Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – May 16, 2026

Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa 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. 

This episode of Saturday Morning was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/75390.html

Jay Linden- Coming Through

Under the Radar (Jay Linden)

Mason Daring & Jeanie Stahl- Circle of Friends

Marblehead Morning – Mason Daring & Jeanie Stahl: 50 Years in Harmony (Daring)

Shelley Posen & Mike Regenstreif on Zoom (2023)

Shelley Posen- Walking in the Rain

Ontario Moon (Well Done Music)

Mike Regenstreif & Maria Dunn (2017)

Maria Dunn- West Cork Hills

Hardscrabble Hope (Distant Whisper Music)

Tom Mitchell & Mike Regenstreif (1999)

Tom Mitchell- Camp Hambone

Tom Mitchell (Philo)

Mike Regenstreif & Bruce Murdoch (2007)

Bruce Murdoch- Joshua (Rough Night in Jericho)

Bruce Murdoch (Radio Canada International)

Mike Regenstreif & Bill Staines (1993)

Bill Staines- Rompin’ Rovin’ Days 

Journey Home (Red House)

Penny Lang & Mike Regenstreif (1976) photo: Felicity Fanjoy

Penny Lang- (Can I) Come Across to You

Live at the Yellow Door (She-Wolf)

Bruce Murdoch- I’m at the Mercy of Your Smile

Sometimes I Wonder Why the World (Bruce Murdoch)

Le Vent du Nord- La Lettre

Voisinages (La Compagnie du Nord)

Satellite Birdhouse- Some Kind of Armour

Some Kind of Armour – single (Satellite Birdhouse)

Irish Millie- So Gone

Grace (Irish Millie)

Abigail Lapell- Sing a Rainbow

Shadow Child (Outside Music)

Sultans of String- A Place to Call Home

Symphony (Sultans of String)

Moonfruits- Carousel

Salt (Co-Op)

Hank Alrich- Don’t You Listen to That Man

Broken River (Walkinay Music Media)

Tom Chapin, John Forster & Friends- No Kings, No Kings

No Kings, No Kings – single (Ditties & Diatribes)

Tom Chapin & John Forster’s friends singing on No Kings,  No Kings include Abigail Chapin, Adam Falcon, Christine Lavin, David Amram, Guy Davis, Jessica Craven, Jessica Fishenfeld, John McCutcheon, Jon Cobert, Judy Collins, Lily Chapin, Michael Mark, Noel Paul Stookey, Reggie Harris, Shirley Crabbe & The Nyack Community Choir.

Hannah & Nathan- Little Bird

Love and Labour (Just Right Music)

Mary Gick- Waltz for Shelagh

Six Tunes and a Song (Mary Gick)

Amy Melissen & Lee Stivers- Cornbread and Butterbeans

Something Tells Me Everything Will Be Alright (AMCTR)

Tony Rice- Banks of the Ohio

Tony Rice (Craft)

Ed Snodderly- Coming Down This Road

Baggage Flies Free (Majestic/Need to Know Music)

Mike Regenstreif & Anne Hills (2001)

Anne Hills- Follow That Road 

Angle of the Light (Flying Fish)

Tom Russell & Mike Regenstreif (2018)

Tom Russell- Into the Wild

Mount Olive (Frontera)

Tracy Grammer- Blue Wing

Book of Sparrows (Tracy Grammer)

Nanci Griffith & Ian Tyson- Canadian Whiskey

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

Katy Moffatt- Amelia’s Railroad Flat

The Evangaline Hotel (Philo)

Nani Vazana- No Kero Madre (No Mother I Don’t Want)

Ke Haber (Noam Vazana) 

Mike Regenstreif & Orit Shimoni (2025)

Orit Shimoni- Strange and Beautiful Things 

Strange and Beautiful Things (Orit Shimoni)

Bobby Dove- Dreamt I Met John Prine

Fortune Teller (New Motor)

John Prine- Egg & Daughter Night, Lincoln Nebraska, 1967 (Crazy Bone)

The Tree of Forgiveness (Oh Boy)

Mike Regenstreif & Lisa Gutkin of The Klezmatics (2025)

The Klezmatics- Forty Year Freylekhs

We Were Made for These Times (Shamus)

The Klezmatics featuring Sofia Rei- Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)

We Were Made for These Times (Shamus)

Mike Regenstreif & David Amram (2017)

The David Amram Quintet- Talking Subway

David Amram Honors Guthrie and Ochs: Old Souls (Guthrie Legacy)

Janis Ian- I Hear You Sing Again

From Me to You: Live in Bremen 2004 (MIG)

Judy Collins & Mike Regenstreif (2014)

Judy Collins- Story of Isaac

Who Knows Where the Time Goes (Elektra)

Sariyah Idan- Dance Me to the End of Love

Live in Berlin (Sariyah Idan)

Leonard Cohen- You Got Me Singing

Popular Problems (Columbia)

NEeMA- Sidewalk

Watching You Think (Neemaste/Sony)

Mike Regenstreif & Garnet Rogers (2006)

Garnet Rogers- Corrina, Corrina

Night Drive (Snow Goose Songs)

Andy Cohen & Mike Regenstreif (2025)

Eleanor Ellis, William Lee Ellis & Andy Cohen- Memphis Minnie and Me

Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard (Riverlark Music)

Todd Albright- Death of Ella Speed

Blues for Dexter Linwood (Misfortune)

Taj Mahal & The Phantom Blues Band- Wild About My Lovin’

Time (Resonatin’/Thirty Tigers)

John Gorka & Mike Regenstreif (2012)

John Gorka- Welcome Home

unentitled (Red House)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on June 13. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm.

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – January 24, 2026

Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa 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. 

This episode of Saturday Morning was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/73826.html

Bill Camplin- January Guitar

January Guitar – single (Tool Room)

Sylvia Tyson & Mike Regenstreif (1997)

Ian & Sylvia- January Morning

So Much for Dreaming (Vanguard)

The Refugees- January Sky

Three (Wahubo)

Catherine MacLellan- January Song

Church Bell Blues (True North)

Tommy Makem- The Month of January

Songs of Tommy Makem (Tradition)

Don Williams- If I Were Free

Reflections (Sugar Hill)

Emmylou Harris- Thanks to You

Cowgirl’s Prayer (Asylum)

Mike Regenstreif & Jesse Winchester (2006)

Jesse Winchester- Humour Me

Humour Me (Sugar Hill)

Tom Paxton & John McCutcheon- The Future

Together Again (Appalsongs)

Tom Paxton & John McCutcheon- Old Dog

Together Again (Appalsongs)

Katie Moore- My Old Dog

Only Thing Worse (Borealis)

Mike Regenstreif & Bill Staines (1993)

Bill Staines- Old Dogs

Old Dogs (Red House)

Woody Guthrie- I’ve Got to Know

Woody At Home – Vol 1 + 2 (Shamus)

Mike Regenstreif & David Amram (2004)

The David Amram Quintet- Peace Pin Boogie

David Amram Honors Guthrie and Ochs: Old Souls (Guthrie Legacy)

Tom Russell & Mike Regenstreif (2005)

Tom Russell- Salt on the Rim

Mount Olive (Frontera)

Graham Lindsey- Pen Pal Waltz

Tune Machine (Graham Lindsey)

Meredith Moon- East City Blues

From Here to the Sea (New Motor)

Mike Regenstreif & Garnet Rogers (2006)

Garnet Rogers- Edge of the Earth

Sparrow’s Wing (Snow Goose Songs)

Pat Moore & The Vinyl Frontier- Strange

Take It to Heart (Pat Moore)

Over the Moon- Strangers We Meet

Over the Moon (Over the Moon)

Lynne Hanson- Light in Me

Just a Poet (Lynne Hanson)

Mike Regenstreif & David Francey (2019)

David Francey- The Waking Hour

Maps (Laker Music)

Amy Speace- God Came to Me

The Blue Rock Session (Windbone)

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

Live at the Raven Gallery (Silverwolf)

Pete Seeger with Arlo Guthrie & Shenandoah- Precious Friend You Will Be There

Precious Friend (Warner Bros.)

Brian Claflin- ICE on the Road (for Renee Nicole Good)

ICE on the Road (for Renee Nicole Good) – single (Brian Claflin)

Mike Regenstreif & Maria Dunn (2017)

Maria Dunn- Coal is a Thirsty Business

Hardscrabble Hope (Distant Whisper Music)

Mike Regenstreif & Lynn Miles (2017)

Lynn Miles with Keith Glass- Black Flowers 

Road (Lynn Miles)

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

Tom Paxton- Dogs at Midnight 

Tom Paxton 6 (Elektra)

Teilhard Frost- Lynchburgtown

Four and Twenty Blackbirds Dancing on a Deerskin (Wolfe Island)

Ramblin' Jack Elliott & Mike Regenstreif (2006)

Ramblin' Jack Elliott & Bob Weir- Friend of the Devil

Friends of Mine (HighTone)

Grateful Dead- Sugar Magnolia

American Beauty (Warner Bros.)

Madeleine Peyroux- Lonesome Road 

Careless Love (Rounder)

Kim Wilson- Kansas City

Slow Burn (M.C.)

Jane Voss & Hoyle Osborne- Gateway Blues (Blues for Bessie)

Get to the Heart (Ripple)

Tinsley Ellis- Long Time

Labor of Love (Alligator)

Clela Errington- Careless Love

Walkin’ Each Other Home (Clela Errington)

Jory Nash & Mike Regenstreif (2024)

Jory Nash- Everybody Knows By Now

The Light Still Shines on the Main (Thin Man)

Bonnie Dobson & The Hanging Stars- Baby’s Got the Blues

Dreams (Loose Music)

John Gorka, Mike Regenstreif & Lucy Kaplansky (2012)

John Gorka- No Time to Cry

unentitled (Red House)

Lucy Kaplansky- Forget-Me-Not

The Lucy Story: unreleased and rare tracks, 1976-2023 (Lucyricky)

Jack Hardy- Singer’s Lament 

Bandolier (Great Divide)

Mike Regenstreif & Mark Rubin on Zoom (2025)

Mark Rubin – Jew of Oklahoma- Nobody’s Pig Foot

Nobody’s Pig Foot – single (Rubinchik)

Shelley Posen & Mike Regenstreif on Zoom (2023)

Shelley Posen- Akhehr 

Mazel (Well Done Music)

Mavis Staples- We Got to Have Peace

Sad and Beautiful World (Anti-)

Satellite Birdhouse- The Big Reveal

The Big Reveal – single (Satellite Birdhouse)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on February 21. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – December 30, 2025: My top 10 folk-rooted and folk-branched albums of 2025

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/595/73491.html

Theme: My top 10 folk-rooted and folk-branched albums of 2025.

These are always hard choices. I started with a list of about 30 of my favorite albums for the year. I’ve been over the list several times in the past couple of weeks and came up with several similar – but not identical – Top 10 lists. This 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.

The annotated and illustrated version of this top 10 list is available on the Folk Roots/Folk Branches blog at … https://frfb.blogspot.com/2025/12/top-10-for-2025.html

10. Suzy Sings Siebel Volume One by Suzy Thompson

Suzy Thompson- Bride 1945

Suzy Sings Siebel Volume One (Suzy Thompson)

Suzy Thompson- Long Afternoons

Suzy Sings Siebel Volume One (Suzy Thompson)

9. Personal History by Mary Chapin Carpenter

Mary Chapin Carpenter- Girl and Her Dog

Personal History (Lambent Light/Thirty Tigers) 

Mary Chapin Carpenter- New Religion

Personal History (Lambent Light/Thirty Tigers) 

8. Field of Stars by John McCutcheon

John McCutcheon- Tikkun Olam

Field of Stars (Appalsongs)

John McCutcheon with Windborne- Blessing

Field of Stars (Appalsongs)

7. Woody At Home – Vol 1 + 2 by Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie- This Land is Your Land

Woody At Home – Vol 1 + 2 (Shamus)

Woody Guthrie- Peace Call

Woody At Home – Vol 1 + 2 (Shamus)

6. Hardscrabble Hope by Maria Dunn

Maria Dunn- Another Year

Hardscrabble Hope (Distant Whisper Music)

Maria Dunn- Leave It All On the Ice

Hardscrabble Hope (Distant Whisper Music)

5. unentitled by John Gorka

John Gorka- First Snow on the Mountains

unentitled (Red House)

John Gorka- Particle Wave (Goodness in the World)

unentitled (Red House)

4. Every Town: More Songs by Michael Smith by Anne Hills

Anne Hills- Crazy Mary

Every Town: More Songs by Michael Smith (Hand & Heart Music)

Anne Hills- Sure Has Grown

Every Town: More Songs by Michael Smith (Hand & Heart Music)

3. Bones of Trees by Tim Grimm

Tim Grimm- Broken Truth

Bones of Trees (Vault)

Tim Grimm- Up in the Attic

Bones of Trees (Vault)

2. Dark Ages by Eliza Gilkyson

Eliza Gilkyson- Times Like These 

Dark Ages (Realiza) 

Eliza Gilkyson- Holy

Dark Ages (Realiza)

1. David Amram Honors Guthrie and Ochs: Old Souls by The David Amram Quintet

The David Amram Quintet- Talking Subway

David Amram Honors Guthrie and Ochs: Old Souls (Guthrie Legacy)

The David Amram Quintet- When I’m Gone

David Amram Honors Guthrie and Ochs: Old Souls (Guthrie Legacy)

Next week: Remembering Raul Malo, Tim Williams, Joe Ely and Steve Cropper.

--Mike Regenstreif

Top 10 for 2025

Here are my picks for the Top 10 folk-rooted or folk-branched albums of 2024. I started with a list of about 30 superb albums released over the past year and I’ve been over the list several times over the past couple of weeks and came up with several similar – not identical – Top 10 lists. 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. The David Amram Quintet – David Amram Honors Guthrie and Ochs: Old Souls (Guthrie Legacy). There is no other musician quite like David Amram. Over the course of more than 50 years, I have seen David play at folk festivals and clubs and at jazz festivals and clubs. I have also seen him in tails conducting symphony and chamber orchestras as they perform his classical compositions in concert halls. On this set of five Woody Guthrie songs, and one by Phil Ochs, David offers innovative, jazzy arrangements of familiar lyrics that make them sound new and fresh. At age 95 – OK, he was only 94 when he recorded the album – David has lost none of the magic I’ve seen from him over the years. 

2. Eliza Gilkyson – Dark Ages (Realiza). On many of the songs on this this sometimes subtle, sometimes direct, collection of mostly topical songs, Eliza Gilkyson insightfully explores the darkness wrought by the forces that have taken control of her country and beyond, and offers hope and inspiration that we will find our way past these times. 

3. Tim Grimm – Bones of Trees (Vault). As both a folk-rooted songwriter and interpreter of other songs, Tim Grimm has taken his place as one of our finest artists over the past 25 years. Tim once did a whole album of Tom Paxton songs and Tom’s influence can be heard in such great topical songs as “Broken Truth” and “Woody’s Landlord Revisited,” an updated version of a song Tim first released in 2016, as well as more haunting songs like “Up in the Attic.” 

4. Anne Hills – Every Town: More Songs by Michael Smith (Hand & Heart Music). If “The Dutchman” had been the only song that Michael Smith (1941-2020) ever wrote, he’d still have to be on any list of great songwriters. But Michael wrote so many more great songs. Anne Hills has long been one of Michael’s finest interpreters. October Child, her first album of Michael Smith songs, came out in 1993 and Paradise Lost & Found, an album of their duets, came out in 1995. While every one of these songs is a gem, highlights include “Ballad of Elizabeth Dark,” “Crazy Mary” and a gorgeous duet with John Gorka on “Spoon River.” 

5. John Gorka – unentitled (Red House). John Gorka has an excellent body of work recorded over the past four decades and this collection of wise and perceptive songs might just be his best yet. Among my favorites are “Particle Wave (Goodness in the World,” a beautiful song about finding hope in these dark times, “First Snow on the Mountains,” a reflection on early winter and late-in-life love, and an exquisite interpretation of Stan Rogers’ “Harris and the Mare.” 

6. Maria Dunn – Hardscrabble Hope (Distant Whisper Music). As I’ve said before, Maria Dunn’s inspiring original songs, deeply rooted in folk and Celtic music traditions, capture the good in the human spirit and the essence of communal common cause. Maria captures that spirit and essence beautifully in songs like “Walking the Miles” and “Another Year.” And in songs like “Coal is a Thirsty Business,” she sings insightfully about the consequences of greedy endeavours on our planet. 

7. Woody Guthrie – Woody at Home – Vol 1 + 2 (Shamus). This collection of home recordings made in 1951 and ’52 by Woody Guthrie is a fascinating look at Woody’s songwriting process and includes some familiar material and some songs being heard for the first time. Some songs – like a version of “This Land is Your Land” with verses that are quite different from the ones he wrote more than 10 years earlier – are both familiar and new. Another is “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” with Woody’s own tune which is different from the melody composed years later by Martin Hoffman. Among the unfamiliar songs is “Back Door Bum and the Big Landlord,” which I’m sure must have been inspired by the landlord Tim Grimm referred to in “Woody’s Landlord Revisited,” and the very clever “My Id and My Ego.” 

8. John McCutcheon – Field of Stars (Appalsongs). John McCutcheon offers yet another superb collection of insightful, often-poignant that have much to say about the state of the world and human relations. While I like the whole album, a couple speak very directly to me. “MS St. Louis” is about the shipload of more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany who were refused entry by Cuba, the United States and Canada. Ultimately, many of them were murdered in the Holocaust, while “Tikkun Olam” is inspired by the Jewish concept of repairing the world. Other highlights include “Field of Stars,” co-written and sung with Carrie Newcomer, and “Too Old to Die Young,” a song for those of us among John’s generation who are at that age. 

9. Mary Chapin Carpenter – Personal History (Lambent Light/Thirty Tigers). As the title implies, this is perhaps the most personal album in Mary Chapin Carpenter’s career. Highlights include “Girl and Her Dog,” a reflection on life, love and contentment, “The Night We Never Met,” which captures feelings most of us have had at one time or another, and “Paint + Turpentine,” which recalls being inspired by Guy Clark. 

10. Suzy Thompson – Suzy Sings Siebel, Volume 1 (Suzy Thompson). Paul Siebel (1937-2022) was a brilliant singer-songwriter who recorded just two albums in the early-1970s. His first album, Woodsmoke and Oranges remains one of my all-time favorite LPs. On this collection, Suzy Thompson, who has long been known for mostly playing traditional music, offers 10 of Paul’s songs, including seven from Woodsmoke and Oranges, two from Jack-Knife Gypsy, and one that Paul himself never recorded. I think Paul would have been pleased with Suzy’s fine interpretations. I’ll mention that some of my favorite Siebel songs – including “My Town,” Then Came the Children” and “Legend of the Captain’s Daughter” – are not in this set. So I’m looking forward to Volume 2. 

I will be featuring songs from each of these albums on Stranger Songs, Tuesday December 30, 3:30-5 pm (ET), on CKCU. The program is now available 24/7 for on-demand streaming at this link. 

–Mike Regenstreif