Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – June 24, 2025: 1965

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/595/70807.html

Theme: 1965.

All the recordings on this show were first released 60 years ago in 1965.

The Byrds- Mr. Tambourine Man

Mr. Tambourine Man (Columbia)

The Beatles- In My Life

Rubber Soul (Parlophone)

Donovan- Sunny Goodge Street

Fairy Tale (Elite)

Martin Carthy- The Queen of Hearts

Martin Carthy (Topic)

Bert Jansch- Rambling’s Gonna Be the Death of Me

Bert Jansch (Castle)

Tom Jones- It’s Not Unusual

Along Came Jones (Decca)

Petula Claek- I Know a Place

The EP Collection (See for Miles)

The Zombies- She’s Not There

The Zombies (Parrot)

The Rolling Stones- (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

Out of Our Heads (London)

The Lovin’ Spoonful- Do You Believe in Magic

Do You Believe in Magic (Sony/Legacy)

The Beach Boys- California Girls

Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) (Capitol)

Mike Regenstreif & Bruce Murdoch (2014)

Bruce Murdoch- Rompin’ Rovin’ Days

Singer-Songwriter Project (Elektra)

Carolyn Hester- Outward Bound

At Town Hall (Bear Family)

Mike Regenstreif & Tom Paxton (2001) photo: Janice Hanson

Tom Paxton- Hold On to Me Babe

Ain’t That News (Elektra)

Noel Paul Stookey & Mike Regenstreif on Zoom (2023)

Peter, Paul & Mary- Early Morning Rain

See What Tomorrow Brings (Warner Bros.)

Sylvia Tyson & Mike Regenstreif (1997)

Ian & Sylvia- Red Velvet

Early Morning Rain (Vanguard)

Phil Ochs Dodger Rag

I Ain’t Marching Anymore (Elektra)

Judy Collins & Mike Regenstreif (2014)

Judy Collins- Carry It On

Fifth Album (Elektra)

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Pack Up Your Sorrows

Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard)

Mike Regenstreif & Joan Baez (2003)

Joan Baez- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue

Farewell, Angelina (Vanguard)

Barry McGuire- Eve of Destruction

Eve of Destruction (Dunhill)

David Wiffen- Times are Getting Hard

At the Bunkhouse Coffeehouse, Vancouver BC (Universal International)

Tom Rush- Solid Gone

Tom Rush (Elektra)

Fred Neil- Blues on the Ceiling

Bleecker & MacDougal (Elektra)

Jackson C. Frank- Blues Run the Game

Blues Run the Game (Mooncrest)

Aretha Franklin- Muddy Water

Yeah!!! (Columbia)

B.B. King- Every Day I Have the Blues

Live at The Regal (ABC)

Nina Simone- Trouble in Mind

Pastel Blues (Philips)

Oscar Peterson- Blues of the Prairies

Canadiana Suite (Verve)

Next week: Songs for Canada Day.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – June 10, 2025: Dreams

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/595/70583.html

Theme: Dreams.

All the songs have something or other to do with dreams: dreams we dream at night, or daydreams, or, in many cases, aspirational dreams, broken dreams and dreams fulfilled.

Missy Burgess- Sweet Dreams

Lemon Pie (Missy Burgess)

Ken Tizzard- Sonny’s Dream

A Good Dog is Lost: A Collection of Ron Hynes Songs (Booth Street)

Ian & Sylvia- So Much for Dreaming

So Much for Dreaming (Vanguard)

Kim Beggs- Alive and Well in My Dreams

Beneath Your Skin (Out of a Paperbag Productions)

Tom Russell- Blue Wing

Old Songs Yet to Sing (Frontera)

Swing & Tears- The Dreamin’

Swing & Tears (Swing & Tears)

Bob Dylan- Bob Dylan’s Dream

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (Columbia/Legacy)

Dakota Dave Hull & Sean Blackburn- I’ll See You in My Dreams

North By Southwest (Arabica)

Doug McArthur- Dreams and Visions

Letters from the Coast/Sisteron (Snow Goose Songs)

Rob Siegel- I Dreamed I Said to Sisyphus

I’m from Here (Rob Siegel)

The Puppini Sisters- Mr, Sandman

Betcha Bottom Dollar (Verve)

Garnet Rogers- John O’Dreams

The Outside Track (Snow Goose Songs)

Eliza Gilkyson- Impossible Dreams

Dark Ages (Realiza)

Kat Goldman- The One to Dream

The Workingman’s Blues (Kat Goldman)

Jamie Anderson- The Dream

Dare (Tsunami)

Jimmy LaFave- Land of Hope and Dreams

Depending on the Distance (Music Road)

Bette Midler- A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

Broken Blossom (Atlantic)

Shelley Posen- I Missed You in My Dreams Last Night

Old Loves (Well Done Music)

Moore & McGregor- Dream With Me

Dream With Me (Ivernia)

David Myles- Dreaming

Real Love (Little Tiny)

The Lovin’ Spoonful- Daydream

Daydream (Sony/Legacy)

John Stewart- Daydream Believer

The Lonesome Picker Rides Again (Collectors’ Choice Music)

Anne Hills- Dreamcatcher

Angle of the Light (Flying Fish)

Eric Bogle- Don’t Throw Away Your Dreams

A Toss of the Coin (Greentrax)

Priscilla Herdman- Dreams

Forgotten Dreams (Flying Fish)

Next week: Music for 88 Keys.

--Mike Regenstreif 

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday July 15, 2023

Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU in Ottawa heard 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.

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 recorded and can already be streamed on-demand at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/61213.html

Bill Camplin- Mr. Tambourine Man

Bob Dylan Project One (Bill Camplin)

Saul Broudy & Mike Regenstreif (1993)

Saul Broudy- Cool Colorado

Ten Great Years at Kerrville, Volume One (Silverwolf)

Rosalie Sorrels- Then Came the Children

Then Came the Children (Green Linnet)

John Stewart- July, You’re a Woman

California Bloodlines (Capitol)

Ed Snodderly- Better Just Ride the Mule

Chimney Smoke (Need to Know Music)

Montreal- A Summer’s Night

A Summer’s Night (Stormy Forest)

Johnny Rivers- Summer Rain

A Touch of Gold/Wild Night (BGO)

Kat Goldman- Summersong

Gypsy Girl (Kat Goldman)

The Lovin’ Spoonful- Summer in the City

Hums of The Lovin’ Spoonful (Sony/Legacy)

Lara Wong with Melón Jiménez- A compás en Usera

Rosa de los Vientos (Lara Wong)

James Talley- La Rosa Montaña

The Road to Torreon (Cimarron)

Perla Batalla- Cuando Sale la Luna

Discoteca Batalla (Mechuda Music)

Michael Jerome Browne- Reverend Strut

Gettin’ Together (Borealis/Stony Plain)

Bruce Cockburn- To Keep the World We Know

O Sun O Moon (True North)

Tim Grimm- Sowin’ on the Mountain

Heart Land Again (Vault)

Aleksi Campagne- Rome

For the Giving/Sans Rien Donner (Aleksi Campagne)

The Scooches- Stop This Climate Change

Lift You Up (On the Bol)

Crowes Pasture- Barranco

Don’t Blink (Crowes Pasture)

David Bradstreet- The Land Beyond

Hindsight (David Bradstreet)

Johnny Eaton- This is Migration

here’s the thing (Johnny Eaton)

The Klezmatics- Dzhankoye

Live at Town Hall (Klezmatics Disc)

Rod MacDonald- Heal the World

Rants and Romance (Blue Flute Music)

Eliza Gilkyson- World Keeps on Singing

Home (Realiza)

Stephen Fearing- Christine

Vejpoesi (Stephen Fearing)

Christine Graves- Hitting My Stride

Everyday Life (Christine Graves)

Matt Andersen- Shoes

The Big Bottle of Joy (Sonic)

Jason Lang- Handle with Care

Handled with Care (Famgroup/Genison Music)

Anat Cohen & Marcello Gonçalves- Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer

Reconvexo (Anzic)

Too Sad for the Public featuring Ana Egge- Railroad Bill (pt 1)

Too Sad for the Public, Vol.2 – Yet and Still: Traditional American Folk Song-Stirring by Dick Connette (StorySound)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle & Roma Baran- Willie Moore

Tell My Sister (Nonesuch)

Peggy Seeger- Tell My Sister

Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Rufus Wainwright & John Legend- Heading for Home

Folkocracy (BMG)

Too Sad for the Public featuring Chaim Tannenbaum- Railroad Bill (pt 2)

Too Sad for the Public, Vol.2 – Yet and Still: Traditional American Folk Song-Stirring by Dick Connette (StorySound)

Vance Gilbert- Black Rochelle

The Mother of Trouble (Vance Gilbert)

Katie Dahl- Both Doors Open

Seven Stones (Leaky Boat)

Terre & Maggie Roche- Moonruns

Kin Ya See That Sun (Earth Rock Wreckerds)

Owen Walsh-Well Well, Hey Hey, Bye Bye

On My Way (Wrong Road)

Allison Brown- Tomorrow Night

Just Another Memory (Allison Brown)

Bob Dylan- Queen Jane Approximately

Shadow Kingdom (Columbia/Legacy)

Duke Robillard- Watching the River Flow

Six Strings of Steel (M.C.)

The Silas Powell Band- All Along the Watchtower

Makin’ a Run (East Run)

Socalled (Josh Dolgin) with The Kaiser Quartett- Roumanishe Kretchme

Di Frosh and other Yiddish Songs (Membran)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on August 12. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm. 

--Mike Regenstreif

Lucy Kaplansky – Reunion

LUCY KAPLANSKY

Reunion

Red House

lucykaplansky.com

Family is a thread that runs through many of the original songs on Reunion, Lucy Kaplansky’s seventh solo album (Lucy’s original songs are written in collaboration with Richard Litvin, her husband).

The theme is established in “Scavenger,” the opening track, a song that could be interpreted in several different ways. One interpretation might be that it’s sung from the perspective of a refugee, far from home and family, trying to make his or her way alone, far away from loved ones. Or, perhaps, it’s a song sung from the perspective of a person who has chosen their own path in the world but understands that we are shaped and formed by our family relationships. “You may walk yourself alone/Through the hills of the night/But you’ll walk with the ones you love/In the valley of your life/You’ll always stand with the ones you keep/In the valley of your life.”

In the poignant “Mother’s Day,” she reflects on her loving and happy relationship with her daughter, a relationship made possible by another mother. “I’ve had a picture in my head all day/A mother wraps up her baby and walks way.”

The album’s centerpiece is “Reunion,” a song about two important family reunions in Toronto. In the verses, she recalls a 1971 trip – she would have been about 11 then – to her father’s hometown of Toronto for a big family reunion beginning with a visit to her grandmother’s bakery. During the reunion she comes to realize how much of the family is inside her father, who left Toronto for the U.S. as a young man (much like, perhaps, the protagonist in “Scavenger”). And, in the chorus, Lucy recalls another trip to Toronto, 40 years later, and another reunion with her Canadian cousins, all of whom, like herself, have lost their fathers. “Here we are together/Just daughters and sons/This is our reunion.”

In three of the most moving songs, Lucy reflects on the passing of her parents. In “I’ll See You Again,” she sets the scene of the night her parents met and of their final parting. In “My Father’s Son,” she sings from her father’s perspective, at the end of his life, as he repairs his relationship with Lucy’s brother, and in “Sleep Well,” she wishes a goodnight to her dying mother.

Lucy is also a gifted interpreter of songs she didn’t write and offers four excellent covers on Reunion including superb versions of “The Beauty Way,” written by her Red Horse mate Eliza Gilkyson, and, in this year marking the centennial  of Woody Guthrie’s birth, “This Morning I Am Born Again,” a set of Woody's joyous lyrics set to music by Slaid Cleaves.

The cover painting, by the way, is a scene from Lucy’s grandmother’s Toronto bakery. It was painted by Avrom Yanovsky, a noted political cartoonist who once worked at the bakery and the father of Lovin’ Spoonful guitarist Zal Yanovsky.

Pictured: John Gorka, who sings harmony on “Mother’s Day,” Mike Regenstreif and Lucy Kaplansky at the 2012 Ottawa Folk Festival.

I'm now on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif
 

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--Mike Regenstreif