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/595/52675.html

Theme: Songs About Refugees

Guest: Diana Jones

Moira Smiley SMILEY- Refugee
Unzip the Horizon (Moira Smiley Music)

Murray McLauchlan- Lying By the Sea (For Alan Kurdi)
Hourglass (True North)
Eric Bibb- Refugee Moan
Migration Blues (Stony Plain)
Kim Wallach- Refugee’s Lullaby
Chatter of the Finches (Black Socks Press)

Guy Davis- I’ve Looked Around
Be Ready When I Call You (M.C.)
Jabbour- Je tournais la clé
Carling Lake (Jabbour)
Eric Bogle- Refugee
At This Stage (Greentrax)

 

The next five songs punctuated my conversation with Diana Jones. The conversation was recorded on June 17 via Zoom.

Diana Jones- Song to a Refugee
Song to a Refugee (Goldmine)

Diana Jones- El Chaparral
Song to a Refugee (Goldmine)

Diana Jones, Steve Earle, Richard Thompson, Peggy Seeger & Zahara Phillips- We Believe You
Song to a Refugee (Goldmine)

Diana Jones- The Life I Left Behind
Song to a Refugee (Goldmine)

Diana Jones- The Sea is My Mother
Song to a Refugee (Goldmine)

Tom Russell- Across the Border
Appleseed’s 21st Anniversary: Roots and Branches (Appleseed)
Guy Clark- El Coyote
The Best of the Dualtone Years (Dualtone)
Los Texmaniacs with Rick Treviño- I am a Mexican
Cruzando Borders (Smithsonian Folkways)

Eric Andersen- Rain Falls Down in Amsterdam
Woodstock Under the Stars (Y&T Music)
Sultans of String featuring Ifrah Mansour- I Am a Refugee
Refuge (Sultans of String)

Sultans of String featuring Edmar Castaneda- Refuge
Refuge (Sultans of String)

Next week – Remembering Mimi Fariña

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday October 10, 2020

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 live at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and https://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web.

This episode of Saturday Morning was prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/49293.html

 

Christine Lavin- On My Way to Hooterville (pt. 1)
On My Way to Hooterville (Christine Lavin)

Tom Rush- Urge for Going
Tom Rush Celebrates 50 Years of Music (Appleseed)
Steel Rail- Winter Wren
Coming Home (Crossties)
Archie Fisher & Garnet Rogers- Waltz Into Winter
The Best Times After All: Live (Snow Goose Songs)

Sylvie Simmons- Keep Dancing
Blue on Blue (Compass)
John Fusco & The X-Road Riders- Applejack Brandy
John the Revelator (John Fusco)
Kim Wallach- Moonache and Heartlight
Chatter of the Finches (Black Socks Press)

Don Armstrong- Annabelle Teaching Her Daddy to Dance
Mother Don’t Give Up on Me Now (Ronstadt Record Co.)
Dirk Powell featuring Sara Watkins- The Little Things
When I Wait for You (Compass)
Kelly's Lot- Foolish Try
Another Sky (Kelly Zirbes)
Aaron Nathans & Michael G. Ronstadt- Carry a Tune
Shadow of the Cyclone (Aaron Nathans & Michael G. Ronstadt)

Susan Pepper- The Prettiest Bird
The Prettiest Bird (Ballad Records)
Bella White- Just Like Leaving
Just Like Leaving (Isabel White)
Nina Ricci- Fare Thee Well
Fare Thee Well: A Joan Baez Tribute (Nina Ricci)
Doc & Merle Watson- Down Yonder
Songs Doc Didn’t Sing (FLI Records)

Extended Feature – Remembering Billie Holiday (1915-1959). The next 17 songs were all recorded by Billie Holiday at some point during the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s.

Rosalie Sorrels- Falling in Love Again, Can’t Help It
Learned by Livin’, Sung by Heart (Way Out in Idaho)
Jackie Washington- Them There Eyes
The World of Jackie Washington (Borealis)
Stringband- What a Little Moonlight Can Do
The Indispensable 1972-2002 (Nick)
Billie Holiday- Swing, Brother, Swing
The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Volume 8 (Columbia/Legacy)

Samoa Wilson with The Jim Kweskin Band- I Cried for You
I Just Want to Be Horizontal (Kingswood)
Michael Jerome Browne- He Ain’t Got Rhythm
Drive On (Borealis)
Mose Scarlett with Ken Whiteley- It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie
The Fundamental Things (Pyramid)
Billie Holiday- I Loves You Porgy
Lover Man (Decca)

Diana Krall- I Wished on the Moon
This Dream of You (Verve)
David Clayton-Thomas- Don’t Explain
Aurora (Justin Time)
Sneezy Waters- Solitude
Sneezy Waters (Sneezy Waters)
Catherine Russell- I Cover the Waterfront
Bring It Back (Jazz Village)
Billie Holiday- Georgia On My Mind
The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Volume 9 (Columbia/Legacy)

Madeleine Peyroux- This is Heaven to Me
Careless Love (Rounder)
Oscar Brown, Jr..- God Bless the Child
The Voice of Cool (Not Now Music)
Josh White- Strange Fruit
The Josh White Stories, Vols. I & II (Jasmine)
Billie Holiday- Billie’s Blues
The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Volume 2 (Columbia/Legacy)

In memory of inspiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020). Marc Nerenberg wrote “Ruth’s Blues” on September 19, the day after Justice Ginsburg passed away.

Marc Nerenberg- Ruth’s Blues
Unreleased song – used with permission
Penny Lang- Never Turning Back
Carry On Children (She-Wolf)

Tim Grimm- Gone
Gone – single (Vault)
Donal Hinely- Couldn’t Breathe
Diary of a Snowflake (Atom)
Iris DeMent- How Long
How Long – single (Flariella)

“I am a Typhus Louse” was written in a ghetto in Transnistria (now part of Moldavia and Ukraine) in 1942. It was recorded for a forthcoming project of pandemic songs by Yiddish Glory. Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK8ERL5SSic to see the subtitles of the lyrics in English.

Yiddish Glory & The Payadora Tango Ensemble- I am a Typhus Louse
I am a Typhus Louse – single (Yiddish Glory)
Mike Craver- I Ain’t Dead Yet
Mould’s Undertaking (Sapsucker)
Matt Watroba- Will’s Will
The Si Kahn Funny Song Sing-Along Song Book (Matt Watroba)

Vance Gilbert- The Day Before November
Good Good Man (Disismye Music)
Bill Garrett- Thanksgiving Eve
Seems to Me (Borealis)

Ronny Cox- Bus to Baltimore
Live at the Kitchen Sink (Ronny Cox)
Josh White, Jr..- The Dutchman
Live at the Raven Gallery (Silverwolf)

Gathering Time- If You Could Read My Mind
Old Friends (Triple-G Records)
Matthew Alexander- Steel Rail Blues
Soul River (Caravan Records)
Gordon Lightfoot- Did She Mention My Name
Songbook (Warner Archives/Rhino)
 

Shtreiml- Nigun Hachana
Har Meron (I.J. Rosenblatt)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on November 7.

Find me on Twitter. @MikeRegenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

The Short Sisters – Downsized

THE SHORT SISTERS

Downsized

Black Socks Press

ss.mapping.com

I really like what happens when three talented women singers come together in glorious harmony. Groups like the Wailin’ Jennys, the Good Lovelies, Herdman, Hills & Mangsen (Priscilla Herdman, Anne Hills, Cindy Mangsen) and the Marigolds – all of them very different in sound and repertoire – are quite wonderful with what they do with a song.

Along with the groups mentioned above, the Short Sisters are one of my all-time favorite trios of harmonizing women. They’ve been singing together since 1979, but Downsized is just their fifth album and their first since 2002 – and like its predecessors, the CD is a treat from the first song to the last. In fact, the opening paragraph I wrote 11 years ago for my Sing Out! magazine review of their previous album, Love and Transportation, is just as applicable to Downsized:

“The Short Sisters – Fay Baird, Kate Seeger and Kim Wallach – are not real sisters.  However, when their voices combine in sweet harmony on this set of traditional and contemporary songs drawn from a variety of sources, they sure do sound like siblings who have been harmonizing for a lifetime. It is also obvious that they have chosen and arranged these songs, to borrow a phrase from the late Townes Van Zandt, simply for the sake of the song and the joy of singing. When they’re not singing a cappella, the Short Sisters keep the arrangements tasteful and simple, acoustic guitars played by Kim and Kate, banjo by Fay and occasionally, some very nice harmonica work by Dean Spencer.”

The only thing I need to add is that Kate also plays autoharp on a couple of songs on the new album.

While all 16 songs in the hour-long set are delightful, a few of my favorites include “The Vikings,” a satirical tune by Jez Lowe (perhaps my very favorite British songwriter), a beautiful version “Ca’ the Yowes,” a Scottish song written or collected by Robert Burns, Kim’s “Home in Old New Jersey,” a delightfully arranged nostalgic piece about the state she grew up in, and “Tell Me Why You Like Roosevelt,” Otis Jackson’s tribute to the president who introduced the New Deal (this is the song my friend Jesse Winchester rewrote about 40 years ago to also pay tribute to the Canadian politicians whose policies allowed safe haven for Vietnam War resistors).

I was also delighted to hear the Short Sisters’ version of “Upon Finding Just One,” a terrific round written by my neighborhood pal Ann Downey, the traditional “Goin’ Down to Tampa,” and Lester Simpson’s “Twenty-Four Seven,” a labor song for these times we’re living in.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif