Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday May 10, 2022: “Rooty Toot Toot for the Moon”

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/595/56173.html

Theme: “Rooty Toot Toot for the Moon”

Tom Paxton- Looking for the Moon
Looking for the Moon (Appleseed)

Over the Moon- Over the Moon
Moondancer (Over the Moon)
Shelley Posen- Ontario Moon
Ontario Moon (Well Done Music)
Leon Redbone- Shine On Harvest Moon
Double Time (Warner Bros.)
Chaim Tannenbaum- It’s Only a Paper Moon
Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)

Patti Casey with Paul Asbell- Blue Moon
Just an Old Sweet Song (Long Shot Music)
Martha Seyler & Robert Resnik- Blue Moon of Kentucky
Martha Sings & Robert Plays (Martha Seyler & Robert Resnik)
Pat Alger- Once in a Very Blue Moon
True Love & Other Short Stories (Sugar Hill)

Noel Paul Stookey- I’ll Be Seeing You
Fazz: Now & Then (Neworld Multimedia)

Mike Regenstreif & Erik Frandsen (1976) photo: Felicity Fanjoy

Erik Frandsen- Dig That Moon
Antiques: New & Used (Erik Frandsen)
Nanci Griffith- Grapefruit Moon
Ruby’s Torch (Rounder)
Billie Holiday- I Wished On the Moon
Songs for Distingué Lovers (Verve)
Durham County Poets- The Moon Won’t Go Down
Hand Me Down Blues (Durham County Poets)

Ben Bullington- Ring Around the Moon
White Sulphur Springs (Ben Bullington)
Lily Henley- Alta Alta Va La Luna
Oras Dezaoradas (Lior Éditions)
Perla Batalla- Cuando Sale la Luna
Discoteca Batalla (Mechuda Music)
Tom Russell- Walking On the Moon
Old Songs Yet to Sing (Frontera)

Maggie & Terre Roche- Underneath the Moon
Where Do I Come From: Selected Songs (StorySound)
Kevin Head- Full Moon
Hear Them Callin’ (Kevin Head)
Ian Tyson- Horsethief Moon
Eighteen Inches of Rain (Stony Plain)

Mike Regenstreif, Tom Paxton & Joel Mabus (2001) phto: Janice Hanson

Joel Mabus- The Moon May Never Shine This Way Again
Time & Truth (Fossil)
Vance Gilbert- Unfamiliar Moon
Unfamiliar Moon (Disismye Music)
Missy Burgess- Drive to the Moon
Play Me Sweet (Missy Burgess)
David Francey- Big Texas Moon
Empty Train (Laker Music)

Lui Collins- Rooty Toot Toot for the Moon
Baptism of Fire (Green Linnet)

Next week: These Songs are for the Birds.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday March 27, 2021

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/128/51381.html

 

Michael Johnathon- Sunday Morning
The Painter (PoetMan)

Jesse Winchester- I Wave Bye Bye
Gentleman of Leisure (Sugar Hill)
Steel Rail- Flow River Flow
Coming Home (Crossties)
Dave Clarke- Until We Meet Again
The Healing Garden (Crossties)
Chris Rawlings & Anne Lederman- I Want to Hear You Sing
A Whistle, a Tune, a Song and a Dance (Cooking Fat Music)

Liz Simmons- Night in the City
Poets (Morgana Music)
Becky Buller- Woodstock
Distance and Time (Dark Shadow Recording)
Joni Mitchell- Born to Take the Highway
Archives – Volume 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) (Rhino)
Alice Howe- A Case of You
A Case of You – single (Alice Howe)
Lisa Jeanette- Darling of the Muses
Jellyfish on the Moon (Lisa Jeanette Music)

Michael Smith- The Dutchman
Such Things are Finely Done (Tales from the Tavern)
Eric Taylor- Visitors from Indiana
Eric Taylor (Watermelon)
David Olney- Jerusalem Tomorrow
The Stone (Deadbeet)
Tim Grimm- Dreaming of King Lear
Gone (Vault)

Magpie- Which Side Are You On?
When We Stand Together (Longtail Records)
Michael J. Miles featuring Zahra Glenda Baker- Which Side Are You On? Dilemma
Mississippi River Suite/Which Side Are You On? (Right Turn On Red Music)
Ellis Paul- $20 Bill (For George Floyd)
Ellis Paul’s Traveling Medicine Show Vol. 1 (Rosella)
Michael J. Miles featuring Zahra Glenda Baker- Which Side Are You On? Enough
Mississippi River Suite/Which Side Are You On? (Right Turn On Red Music)
Marc Nerenberg- Ain’t Gonna Study War No More (Down By the Riverside)
Times Ain’t Nuthin’ Like They Used to Be (Marc Nerenberg)

New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers- Blues for Yesterday
Volume 2 (Stony Plain)
Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley- Careless Love
Blues Stories (Big City Blues)
Vince Halfhide- Memphis Rounder
Vince Halfhide (Vince Halfhide)
Katie Oates- Bury Me On Beale Street
We Go On: Si Kahn’s Songs of Hope in Hard Times (Hollow Reed Arts Recordings)
Junior Wells- Cha Cha Cha in Blue
Junior’s Wails: Singles As & Bs 1953-1961 (Jasmine)

Maggie & Terre Roche- Jill of All Trades
Where Do I Come From: Selected Songs (StorySound)
Suzzy Roche & Lucy Wainwright Roche- Jane
I Can Still Hear You (StorySound)
Laura Smith- One Woman
As Long As I’m Dreaming (Borealis)
Jane Voss- Free at Last (Let Me Find My Wings)
Farther Down the Road (Ripple)

Anne Hills- Acquainted with the Night
Accidental August (Hand & Heart Music)
Dulcie Taylor- First Kiss
Rediscovered (Mesa/Bluemoon Recordings)
Annabelle Chvostek- Je t’ai vue hier soir (I Saw You Last Night)
String of Pearls (Annabelle Chvostek)
Rod Abernethy- Just Around the Corner
Normal Isn’t Normal Anymore (Songs From Downstairs Records)

Willie Dunn- The Ballad of Crowfoot
Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies: The Willie Dunn Anthology (Light in the Attic)

Frank London with Karim Sulayman- Amore en
Ghetto Songs (Felmay)
Frank London with Karim Sulayman & Cantor Seta Kundish- O dolcezz’amarissime
Ghetto Songs (Felmay)
Frank London with Cantor Seta Kundish – Minutn fun bitokhn
Ghetto Songs (Felmay)
Bob Jensen- The Partisan
For the Sake of the Song (Bob Jensen)

Rod MacDonald- In Every Dream
Boulevard (Blue Flute Music)
John Gorka- I Can’t Do Crazy (Anymore)
Willie Nile Uncovered (Paradiddle)
Anna Elizabeth Laube- Sweet Boy from Minnesota
Annamania (Continental Song City)
Reid Jamieson- Everyday People
Songs of 69 (Reid Jamieson)

Jimmy Yancey- Yancey Stomp
Blues & Boogie (Cherry Red)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on April 24. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm.

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday July 20, 2019

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

This episode of Saturday Morning can be streamed on-demand at... https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/43915.html

Graham Lindsey w/From Away- Cook’s in the Kitchen Again

Tradhead (Wavelength Media)

Shari Ulrich- Canada

Back to Shore (Borealis)

David Newland- Out Upon the Land

Northbound: The Northwest Passage in Story and Song (David Newland)

James Gordon- You Want to Feel Heard

The Heritage Hall Sessions (Borealis)

John Stewart- Armstrong

Airdream Believer (Shanachie)

The Marigolds- Trip to the Moon

That’s the State I’m In (The Marigolds)

Sylvia Tyson- Walking on the Moon

You Were On My Mind (Stony Plain)

Chaim Tannenbaum- It’s Only a Paper Moon

Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)

Maggie & Terre Roche- Underneath the Moon

Where Do I Come From: Selected Songs (StorySound)

Kim Wallach- Dark and Rainy Night

Chatter of the Finches (Black Socks Press)

Tom Paxton- Central Square

Redemption Road (Pax)

Deborah Robins- The Water is Wide

Lone Journey (Zippety Whippet Music)

Tim Grimm- Staying in Love

Heart Land Again (Vault)

Guy Forsyth & Jesska Bailey- The Messenger

Conspirators (Small & Nimble Records)

El Coyote- Time Will Tell

El Coyote (El Coyote)

Tom Russell- Hand-Raised Wolverines

October in the Railroad Earth (Frontera)

Extended feature: Songs of Si Kahn – the next 15 songs were written by Si Kahn.

Rude Girls- Crossing the Border

Mixed Messages (Flying Fish)

Priscilla Herdman- Traveler

Seasons of Change (Flying Fish)

Mara Levine- Upstream

Facets of Folk (Mara’s Creations)

Si Kahn- Down on the River

Bristol Bay (Strictly Country)

Mike Regenstreif & Si Kahn (1995)

Kathy Mattea- Gone, Gonna Rise Again

Calling Me Home (Sugar Hill)

The Looping Brothers- Baltimore Blues

It’s a Dog’s Life (Strictly Country)

Blue Rose- Wild Rose of the Mountain

Blue Rose (Sugar Hill)

Si Kahn & The Looping Brothers- Brookside Strike

Aragon Mill: The Bluegrass Sessions (Strictly Country)

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer- What Will I Leave

Voice on the Wind (Rounder)

Bob Bossin- People Like You

Gabriola V0R1X0 (Nick)

Si Kahn & The Looping Brothers- Rock Me, Roll Me

Aragon Mill: The Bluegrass Sessions (Strictly Country)

Vivian Nesbitt & John Dillon- Stitch and Sew

The Songs of Mother Jones: A Musical by Si Kahn (MotherJonesInHeaven.com)

Joe Jencks- Who Will Speak for Me

The Forgotten: Recovered Treasures from the Pen of Si Kahn (Turtle Bear Music)

Amythyst Kiah- Aragon Mill

Dig (Amythyst Kiah)

Si Kahn & The Looping Brothers- Goodbye Monday Blues

Aragon Mill: The Bluegrass Sessions (Strictly Country)

Tim Henderson- Miss Amelia Harris, Spinster

Among the Best (Snake Hollow Music)

Tom Mitchell- Church and Paydays

1976 live recording – used with permission

Penny Lang- Ain’t Life Sweet

Ain’t Life Sweet (She-Wolf)

Ben Bullington- I’ve Got to Leave You Now

Ben Bullington (Ben Bullington)

Lynn Miles- More

Downpour (Lynn Miles)

Laura Smith- Inspiration

Everything is Moving (Borealis)

Meg Tennant- A Day of Grace

Echoed Light (Meg Tennant)

Sussex- Truth and Lies

Parade Day (Lucky Bear)

Susan Werner- NOLA

NOLA: Susan Werner Goes to New Orleans (Sleeve Dog)

Martin Grosswendt & Susanne Salem-Schatz- Mama Lou

New Songs, Old Hats (Martin Grosswendt & Susanne Salem-Schatz)

Wynton Marsalis w/Catherine Russell- Make Me a Pallet on the Floor

Bolden: Music from the Original Soundtrack (Blue Engine)

David G. Smith- Straw Houses

Who Cares (Hey Dave Music)

Sussex- Eagle on the Moon

Parade Day (Lucky Bear)

The Confabulation- Windy Apples

Tunnels and Visions (Woodhead Music)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on August 17.

Find me on Twitter. @MikeRegenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Top 18 for 2018

Here are my picks for the Top 18 folk-rooted or folk-branched albums of 2018. As in past years, I started with the list of hundreds of albums that landed on my desk over the past year and narrowed it down to a short list of about 30. I’ve been over the short list several times over the past couple of weeks and came up with several similar – not identical – Top 18 lists. As I’m about to take a break from blogging until January, today’s list is the final one. The order might have been slightly different, and there are several other worthy albums that might have been included, had one of the other lists represented the final choice.

1. Bob Dylan – More Blood, More Tracks: The Bootleg Series Vol. 14 (Columbia/Legacy). Blood on the Tracks, released in 1975, was one of Bob Dylan’s masterpieces. The single-CD version of More Blood, More Tracks offers the best alternate versions of each of the songs from the original album’s first sessions in New York City – most of which reveal the songs at a deeper level – as well as the outtake “Up to Me.” Completists will revel in the six-CD version which includes every take of every song from the New York sessions and remixed and remastered versions of the songs Dylan re-recorded in Minnesota for the original album.

2. Tom Russell – Old Songs Yet to Sing (Frontera Records). Old Songs Yet to Sing is a reunion album. A reunion of singer-songwriter Tom Russell, virtuoso guitarist Andrew Hardin – and 20 of the songs they played together for 25 or 26 years on the road and in the studio, beginning circa 1980. It’s just the two of them on the record – Tom on lead vocals and guitar and Andy on lead guitar and harmony vocals – and they make these songs, no matter how familiar they may be, sound fresh.

Click here for my full-length review of Old Songs Yet to Sing.

3. Various Artists – Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II (Six Degrees). During the Second World War, ethnomusicologists at the Kiev Cabinet for Jewish Culture set out to preserve the new Yiddish songs documenting the experiences of Jews fighting the Nazis in the Red Army, as well as those working on the home fronts, and songs reporting on such atrocities as the massacre at Babi Yar. For decades the songs were thought lost. However, the lyrics of many were rediscovered in the 1990s. Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II is an extraordinary album – featuring five singers and a group of superb instrumentalists – recorded in Toronto that documents some of those songs.

Click here for my full-length review of Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II.

4. Reggie Harris – Ready to Go (Reggie Harris Music). Reggie Harris released Ready to Go in 2018, his first solo album after many albums as a duo with Kim Harris. Like virtually all of his albums with Kim, this is an inspired and inspiring set filled with much joy, some sorrow and a whole lot of hope.

Click here for my full-length review of Ready to Go.

 

5. Maggie Roche – Where Do I Come From: Selected Songs (StorySound). Maggie Roche – who lost her battle with cancer on January 21, 2017 at age 65 – was a uniquely gifted songwriter responsible for many of the best songs recorded over the years by The Roches, her trio with younger sisters Terre and Suzzy. The two CDs of Where Do I Come From: Selected Songs include some of Maggie’s songs from albums by The Roches, as well as from duo albums by Maggie & Terre and Maggie & Suzzy, unreleased demos from the early-1970s, and a solo home recording of what was probably her final song,

Click here for my full-length review of Where Do I Come From: Selected Songs.

6. Nefesh Mountain – Beneath the Open Sky (Nefesh Mountain). Although there are a significant number of Jewish virtuoso bluegrass musicians, the genre itself has rarely been a vehicle for specifically Jewish-themed music. But on Beneath the Open Sky, Nefesh Mountain – the husband and wife duo of multi-instrumentalist Eric Lindberg and singer Doni Zasloff – are making Jewish music within a traditional bluegrass framework.

Click here for my full-length review of Beneath the Open Sky.

7. Jimmy LaFave – Peace Town (Music Road). Jimmy LaFave – who passed away at age 61 on May 21, 2017 after a battle with spindle cell sarcoma, a cancer of the connective tissues – had a brilliant understanding of where folk music, rock ‘n’ roll, blues, country, jazz and popular song all met seamlessly and authentically. In his final year, Jimmy worked tirelessly on Peace Town, an affecting 2-CD set that captures many of the styles and influences that ran through his music.

8. Eliza Gilkyson – Secularia (Red House). On th thoughtful Secularia, Eliza Gilkyson responds to contemporary issues and times with compelling songs of what might be described as secular spiritualism. As well as her original material, Eliza offers “Solitary Singer,” written by her father, Terry Gilkyson, in 1949, and a wonderful duet with the late Jimmy LaFave on the traditional “Down by the Riverside.”

9. Eric Bibb – Global Griot (Stony Plain). On Global Griot, a magnificent 2-CD set, Eric Bibb combines original material and traditional blues and folk songs with influences and instrumentation from music from around the world – particularly West Africa. Among his collaborators are kora player and singer Solo Cissokho and Canadian blues artists Michael Jerome Browne and Harrison Kennedy.

