Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – June 4, 2024: Remembering Spider John Koerner; The Enduring Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis

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/595/65407.html

Themes: Part 1: Remembering Spider John Koerner (1938-2024) / Part 2: The Enduring Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis (1896-1972)

Part 1: Remembering Spider John Koerner

Spider John Koerner was an influential folk and blues legend who died of cancer on May 18 at age 85.

Spider John Koerner was already one of the leading performers on the Minneapolis folk scene when Robert Zimmerman, still a teenager, moved there to attend the University of Minnesota. Spider John was highly influential in the musical direction that Zimmerman took that year – including beginning to call himself Bob Dylan. In his memoir, Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan wrote: “Koerner was tall and thin with a look of perpetual amusement on his face. We hit it off right away … when he spoke he was soft-spoken but when he sang he became a field holler shouter. Koerner was an exciting singer and we began playing a lot together.”

I first discovered Spider John Koerner while I was a teenager. It was probably 1969 or ’70 when I bought an LP called Blues, Rags & Hollers by the trio of Koerner, Ray & Glover – Spider John Koerner, Dave "Snaker" Ray and Tony "Little Sun: Glover. The album, from 1963, was mostly solo cuts by one or another of the three, along with a few duo cuts by two of the three.

Koerner, Ray & Glover- Linin’ Track

Blues, Rags & Hollers (Red House)

Ray Wylie Hubbard- Spider, Snaker and Little Sun

Tell the Devil I’m Coming As Fast As I Can (Bordello)

Spider John Koerner & Dave "Snaker" Ray- Black Dog

(Lots More) Blues, Rags & Hollers (Red House)

Koerner, Ray & Glover- What’s the Matter with the Mill

(Lots More) Blues, Rags & Hollers (Red House)

Spider John Koerner- Froggie Went a-Courtin’

Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Been (Red House)

Spider John Koerner- The Roving Gambler

Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Been (Red House)

Spider John Koerner- The Days of Forty-Nine

StarGeezer (Red House)

Spider John Koerner- Taking My Time

StarGeezer (Red House)

Part 2: The Enduring Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis

Reverend Gary Davis, who died in 1972 at age 76, was a street preacher and a highly influential legend of blues, gospel and folk music. His guitar playing influenced many of the artists who came into the folk scene in the 1950s, ‘60s, ‘70s and continuing to the present.

Reverend Gary Davis- You Got to Move

A Little More Faith (Prestige/Bluesville)

Mountain City Four- Motherless Children

Mountain City Four (Omnivore)

Mr. Rick- I’ll Fly Away

Mr. Rick Sings About God + Booze (Mr. Rick)

Mary Flower- Sit Down on the Banks

Gary Davis Style: The Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis (Riverlark)

Michael Jerome Browne- Reverend Strut

Gettin’ Together (Borealis/Stony Plain)

Reverend Gary Davis- I’m Glad I’m in That Number

A Little More Faith (Prestige/Bluesville)

Marie Knight- When I Die

Let Us Get Together: A Tribute to Reverend Gary Davis (M.C.)

Andy Cohen- Pure Religion

Oh Glory, How Happy I Am: The Sacred Songs of Rev. Gary Davis (Riverlark)

William Lee Ellis- I Heard the Angels Singing

Gary Davis Style: The Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis (Riverlark)

Roy Book Binder- The Preacher Picked the Guitar

Singer-Songwriter Bluesman (PEGleg)

Dave Van Ronk- Cocaine

Live at Sir George Williams University (Just a Memory)

Reverend Gary Davis- Buck Dance

Live & Kickin’ (Just a Memory)

Guy Davis- Candy Man

Stomp Down Rider (Red House)

Penny Lang & Friends- God Knows How Much We Can Bear

Gary Davis Style: The Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis (Riverlark)

Mitch Greenhill & Mayne Smith- Samson & Delilah

Gary Davis Style: The Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis (Riverlark)

Bruce Cockburn- Twelve Gates to the City

Bone on Bone (True North)

Reverend Gary Davis- I Will Do My Last Singing in This Land Somewhere

Live at Newport (Vanguard)

Next week: Songs for Fathers

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday February 28, 2023: A Tribute to Josh White

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/595/59557.html

Theme: A Tribute to Josh White (1914-1969).

Josh White was a highly influential blues, folk and jazz singer and guitarist. He made his first recordings in 1928 at about age 14 or 15 and his 1944 recording of “One Meatball” was the first song by a male, African American artist to sell a million copies. Josh White was honored earlier this month by Folk Alliance International with its Legacy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Two songs on this show – “Goodbye Josh” and “A Natural Man” – are tributes to Josh White. The other songs were all part of Josh White’s repertoire.

Josh White- Good Morning Blues

The Josh White Stories, Vols. I & II (Jasmine)

Josh White, Jr.- One Meatball

Live at the Raven Gallery (Silverwolf)

Madeleine Peyroux- Lonesome Road

Careless Love (Rounder)

Mr. Rick- Two Little Fishes

Mr. Rick Sings About God + Booze (Mr. Rick)

Sister Rosetta Tharpe- Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho

This Train in Concert (Sunset Blvd.)

Josh White- Things About Coming My Way

Spirituals & Blues (Elektra)

Louis Jordan- I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Years 1955-1958 (Jasmine)

Josh White, Jr. with Robin Batteau- You Won’t Let Me Go

Jazz, Ballads & Blues (Ryko)

Peter Yarrow- Goodbye Josh

Peter (Warner Bros.)

Peter, Paul & Mary- Betty and Dupree

See What Tomorrow Brings (Warner Bros.)

Jack Williams- A Natural Man

Walkin’ Dreams (Wind River)

Josh White- Strange Fruit

The Josh White Stories, Vols. I & II (Jasmine)

Crabtree & Mills- Miss Otis Regrets

Flight of Fancy (Free and Easy Music)

Bonnie Dobson- Dink’s Song

Take Me for a Walk in the Morning Dew (Hornbeam)

Odetta- House of the Rising Sun

Livin’ with the Blues (Vanguard)

Dave Van Ronk- St. James Infirmary

…and the tin pan bended, and the story ended… (Smithsonian Folkways)

Josh White- The Story of John Henry

The Story of John Henry: A Musical Narrative (Elektra)

Julian Fauth- Frankie & Johnny

The Weak and the Wicked, the Hard and the Strong (Electro-Fi)

Next week: Songs of Kris Kristofferson.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Various Artists – God Don’t Never Change; Mr. Rick Sings About God + Booze

VARIOUS ARTISTS

God Don’t Never Change: The Songs of Blind Willie Johnson

Alligator Records

alligator.com

Like many, my first exposure to Blind Willie Johnson was via his recording of “John the Revelator,” included on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music, a monumental collection of recordings from the 1920s and ‘30s that was so influential on the generations of folk-rooted artists that came to the fore in the 1950s, ‘60s and beyond. The artists on the Anthology – including Johnson – are the anchor of what Greil Marcus has termed the “old weird America.”

Johnson could have been one of the deepest sounding of the early bluesmen but was devoutly religious and only sang the gospel and spiritual songs he wrote or adapted from earlier sources. He recorded 30 tracks in all between 1927 and 1930 when the Great Depression effectively killed his recording career – the 2-CD set, The Complete Blind Willie Johnson (Columbia/Legacy) is highly recommended – but many of those songs have become standards of revival folk and blues artists from Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul & Mary to Eric Clapton.

God Don’t Never Change: The Songs of Blind Willie Johnson is a set of 11 of Johnson’s songs performed by an interesting group of contemporary artists.

Tom Waits – whose voice on some of his later recordings seems almost genetically descended from Johnson’s – leads off the set with a compelling version of “The Soul of a Man,” that is built on a sampled guitar track taken from a field recording of Smith Casey recorded by John Lomax and featuring Waits’ wife, Kathleen Brennan, on background vocals and their son, Casey Waits on drums. Waits returns later in the album with “John the Revelator.”

Lucinda Williams, who has a deep understanding of traditional southern music running through much of her own music, also turns in effective performances on two songs: “Nobody’s Fault but Mine,” and the title track, “God Don’t Never Change.”

Interestingly, the only African American artists on the album, the Blind Boys of Alabama, turn in the single performance that seems least influenced by Johnson. Their infectious version of “Mother’s Children Have a Hard Time” is done in their time-honored style reflecting the religious joyousness that is always at the heart of their performances.

Among the other highlights are the call-and-response version of “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning” by Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi; a deeply felt rendition of “Light from the Light House” by Maria McKee; and a subdued, thoughtful reading of “Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground” by Rickie Lee Jones that effectively brings in a New Orleans-funeral-style horn arrangement near the end of the song.

MR. RICK

Mr. Rick Sings About God + Booze

mrrickmusicamericana.com

One of the Blind Willie Johnson standards not included on God Don’t Never Change was “You’ll Need Someone on Your Bond.” However, Mr. Rick – a.k.a. Rick Zolkower – does a nice, rockabilly-flavored version on Mr. Rick Sings About God + Booze, a mostly upbeat collection of traditional and contemporary Saturday night and Sunday morning songs.

Mr. Rick and his musical friends draw on all manner of roots styles in creating irresistible versions of such God songs as “Hush,” Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “One Kind Favor,” and “I’ll Fly Away,” and such boozers as Eric Von Schmidt’s “Champagne Don’t Drive Me Crazy,” Sleepy John Estes’ “Liquor Store Blues” and Mr. Rick’s own “Don’t Put My Bourbon Down.”

Perhaps my favorite track is “Two Little Fishes,” a biblical story song I first heard sung by Josh White, that takes on a klezmer feel thanks to Jono Lightstone’s clarinet playing.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif