Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – June 9, 2026: Songs of Richard Fariña

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/595/75747.html

Theme: Songs of Richard Fariña.

Richard Fariña was a folksinger, songwriter, dulcimer player and novelist, who died in a motorcycle crash in 1966 at age 29. Richard was married twice – first to folksinger Carolyn Hester, and then to folksinger Mimi Fariña, the younger sister of Joan Baez, with whom he recorded three albums, the third of which was released in his memory two years after his death, which, tragically, happened on Mimi’s 21st birthday. While I never met Richard, I did become friends with Mimi when she came to play several times at the Golem, the folk club I ran in Montreal in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Mimi & Richard Fariña

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Dandelion River Run

Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard)

Judy Collins- Pack Up Your Sorrows

Fifth Album (Elektra)

Caroline Doctorow- Another Country

Another Country: The Songs of Mimi and Richard Fariña (Narrow Lane)

Moore & McGregor- Reno Nevada

Dream with Me (Ivernia)

Rhiannon Giddens- Birmingham Sunday

Freedom Highway (Nonesuch)

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Michael, Andrew and James

Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard)

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Tommy Makem Fantasy

Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard)

Mimi Fariña- Quiet Joys of Brotherhood

Solo (Philo)

Caroline Doctorow- Reflections in a Crystal Wind

Another Country: The Songs of Mimi and Richard Fariña (Narrow Lane)

Stevie Coyle- The Falcon

Ten in One (Tuna Mine Music)

Grace Griffith- A Swallow Song

MinstrelSong (Blix Street)

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Raven Girl

Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard)

Plainsong- One Way Ticket

Reinventing Richard: The Songs of Richard Fariña (Omnivore)

Ben & Dom- Children of Darkness

His Head Lies Heavy (Ben & Dom)

Eric Andersen- Bold Marauder

Waves (Appleseed)

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Morgan the Pirate

Memories (Vanguard)

Joan Baez- All the World Has Gone By

Memories (Vanguard)

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Joy ‘Round My Brain

Memories (Vanguard)

Judy Collins- Hard Lovin’ Loser

In My Life (Elektra)

Plainsong- Mainline Prosperity Blues

Reinventing Richard: The Songs of Richard Fariña (Omnivore)

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Pack Up Your Sorrows

Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard)

Next week: Blonde on Blonde Revisited.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday July 20, 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/595/52778.html

Theme: Remembering Mimi Fariña

Mimi Fariña – the younger sister of Joan Baez and the musical partner and widow of important singer, songwriter and author Richard Fariña – passed away 20 years ago this week on July 18, 2001 from cancer at the young age of 56. Most of the show is devoted to a concert recorded in 1988 for German radio.

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Pack Up Your Sorrows
Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard)

Mimi was an activist and in 1974, she founded a non-profit organization called Bread & Roses in the San Francisco Bay area that presents more than 600 concerts per year in institutions ranging from children's day care centres and special needs schools, to hospitals, adult and juvenile detention facilities, homeless shelters, adult recovery centers, nursing homes and seniors’ day centres.

Mimi named her organization Bread & Roses after reading James Oppenheim’s poem, Bread & Roses, written in honor of the women garment workers on strike in 1912 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The strike became known as the Bread & Roses strike because of its slogan – “Give us bread, but give us roses, too.” Mimi set the poem to music and it became the title song of Judy Collins’ 1976 album, Bread and Roses.

Judy Collins- Bread and Roses
Bread and Roses (Elektra)

The concert by Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger -- recorded February 2nd, 1988 by Michael Kleff for German radio -- is available on a CD called Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses. It is available from the Bread & Roses website at this link.

Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Best of Friends
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Children of Darkness
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- I Can See Clearly Now
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Dandelion
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Old Woman
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)

Mimi & Richard Fariña- Dog Blue  
Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard)

Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Mr. Rudy
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Come Get Me Shoes
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Less Than the Song
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Deep Feelings
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)

Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Sad Cities
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Mama Tried
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- If My Eyes Were Blind
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)

Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Big Party
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Daniel Prayed
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)
Mimi Fariña with Lowell Levinger- Defying Gravity
Live in Germany: To Benefit Bread & Roses (Dogfish Music)

Joan Baez- Sweet Sir Galahad
Live at Woodstock (Craft)
Pete Seeger- The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood
God Bless the Grass (Columbia/Legacy)
Rhiannon Giddens- Birmingham Sunday
Freedom Highway (Nonesuch)
Caroline Doctorow- Reflections in a Crystal Wind
Another Country: The Songs of Mimi and Richard Fariña (Narrow Lane)

Next week – Hourglass: Songs and conversation with Murray McLauchlan

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Caroline Doctorow -- Another Country: The Songs of Richard and Mimi Fariña

Caroline Doctorow
Another Country: The Songs of Mimi and Richard Fariña
Narrow Lane Records
carolinedoctorow.com

Mimi and Richard Fariña had a very brief career in the mid-1960s, releasing two fine albums – Celebrations for a Grey Day and Reflections in a Crystal Wind – in 1965 that still hold up remarkably well, before Richard was killed, at just 29, in a motorcycle accident on Mimi’s 21st birthday. A third album, Memories, included outtakes and a couple of solo tracks each by Mimi and her sister, Joan Baez, singing Richard’s songs, was released in 1968. The 12 songs and one brief instrumental on Caroline Doctorow’s tribute to the Fariñas were all drawn from those three albums.

Recording a successful tribute album like this means walking a tightrope in that the interpretations must retain the essence of the original versions while bringing something new to the songs. The arrangements have to simultaneously reflect the spirit of the times in which the songs come from while still sounding relevant today. Caroline Doctorow and her primary collaborator, producer Pete Kennedy, succeed admirably on this CD. Most of Caroline’s versions are every bit as good as the originals and there are even a couple, “Hard Lovin’ Loser” and “Sell-Out Agitation Waltz,” that I think are far better than the originals. Pete knows how to play and produce rock and roll much better than Richard did, so these rockier songs fare much better in his hands than they did in Richard’s.

Among my favourites on the CD is Caroline’s version of “Reflections in a Crystal Wind,” a lyrically oblique song that I’ve always heard as a young person trying to come to an understanding of what makes love, and the world, go round. Nanci Griffith supplies some lovely harmonies. Another is “The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood,” done here in a version that is both haunting and beautiful.

In addition to the Fariña songs, the album is built around Caroline’s excellent vocals and Pete’s excellent arrangements. Pete’s playing, on a variety of often-overdubbed instruments, is always superb. Other musicians and singers who contribute include Happy Traum, Eric Weissberg, John Sebastian, Nanci Griffith and Maura Kennedy.

I didn’t know Richard personally, but Mimi, who died of cancer in 2001, and I became friends in the 1980s and she made several trips to Montreal to play at the Golem, the folk club I ran back then. I think Mimi would have been very moved by Caroline’s tribute.

--Mike Regenstreif