10. Ken Tizzard – A Good Dog is Lost: A Collection of Ron Hynes Songs (Ken Tizzard). Ron Hynes – who lost his battle with cancer on November 19, 2015 at age 64 – was, as I noted in a review of one of his albums, “without question, one of Canada’s greatest singer-songwriters – a writer whose genius can be found in decades worth of great songs.” On A Good Dog is Lost: A Collection of Ron Hynes Songs, Ken Tizzard, who once worked as a backup musician for Ron, offers excellent, affecting versions of some of those songs.

11. Maria Muldaur – Don’t You Feel My Leg: The Naughty Bawdy Blues of Blu Lu Barker (The Last Music Company). Maria Muldaur went to New Orleans to record Don’t You Feel My Leg, a  terrific tribute to legendary NOLA blues singer Blue Lu Barker. The album overflows with clever, sexy songs, Maria’s great singing and infectious arrangements featuring some of the Crescent City’s best traditional jazz musicians.

12. El Coyote – El Coyote (El Coyote). El Coyote brings together three terrific Montreal singer-songwriters – Angela Desveaux, Katie Moore and Michelle Tompkins – and some equally terrific backup musicians for a set of great country-tinged songs. The three principals trade songs round-robin style with the other two singers providing angelic harmonies.

13. Lucy Kaplansky – Everyday Street (Lucy Kaplansky). On Everyday Street, her first solo album in six years, Lucy Kaplansky gives us seven of her original songs – co-written with her husband Richard Litvin – that celebrate such topics as friendship, love, her daughter and her dog. She also gives us a lovely traditional folk song and fine versions of songs by Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen and Nanci Griffith.

14. Orit Shimoni – Lost and Found on the Road to Nowhere (Orit Shimoni). Orit Shimoni seems to spend almost all of her time moving from city to city, country to country and continent to continent playing concerts and prolifically writing and recording songs that muse on love and loneliness, everyday incidents, inspirational songwriters and childhood memories.

15. Rory Block – A Woman’s Soul: A Tribute to Bessie Smith (Stony Plain). On her latest tribute album, Rory Block turns her attention to Bessie Smith, one of the greatest of the classic blues singers of the 1920s and ‘30s. While Smith recorded with pianists and other jazz musicians, Rory has arranged these songs in her own country blues style for vocals and guitar, sometimes overdubbing more guitar parts, bass, homemade percussion and harmony vocals herself. So, while the songs are familiar from Smith’s versions, Rory makes them her own – with her powerful guitar playing and soulful singing.

Click here for my full-length review of A Woman’s Soul: A Tribute to Bessie Smith.

16. Kate Campbell – Damn Sure Blue (Large River Music). Kate Campbell’s songs continue to provide deep insight into the people of the American Deep South and how it has changed – or has been too slow to change – in the wake of the civil rights movement. As well as her own songs, Kate also interprets songs by the likes of Peter LaFarge and Johnny Cash.

17. Vince Halfhide – Vince Halfhide (Vince Halfhide) Master guitarist Vince Halfhide is a veteran Ottawa musician. I’ve often seen him as an MVP sideman for several different artists. I’ve also seen him on occasion playing solo and quickly came to appreciate that he’s a fine singer-songwriter himself. I’ve long hoped that he’d release a CD that I can enjoy and share on the radio. With the eponymously named Vince Halfhide, Vince has delivered that CD – a fine collection of 12 well-crafted original songs mostly in folk and acoustic blues veins.

Click here for my full-length review of Vince Halfhide.

18. The LYNNeS – Heartbreak Songs for the Radio (The LYNNeS) Two of Ottawa’s finest singer-songwriters, Lynn Miles and Lynne Hanson, began co-writing songs when Lynne hired Lynn to produce one of her albums. While both continue to pursue solo careers, they have also begun to receive much acclaim for their duo performances as The LYNNeS and for this debut album – the recipient of Canadian Folk Music Awards for Ensemble of the Year and English Songwriter(s) of the Year.

I will be featuring songs from each of these albums when I host the Saturday Morning program on CKCU on Saturday, January 5, 7-10 am (EST). Update: The program is now available available 24/7 for on-demand streaming at this link.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif