Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday March 8, 2022: Voices of Women

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/595/55453.html

Theme: Voices of Women

Janis Ian- Stranger
The Light at the End of the Line (Rude Girl)

Diana Jones & Mike Regenstreif on Zoom (2021)

Diana Jones- Ask a Woman
Song to a Refugee (Goldmine)
Allison Russell- All of the Women
Outside Child (Fantasy)
Buffy Sainte-Marie- Little Wheel Spin and Spin
Medicine Songs (True North)

Odetta- Dink’s Blues
Blues Everywhere I Go (M.C.)
Jane Voss- Farther Down the Road
Farther Down the Road (Ripple)

Mama’s Broke- Oh Sun/Pale Night/Forgetting Reel
Narrow Line (Free Dirt)

Laura Smith & Mike Regenstreif (2013)

Laura Smith- I’m a Beauty
As Long As I’m Dreaming (Borealis)
Maria Dunn- Beautiful Fools
Joyful Banner Blazing (Distant Whisper)
SONiA disappear fear- Who I Am
By My Silence (Disappear Records)
Orit Shimoni- My Flying Shoes
Lorem Ipsum (Orit Shimoni)

Eliza Gilkyson- Wind River and You
Songs from the River Wind (Howlin’ Dog)
Rosalie Sorrels- The Pine
Live at the Great American Music Hall (Flying Fish)
Penny Lang- Come Across to You
Gather Honey (Borealis)

Lynn Miles- Old Soul
We’ll Look for Stars (Must Have Music)
Linda Morrison- Barcelona
Line By Line (Heartstrung Music)
Missy Burgess- Pour Me a Song
Pour Me a Song (Patio)
Kim Wallach- Hanging the Spoon
Chatter of the Finches (Black Socks Press)

Ronney Abramson & Mike Regenstreif (2016)

Bonnie Dobson- Southern Bound
Take Me for a Walk in the Morning Dew (Hornbeam)
Ronney Abramson- As Time Sneaks By
Stowaway (Castor Island Music)
Jana Pochop- The Hard Part
The Astronaut (Jana Pochop)
The Accidentals- Wide Open
Time Out Sessions #2 (The Accidentals)

Gina Forsyth- Down Yonder
Copper Rooster and Other Tunes and Tales (Waterbug)

Next week: Jack Kerouac @ 100

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Shelley Posen – Ontario Moon

Shelley Posen

Ontario Moon

Well Done Music

borealisrecords.com

(A version of this review was published in the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.)

Shelley Posen is well known throughout the folk music world as a member of Finest Kind, a mostly-retired Ottawa vocal trio known for its glorious harmonies, and as a versatile singer and songwriter whose work touches many genres. Ontario Moon is his fifth solo album and while two of his previous CDs were on specifically Jewish themes, the dozen songs here are purely secular in nature.

One of the things that’s really nice about this album is that each track is uniquely arranged with musicians specifically recruited for the song in question. For example, the title track, a jazzy, romantic tune that recalls the Tin Pan Alley songs that songwriters like Irving Berlin were writing in the 1930s, features a swinging quintet that includes Django Reinhardt-influenced guitarists Christian Flores and Andrew Tesolin, bassist Mike Mopasi, clarinetist Martin van de Ven of the klezmer band Beyond the Pale, and violinist Mika Posen, Shelley’s daughter.

One of the songs I relate to most on the album is “Night Nurse,” a blues featuring the bottleneck guitar virtuosity of Michael Jerome Browne. The song is a tribute to the care Shelley received several years ago when he underwent surgery at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. The song mirrors my own experiences with the night nurses when I had my own surgery at the Heart Institute a few years later.

Other favourites include “The Best Song Ever Written,” a fun country song about songwriting; “Back at Bub’s,” a rock ‘n’ roller about a favourite barbecue joint; “Sugar Bush Breakfast,” a very sweet duet with Montreal singer Linda Morrison; “Tea Time,” a clever paean to afternoon tea at the Royal York featuring a classical string quartet; and “Walking in the Rain,” a delightful little piece that sounds like it could have come from a 1940s musical.

While I’ve mentioned about half the songs on the album, all of the others are just as good.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

–Mike Regenstreif

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (March 9-March 15)

Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007. Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued as occasional features on CKUT and is now a blog. Here’s the 28th instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

March 9, 1995: Show theme- Voices of Women.
March 14, 1996: Extended feature- Irish and Irish-oriented music.
March 13, 1997: Extended feature- Irish and Irish-oriented music.
March 9, 2000: Show theme- Voices of Women.
March 15, 2001: Guest- Duke Robillard.
March 13, 2003: Guests- Linda Morrison & Andrew Cowan. Special feature- Tom Russell & Andrew Hardin recorded in concert in Montreal, part one.
March 10, 2005: Guest- Kenny White.
March 15, 2007: Guest- Thomas Hellman.

--Mike Regenstreif