Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – April 8, 2025: A Tribute to Doc Watson

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/595/69695.html

Theme: A Tribute to Doc Watson (1923-2012).

Doc Watson was one of the most influential guitarists and singers of folk and related musical styles of all time. Blind since infancy, Doc was from Deep Gap, North Carolina and began his professional career playing electric guitar in a country and western band in the early 1950s. Doc had a deep repertoire of traditional folk songs and by the 1960s was performing folk music on acoustic guitar and banjo. Doc died in 2012 at age 89.

Doc & Merle Watson- Brown’s Ferry Blues

Doc Watson On Stage (Vanguard)

Doc & Merle Watson- Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down

Doc Watson On Stage (Vanguard)

Bill Garrett- Winters Night

Seems to Me (Borealis)

Jody Stecher- Way Downtown

Going Up On the Mountain (Acoustic Disc)

Michael Jerome Browne- The Coo Coo

Michael Jerome Browne & The Twin Rivers String Band (Borealis)

Si Kahn- To Hear Doc Watson Play

Thanksgiving (Strictly Country)

Doc Watson- Deep River Blues

Doc Watson (Vanguard)

Jean Ritchie & Doc Watson- Go Dig My Grave

Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson At Folk City (Smithsonian Folkways)

Doc & Merle Watson- Freight Train Boogie

Elementary Doctor Watson (Tomato)

Mitch Greenhill & Mayne Smith- Freight Train Blues

Storm Coming (Folklore Productions)

Maria Muldaur with Doc & Merle Watson- Honey Babe Blues

Waitress in a Donut Shop (Reprise)

Ian & Sylvia- Handsome Molly

Ian & Sylvia (Vanguard)

Tom Paxton- Leaving London

The Compleat Tom Paxton (Even Compleater) (Rhino Handmade)

Doc & Richard Watson- St. James Infirmary

Third Generation Blues (Sugar Hill)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- St. James Hospital

Heartbeats Accelerating (Private)

Paul Mills- Doc’s Guitar

The Other Side of the Glass (Borealis) 

Peter Rowan- Doc Watson Morning

The Old School (Compass)

Rory Block & Lee Berg- Your Long Journey

Woodstock Mountains: More Music from Mud Acres (Rounder)

Doc & Merle Watson- I’m a Stranger Here

Sittin’ Here Pickin’ the Blues (Rounder)

Happy Traum- Willie Moore

Relax Your Mind (Kicking Mule)

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer- Shady Grove

Voice on the Wind (Rounder)

Jim Ringer- Sittin’ On Top of the World

Any Old Wind That Blows (Philo)

Laurie Lewis & Kathy Kallick- Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar

Together (Rounder)

Doc & Merle Watson- Along the Road

Watson Country (Flying Fish)

Doc & Merle Watson- Snowbird

Two Days in November (Poppy)

Doc & Merle Watson- Down Yonder

Songs Doc Didn’t Sing (FLI)

Next week: “All God’s Critters Got a Place in the Choir.”

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday May 30, 2023: Songs of Bertolt Brecht

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU in Ottawa on Tuesdays 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 recorded and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/60634.html

Theme: Songs of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956).

Bertolt Brecht, who died in 1956 at age 58, was a German playwright and poet who believed in the power of the arts to advance progressive causes. One of his most famous quotations is, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.”

Brecht collaborated worked with a number of composers – including Kurt Weill, Hans Eisler and others – to put his words to music.

Songs from The Threepenny Opera (1928). Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill.

Dave Van Ronk- Mack the Knife

Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht (Flying Fish)

Judy Collins- Pirate Jenny

Forever: An Anthology (Elektra)

The Fowler Brothers & Stan Ridgway- Cannon Song

Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill (A&M)

Beatrice Arthur- Barbara Song

The Threepenny Opera – 1954 Off Broadway Cast Recording (Decca)

William S. Burroughs- What Keeps Mankind Alive?

September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill (Sony Classical)

Lotte Lenya- Solomon Song

The Threepenny Opera – 1954 Off Broadway Cast Recording (Decca)

Dave Van Ronk & Frankie Armstrong- Tango Ballad

Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht (Flying Fish)

Bertolt Brecht- Moritat von Mackie Messer (Mack the Knife)

September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill (Sony Classical)

Songs from Happy End (1929). Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill.

Martha Schlamme- The Bilbao Song

A Kurt Weill Cabaret (MGM)

Lotte Lenya- Sailor’s Tango

Lotte Lenya Singt Kurt Weill (Philips)

Will Holt- Mandalay Song

A Kurt Weill Cabaret (MGM)

Bette Midler- Surabaya Johnny

Bette Midler (Atlantic)

Songs from The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1944). Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht.

The songs from The Caucasian Chalk Circle have been set to music by many composers – with many productions of the play commissioning unique settings. These settings were composed by Dave Holt for a 1970s production by The Camp Meeker Players in Sonoma County, California. These unreleased recordings were recorded seven or eight years ago at a reunion of the cast. Thanks to Mitch Greenhill for sending the recordings and securing permission to use them on this program.

Carol Burleson, Mitch Greenhill & Dave Holt- Song of the Adoption

The Caucasian Chalk Circle (unreleased recording – used with permission)

Carol Burleson, Mitch Greenhill & Dave Holt- Song of the Child

The Caucasian Chalk Circle (unreleased recording – used with permission)

Carol Burleson, Mitch Greenhill & Dave Holt- Song of the Return

The Caucasian Chalk Circle (unreleased recording – used with permission)

Songs from The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1927). Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill..

Dave Van Ronk- We All Make the Bed That We Lie In

Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht (Flying Fish)

Marianne Faithfull- Alabama Song

20th Century Blues (RCA)

The Persuasions- Oh Heavenly Salvation

September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill (Sony Classical)

Songs with words by Bertolt Brecht and music by Hans Eisler.

Pirate Jenny Trio- To the Little Radio

Cabaret Blues (Pirate Jenny Trio)

Frankie Armstrong- The Love Market

Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht (Flying Fish)

Pirate Jenny Trio- Ballad of the Soldier’s Wife

Cabaret Blues (Pirate Jenny Trio)

Frankie Armstrong- The Song of the Little Wind

Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht (Flying Fish)

Pirate Jenny Trio- Song of a German Mother

Cabaret Blues (Pirate Jenny Trio)

The program ends with an instrumental version of the song we started with.

Oscar Peterson & Itzhak Pearlman- Mack the Knife

Side By Side (Telarc)

Next week: Songs of Leonard Cohen – The Later Years.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Rosalie Sorrels 1933-2017

I am deeply saddened today to learn that my old friend and colleague – and folk music legend – Rosalie Sorrels passed away last night at her daughter Holly’s home in Reno, Nevada. Her children – Holly Marizu, Shelley Ross and Kevin Sorrels – and I believe other family members were with her as she slipped away over the past several days. Rosalie would have turned 84 on June 24.

Rosalie was one of the great interpretive singers on the folk music scene. She sang traditional folk songs, cabaret songs and gave us definitive versions of the songs of so many songwriters – notably Bruce “Utah” Phillips and Malvina Reynolds, among many others. And, of course, she was a remarkable songwriter herself.

Rosalie began her folk music journey in the 1950s and early-‘60s, collecting traditional songs and performing locally in Idaho and Utah – and making an occasional trip east to perform at events like the Newport Folk Festival. She made several albums of traditional songs in those years and one of them, “Folksongs of Idaho and Utah,” originally released in 1961, remains in print to this day via Smithsonian Folkways.

In 1967, she made a lovely album, “If I Could Be the Rain,” in which she introduced her own songs for the first time. About half the songs were Rosalie’s and about half were written by her Salt Lake City friend, Bruce “Utah” Phillips. Rosalie’s guitarist on the album was Mitch Greenhill, who would go to work with Rosalie often over the years as a musician, record producer, and agent.

Around that time, Rosalie’s marriage broke up and she hit the road – five children in tow – to earn her living on the folk music circuit. Nanci Griffith tells Rosalie’s story in the song “Ford Econoline.” Lena Spencer of the legendary folk music venue Caffé Lena in Saratoga Springs, New York, gave Rosalie a home base as she began to travel to folk clubs, concerts and festivals – sometimes traveling by Greyhound Bus – in the U.S. and Canada.

Rosalie played in Montreal often. I was still in high school when I first heard and met Rosalie at the Back Door Coffee House in Montreal, sometime around 1970. The gig at the Back Door was four or five nights long and it was during that stay in Montreal that Rosalie wrote “Travelin’ Lady,” which became her signature song.

I began to produce concerts in Montreal as a college student in 1972 and my first booking with Rosalie was a double bill with Utah Phillips at Redpath Hall on the McGill campus in 1973. By 1974, I was running a Montreal folk club, the Golem Coffee House, and Rosalie played there often throughout the 1970s and ‘80s. Sometimes Rosalie came to the Golem as a solo artist and sometimes with musicians like Mitch Greenhill or Tony Markellis. Sometimes she came to the Golem on a double bill with Utah Phillips, and once as part of a three-woman show with Terry Garthwaite of Joy of Cooking and writer and storyteller Bobbie Louise Hawkins.

Rosalie was a quietly mesmerizing performer on stage and I have so many great memories of performances that I produced with her in Montreal – but also of concerts I saw her do in many other places in Canada and the U.S. In addition to her singing, Rosalie was one of the most masterful storytellers ever.

In the late-‘70s, I operated an independent booking agency for a few years representing a select roster of folk music artists and I was honored that Rosalie was one of my treasured clients.

In her song, “Rosalie, You Can’t Go Home Again,” Rosalie refers to lessons that she learned from her “teachers” – not referring to school teachers. Rosalie was one of my teachers. Rosalie taught me much about the endurance of the human spirit and that adversities and personal tragedies can be the basis for cathartic art. And she taught me how to recognize greatness in songs.

Rosalie Sorrels & Mike Regenstreif (1993)

A quick anecdote: I was at a folk festival with Rosalie – it could have been Mariposa or Philadelphia or Winnipeg or Vancouver, or maybe somewhere else, and Rosalie was in a multi-artist workshop. One of the other artists, a folkier-than-thou type who I will leave nameless, ranted on about how there were no good rock songs, that contemporary singer-songwriters starting with Bob Dylan were all terrible, and that traditional folk songs or songs that have lasted 50 or 60 years were the only ones that mattered. Rosalie responded by saying something like, “Yeah, you’re right, let me play you this song.” She proceeded to sing “If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine/And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung…” When she finished the song, the folkier-than-thou guy said something like, “Now that was a great song! Where did you collect it?” Rosalie turned to him and said, “It’s by the Grateful Dead.”

The memories of times spent with Rosalie – in Montreal, Saratoga, Vermont, Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto, etc. – are flooding back tonight. I remember the performances, for sure, but I also treasure the times around her kitchen tables in Ballston Spa or Burlington or in bars and friends’ living rooms all up and down the road, sitting up late and sharing songs, stories, drinks and memories.

I’m listening tonight to Rosalie’s 1972 album “Travelin’ Lady.” It was her most recent album the first time I produced a concert with her and it remains one of my favorites of Rosalie’s albums. One of the most inspiring songs of Rosalie’s original songs on the album is “Postcard from Indian (Keep on Rocking).” It’s a kind of existential, secular prayer song:

“If I should die before I wake
There’s nothing here I’d want to take with me
I’ve had the best, I’ve had the worst
I’ve been last, I got into the line first
I’ve been hungry, I’ve been satisfied
I’ve seen the carnival, I’ve taken every ride

If I should wake before I die
I’d never stop to wonder why
I’d grab the day, take it and run
Naked, reaching for the sun
I’d run like a rabbit, fly like a dove
All around the world, searching for love…sweet love

And yet here I lie, afraid to sleep
Afraid to look inside too deep
Just want to climb outside this skin
I’ll find out who it is that’s in there
Oh, friends and lovers, keep me afloat
Keep on rockin’…It’s a beautiful boat.”

That’s a message I think Rosalie would want to leave us with: “Keep on rockin’…It’s a beautiful boat.”

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Rosalie Sorrels reissues – Travelin’ Lady & Whatever Happened to the Girl That Was

ROSALIE SORRELS
Travelin’ Lady
original LP on Sire
wayoutinidaho.net

ROSALIE SORRELS
Whatever Happened to the Girl That Was
original LP on Paramount
wayoutinidaho.net

I first met Rosalie Sorrels, the great singer, songwriter and storyteller, sometime around 1970 or so when she was in Montreal to play at the too-short-lived Back Door Coffee House. It was a four or five night gig and while she there she wrote “Travelin’ Lady,” which became her signature song and gave her next LP its title.

Travelin’ Lady was her current album when I started to produce concerts for Rosalie in Montreal and it was followed by Whatever Happened to the Girl That Was, a year or so later.

(In the late-‘70s, Rosalie was one of my clients for a couple of years when I operated a folk music booking agency.)

Of all of Rosalie’s albums, these were the only two on major labels and like many albums by non-mainstream artists on the majors, they went out-of-print much too soon.

While most of Rosalie’s albums from over the years have been reissued on CD at one time or another, these two never were until a few years ago when they were put out in Asia by Big Pink, a reissue label in South Korea. Here in North America, they had to be ordered expensively over the Internet (with even more expensive shipping charges).

Those LPs meant a lot to me so after Rosalie assured me she was actually earning royalties from the reissues, I ordered them and they took their place in my complete collection of Rosalie Sorrels CDs.

At age 81 and with some health issues, Rosalie can no longer travel and perform but her son Kevin Sorrels (who I've not seen since he was a kid) is operating her website and is making the two CDs available as a package deal as a way of generating some extra income for her. I believe Kevin is selling copies of the albums he's had manufactured domestically, but the price is significantly cheaper than what I paid a few years ago to order the albums from South Korea.

Travelin’ Lady, with liner notes by Hunter S. Thompson, was highlighted by three of Rosalie’s best songs: “Travelin’ Lady,” the story of her life on the road; “Postcard From India,” a philosophical tribute to endurance and acceptance; and “Rosalie, You Can’t Go Home Again.” Written at a time when Rosalie’s marriage had broken up and she was out on the road earning a hard living for herself and her five kids. The song is about the need to stand on her own and move forward.

Another highlight is Bruce “Utah” Phillips’ “Rock Me to Sleep,” one of the best songs ever about how the commercial music business can suck music and its creators dry.

Whatever Happened to the Girl That Was which features some country, blues and folk-rock arrangements includes some fine examples of Rosalie’s original songwriting but my favorite songs on it are her interpretations of several other writers’ works.

Among them are three songs about the ravages of too much alcohol or the reasons that lead to too much drinking. Gary White’s “Nobody’s,” named for a Greenwich Village bar from back in the day, captures the feelings of loneliness and despair of a woman in pain. The song includes the line that gave the LP its title and I think Rosalie sang it son convincingly because she’s lived those feelings herself. Paul Geremia’s “Elegant Hobo,” arranged very differently from Paul’s own version, let us know that any of us could someday be that hobo, while “The Toast,” also by Gary White, is a powerful late night bar closer about the reasons too many people have been lost in the haze of alcohol. Sung a cappella, Rosalie’s version of the song cuts directly through to the heart.

Rosalie Sorrels & Mike Regenstreif (1993)

The other highlights include a powerful version of Bruce “Utah” Phillips’ “Rock, Salt and Nails,” a bitter song Bruce always refused to sing himself; “Hall of Fame,” Joe Dolce’s declaration of independence from the commercial music business; and Mitch Greenhill’s “Brightwood Fire,” about the thoughts and feelings running through the head of an insomniac unable to sleep.

With reissues of Travelin’ Lady and Whatever Happened to the Girl That Was now available, I’m waiting and hoping for a reissue of Moments of Happiness, now Rosalie’s only album from the 44 or so years that I’ve known her that has never come out on CD.

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--Mike Regenstreif