Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – February 25, 2025: A Tribute to Nina Simone

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/595/69011.html

Theme: A Tribute to Nina Simone (1933-2003).

Nina Simone – who died in 2003 at age 70 – was a singer, songwriter, and pianist whose music encompassed classical, jazz, blues, folk, gospel and pop styles. She was also an activist and was often referred to as “the High Priestess of Soul.”

Nina Simone- Suzanne

To Love Somebody (RCA)

Nina Simone- Rags and Old Iron

Forbidden Fruit (Colpix)

Oscar Brown, Jr.- Work Song

The Voice of Cool (Not Now Music)

Nina Simone- Forbidden Fruit

Forbidden Fruit (Colpix)

Nina Simone- Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

To Love Somebody (RCA)

Tom Russell & The Norwegian Wind Ensemble- Nina Simone

Aztec Jazz (Frontera)

Linda Tillery & The Cultural Heritage Choir- See Line Woman

Front Porch Music (EarthBeat!)

Susan Werner- House of the Rising Sun

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

Missy Burgess- Trouble in Mind

Missy Burgess with The Blue Train Live (Missy Burgess)

Sneezy Waters- Solitude

Sneezy Waters (Sneezy Waters)

Nina Simone- The Gal from Joe’s

Nina Simone Sings Ellington (Colpix)

Odetta- When I was a Young Girl

Odetta at Carnegie Hall (Vanguard)

Rufus Wainwright- Hush Little Baby

Folkocracy (BMG)

Nina Simone- Silver City Bound

Folksy Nina (Colpix)

Nina Simone- Mississippi Goddam

The Best of Broadside 1962-1988 (Smithsonian Folkways)

Nina Simone- Stars

The Montreux Years (BMG)

Janis Ian- Nina

The Light at the End of the Line (Rude Girl)

Willie Nelson- Come Ye

Last Leaf on the Tree (Legacy)

Nina Simone- Balm in Gilead

Baltimore (Epic/Legacy)

Ledisi- I’m Going Back Home

Ledisi Sings Nina (BMG)

Nina Simone- I Shall Be Released

To Love Somebody (RCA)

Next week: A Tribute to Fats Domino on Mardi Gras Day.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday June 20, 2023: The Philosophy of Modern Song, Part 2

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/595/60948.html

Theme: The Philosophy of Modern Song, Part 2.

Bob Dylan wrote about each of the songs on this show in his book, The Philosophy of Modern Song. Except where noted, these tracks are the versions of the songs that Dylan cites.

Dylan cites the 1956 version of “Ruby, Are You Mad at Your Man?” by The Osborne Brothers.

Carolina Chocolate Drops- Ruby, Are You Mad at Your Man?

Leaving Eden (Nonesuch)

Dylan cites the 1958 version of “Volare” by Domenico Modugno.

The Gipsy Kings- Volare

The Best of The Gipsy Kings (Nonesuch/Elektra)

The Clash- London Calling

London Calling (Epic)

Hank Williams- Your Cheatin’ Heart

40 Greatest Hits (Polydor)

Roy Orbison- Blue Bayou

In Dreams (Monument)

Dylan cites the 1970 version of “Midnight Rider” by The Allman Brothers.

Greg Allman- Midnight Rider

T-Bone Burnett presents The Speaking Clock Revue: Live from The Beacon Theatre (Shout! Factory)

Carl Perkins- Blue Suede Shoes

The Rockin’ Guitar Man: The Singles 1955-1962 (Jasmine)

Little Richard- Long Tall Sally

18 Greatest Hits (Rhino)

Warren Zevon- Dirty Life and Times

The Wind (Artemis)

Mose Allison- Everybody Cryin’ Mercy

I’ve Been Doin’ Some Thinkin’ (Atlantic)

Johnny Cash- Big River

The Legend of Johnny Cash (American Recordings)

Ernie K-Doe- A Certain Girl

Finger Poppin’ and Stompin’ Feet: 20 Classic Allen Toussaint Productions for Minit Records 1960-1962 (Crescent City Soul)

Dylan cites the 1964 version of “Blue Moon” by Dean Martin.

Ian Tyson- Blue Moon

Live at Longview (Stony Plain)

Waylon Jennings- I’ve Always Been Crazy

Nashville Rebel (RCA/Legacy)

Judy Garland- Come Rain or Come Shine

Judy (Capitol)

Jimmy Reed- Big Boss Man

Found Love (Vee-Jay)

Dylan cites the 1928 version of “Old and Only in the Way” by Charlie Poole.

Loudon Wainwright III- Old and Only in the Way

High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project (2nd Story Sound)

Nina Simone- Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

Broadway-Blues-Ballads (Philips)

Pete Seeger- Waist Deep in the Big Muddy

Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and Other Love Songs (Columbia)

Elvis Presley- Viva Las Vegas

Viva Las Vegas (RCA)

Dylan cites the 1996 version of “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” by Jimmy Webb.

Susie Arioli Band featuring Jordan Officer- By the Time I Get to Phoenix

Learn to Smile Again (Justin Time)

Frank Sinatra- Strangers in the Night

Greatest Love Songs (Reprise)

Santana- Black Magic Woman

Abraxis (Columbia)

Next week: Songs of Bruce Cockburn.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday May 2, 2023: Stompin’ at the Savoy

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/595/60257.html

Theme: Stompin’ at the Savoy.

The Savoy Ballroom in the Harlem section of New York City was a major music venue from 1926 until 1958, and in the liner notes to Savoy by Taj Mahal, Holger Peterson notes that 13 of the 14 songs on the album would likely have been heard at the Savoy during its long run. And that’s what gave me the idea for this theme. All the songs on this show were performed during that period and might well have been heard at the Savoy at some point.

Taj Mahal- Stompin’ at the Savoy

Savoy (Stony Plain)

Ella Fitzgerald with The Chick Webb Orchestra- A-Tisket, A-Tasket

Swingsation (Verve)

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy- Diga Diga Do

Rattle Them Bones (Savoy Jazz)

Howard Armstrong- Lady Be Good

Louie Bluie (Blue Suit)

Samoa Wilson with The Jim Kweskin Band- He Ain’t Got Rhythm

I Just Want to Be Horizontal (Kingswood)

Taj Mahal- Baby Won’t You Please Come Home

Savoy (Stony Plain)

Catherine Russell & Mike Regenstreif (2007)

Catherine Russell- Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?

Alone Together (Dot Time)

Taj Mahal- Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me

Savoy (Stony Plain)

Barney Bigard & Orchestra- C Jam Blues

The Great Ellington Units (BMG)

Ella Fitzgerald with The Duke Ellington Orchestra- I’m Just a Lucky So-and-So

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook (Verve)

Jackie Washington & Mike Regenstreif (2008)

Jackie Washington- Take the “A” Train

Keeping Out of Mischief (Pyramid)

Nina Simone- Mood Indigo

Let It All Out (Liberty)

Taj Mahal- Caldonia

Savoy (Stony Plain)

Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown- Salt Pork, West Virginia

Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown Sings Louis Jordan (Black & Blue)

Asleep at the Wheel- Choo Ch’Boogie

Having a Party: Live (Goldenlane)

Louis Jordan- Let the Good Times Roll

Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five (JSP)

Taj Mahal- Sweet Georgia Brown

Savoy (Stony Plain)

Dave Van Ronk- Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You

Hummin’ to Myself (Gazell)

Oscar Brown, Jr.- One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)

The Voice of Cool (Not Now Music)

Count Basie & His Orchestra- Jumpin’ at the Woodside

The Count Basie Story, Vol. 1 (Columbia)

Cab Calloway- Minnie the Moocher

Are You Hep to the Jive? (Columbia/Legacy)

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong- Stompin’ at the Savoy

Ella and Louis Again (Verve)

Next week: Remembering Harry Belafonte (1927-2023).

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday June 21, 2022: Songs from “Porgy & Bess” and other Gershwin classics

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 prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/56633.html

Theme: Songs from “Porgy & Bess” and other Gershwin classics.

The folk and jazz influenced opera “Porgy & Bess,” composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Du Bose Heyward and Ira Gershwin premiered on Broadway in 1935 and was based on Du Bose Heyward’s novel, Porgy, published in 1925.

Moore & McGregor- Summertime
Dream with Me (Ivernia)

Ella Fitzgerald- I Wants to Stay Here
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Porgy & Bess (Verve)
Lena Horne- My Man’s Gone Now
Harry Belafonte & Lena Horne: Porgy & Bess (RCA)
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong- I Got Plenty O’Nuttin
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Porgy & Bess (Verve)
Ray Charles- Buzzard Song
Ray Charles & Cleo Laine: Porgy & Bess (RCA)
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong- Bess, You is My Woman Now
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Porgy & Bess (Verve)

Miles Davis- Gone, Gone, Gone
Miles Davis: Porgy & Bess (Columbia/Legacy)

Dave Van Ronk- It Ain’t Necessarily So
Hummin’ to Myself (Gazell)
Cleo Laine- What You Want Wid Bess?
Ray Charles & Cleo Laine: Porgy & Bess (RCA)
Harry Belafonte- A Woman is Sometime Thing
Harry Belafonte & Lena Horne: Porgy & Bess (RCA)
Ella Fitzgerald- Oh, Doctor Jesus
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Porgy & Bess (Verve)
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong- Medley: Here Comes de Honey Man/Crab Man/Oh, Dey’s So Fresh and Fine (Strawberry Woman)
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Porgy & Bess (Verve)

Nina Simone- I Loves You, Porgy
Nina Simone With Strings (Colpix)
Harry Belafonte- Bess, Oh Where’s My Bess
Harry Belafonte & Lena Horne: Porgy & Bess (RCA)
Phoebe Snow- There’s a Boat That’s Leaving Soon for New York
Second Childhood (Columbia)
Louis Armstrong- Oh Lawd, I’m On My Way
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Porgy & Bess (Verve)

Other Gershwin classics

Samoa Wilson with The Jim Kweskin Band- Our Love is Here to Stay
I Just Want to Be Horizontal (Kingswood)
Willie Nelson- I Got Rhythm
Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin (Legacy)
Billie Holiday- Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
Songs for Distingué Lovers (Verve)

Dave Van Ronk- Sweet and Lowdown
Sweet & Lowdown (Justin Time)
Scarlett, Washington & Whiteley- Lady Be Good
Sitting on a Rainbow (Borealis)
The Hot Club of Cowtown- Someone to Watch Over Me
Wishful Thinking (Gold Strike)

Oscar Peterson- Liza (The Clouds’ll Roll Away)
The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson (Verve)

Next week: The Folkways Legacy of Sam Gesser.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday February 26, 2022

Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU in Ottawa heard 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 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/128/55354.html

Bruce Cockburn- Wondering Where the Lions Are
Greatest Hits (1970-2020) (True North)

Mike Regenstreif & Arlo Guthrie (1996)

Arlo Guthrie- Buffalo Gals
Son of the Wind (Rising Son)
Eliza Gilkyson- Buffalo Gals Redux
Songs from the River Wind (Howlin’ Dog)
Buffao Gals Band- Little Sugar Creek
Where the Heart Wants to Go (Buffao Gals Band)
Annie & Rod Capps- Build the Fire
When They Fall (Maynard Music)

Tom Mitchell- You Save Everything
When the Moon is Right (Truesongs)
Ronney Abramson- Three O’Clock Ride
Three O’Clock Ride – single (Castor Island Music)
Tom Paxton- What a Friend You Are
Comedians & Angels (Appleseed)
Steel Rail- Paper Girl
Coming Home (Crossties)

Dom Flemons- He’s a Lone Ranger
Dom Flemons Presents Black Cowboys (Smithsonian Folkways)
Over the Moon- John Ware
Chinook Waltz (Borealis)
Odetta- When I was a Cowboy
Lookin’ for a Home: Thanks to Leadbelly (M.C.)

Kenny 'Blues Boss' Wayne- Stewball
Blues from Chicago to Paris: A Tribute to Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon (Stony Plain)
Memphis Slim & Willie Dixon- John Henry
Songs of Memphis Slim & Willie Dixon (Folkways)
Dave Van Ronk & The Ragtime Jug Stompers- K.C. Moan
Ragtime Jug Stompers (Oldays)

Mike Mullins- Hallelujah
8-String Sketches (Rubber Chicken)

James Gordon- Crybabies Caravan
Crybabies Caravan – single (James Gordon)

Bruce Murdoch- (If I Had) Wings
Bruce Murdoch (Radio Canada International)
Eliza Gilkyson- Farthest End
Songs from the River Wind (Howlin’ Dog)
Stephen Mendel- Ready for the Storm
Sing Me a Story (Stephen Mendel)

Mike Regenstreif & Garnet Rogers (2006)

Garnet Rogers- Corrina, Corrina
Night Drive (Snow Goose Songs)
Bob Dylan- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (Columbia/Legacy)
Ralph McTell- West 4th Street and Jones
Hill of Beans (Leola)
Kevin Hearn & Thin Buckle with Garth Hudson- You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
Garth Hudson Presents a Canadian Celebration of The Band: 10th Anniversary Edition (Curve Music)

Janis Ian- Nina
The Light at the End of the Line (Rude Girl)
Nina Simone- Stars
The Montreux Years (BMG)
Tom Russell & The Norwegian Wind Ensemble- Nina Simone
Aztec Jazz (Frontera)

The StorySound All-Stars: Rachelle Garniez, Chaim Tannenbaum, Dick Connette, Ana Egge, Amanda Homi, Connie Kirch, Daisy Press, Terry Radigan, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Suzzy Roche, Loudon Wainwright III & Lorenzo Wolf- Dangerous Business
Dangerous Business – single (StorySound)
Noel Paul Stookey- Fun Police
Fazz: Now & Then (Neworld Multimedia)

RanchWriters- Earl’s Taxi
RanchWriters (True North)

Don Armstrong- Annabelle Teaching Her Daddy to Dance
Mother Don’t Give Up on Me Now (Ronstadt Record Co.)
Annabelle Chvostek- Dance Me to the End of Love
Dance Me to the End of Love – single (Annabelle Chvostek)
Leonard Cohen- Thanks for the Dance
Thanks for the Dance (Columbia/Legacy)
Lynne Hanson- Hip Like Cohen
Hip Like Cohen – single (Lynne Hanson)

Eliza Gilkyson & Mike Regenstreif (2006)

Eliza Gilkyson- Charlie Moore
Songs from the River Wind (Howlin’ Dog)
Sally Potter- May the Light of Love
Summer’s Child (Sally Potter)
David Roth- Last Day On This Earth
Last Day On This Earth (Maythelight Music)

Jana Pochop- Head Spin
The Astronaut (Jana Pochop)
Jordi Baizan- Palm Reader
The Love in You (Berkalin)
Maria Dunn- Declan’s Song (The Good Life)
Joyful Banner Blazing (Distant Whisper)

Folkapotamus- We’ll Dance Again
We’ll Dance Again (PhatCat)
Isabel & The Uncommons- Distance
Distance – single (Isabel Fryszberg)
Karen Morand & The Bosco Boys- Ghost Hotel
Ghost Hotel (Karen Morand)
Keith Glass Band- Different World
Different World – single (Stump)

Artie Traum & Pat Alger- From the Heart
From the Heart (Rounder)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on March 26. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday February 15, 2022: Part 1 – Remembering Tony Barrand and Norma Waterson; Part 2 – Love Songs

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/595/55205.html

Themes: Part 1 – Remembering Tony Barrand and Norma Waterson; Part 2 – Love Songs

In memory of Tony Barrand (1945-2022)

John Roberts & Tony Barrand- Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy
A Present from the Gentlemen (Golden Hind Music)
John Roberts & Tony Barrand- A Smuggler’s Song
A Present from the Gentlemen (Golden Hind Music)
John Roberts & Tony Barrand- A Pilgrim’s Way
Twiddlum Twaddlum (Golden Hind Music)

In memory of Norma Waterson (1939-2022)

The Watersons- I am a Rover
Troubadours of British Folk, Volume 1 (Rhino)
Waterson:Carthy- Polly’s Love
Common Tongue (Topic)
Norma Waterson- Black Muddy River
Norma Waterson (Hannibal)

Love Songs

Dave Van Ronk- Another Time and Place
Down in Washington Square (Smithsonian Folkways)
Reggie Harris & Colleen Kattau- Maybe It’s Love
On Solid Ground (Reggie Harris Music)
Steel Rail- Once in a While
Coming Home (Crossties)
Quartette- First Love Waltz
Rocks and Roses (Outside Music)

Miranda Mulholland- Heart Like a Wheel
By Appointment or Chance (Roaring Girl)
Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Foolish You
Tell My Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Nonesuch)
Chaim Tannenbaum- (Talk to Me of) Mendocino
Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)

Tom Russell & Mike Regenstreif (2018)

Eliza Gilkyson- Don’t Stop Lovin’ Me
Songs from the River Wind (Howlin’ Dog)
Tom Russell & The Norwegian Wind Ensemble- Finding You
Aztec Jazz (Frontera)
HuDost- Deliverance
Anthems of Home (HuDost Music)
Bruce Cockburn- Anything Anytime Anywhere
Greatest Hits (1970-2020) (True North)

Annabelle Chvostek- Dance Me to the End of Love
Dance Me to the End of Love – single (Annabelle Chvostek)
Nina Simone- Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair
Nina Simone for Lovers: Deluxe Edition (Verve)
The Twangtown Paramours- Anyone But You
Double Down on a Bad Thing (Inside Edge)
Josie Bello- Love That’s Real
Resilience (Josie Bello)

Next week: Songs of Fats Waller

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday March 2, 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 – Episode #4 – was prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/51049.html

 

Today’s theme: Tom Russell Tributes – Some of the songs Tom Russell has written – or, in a couple of cases, co-written – about other artists. Also, a song from each of the artists Tom was paying tribute to.

Gram Parsons- Return of the Grievous Angel
Grievous Angel (Reprise)
Tom Russell with Patricia Hardin- Joshua Tree
The Tom Russell Anthology: Veteran’s Day (Shout! Factory)

Bill Haley & The Comets- Rock Around the Clock
Bill Rocks (Bear Family)
Dave Alvin & The Guilty Men- Haley’s Comet
Out in California (HighTone)

Nina Simone- Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
To Love Somebody (RCA)
Tom Russell & The Norwegian Wind Ensemble- Nina Simone
Aztec Jazz (Frontera)

Ian Tyson- Wolves No Longer Sing
Carnero Vaquero (Stony Plain)
Tom Russell- I’ll Never Leave These Old Horses                                                                                 Folk Hotel (Frontera)

Tom Russell & Mike Regenstreif (2018)

Rosalie Sorrels- Travelin’ Lady
My Last Go Round (Red House)
Tom Russell- Pork Roast and Poetry
Tribute to the Travelin’ Lady Rosalie Sorrels (Tribute to Rosalie Sorrels)

Bob Dylan- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (Columbia/Legacy)
Tom Russell- Mesabi
Mesabi (Shout! Factory)

Édith Piaf- La Vie en Rose
30e Anniversaire (EMI France)
Sylvia Tyson- Chocolate Cigarettes
Gypsy Cadillac (Silver City)

Dave Van Ronk- Another Time and Place
Down in Washington Square (Smithsonian Folkways)
Tom Russell- Van Ronk
Hotwalker (HighTone)

Jack Kerouac with Steve Allen- MacDougal Street Blues
The Kerouac Collection (Rhino)
Tom Russell- October in the Railroad Earth
October in the Railroad Earth (Frontera)

Next week – Songs of Malvina Reynolds.

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday February 9, 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 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 – Episode #1 – was prerecorded at home and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/50779.html

Today’s show was inspired by the book, Leonard Cohen Untold Stories: The Early Years by Michael Posner, the first of what will be three volumes of Leonard Cohen’s untold stories. The Early Years covers Leonard Cohen’s life from childhood until 1970 and the songs and poems of Leonard Cohen on this show were all written during that period. Click here to read my review of Leonard Cohen Untold Stories: The Early Years. 

Leonard Cohen- fragment of The Stranger Song
Songs of Leonard Cohen (Columbia/Legacy)
Martin Simpson- The Stranger Song
Vagrant Stanzas (Topic)

Nina Simone- Suzanne
To Love Somebody (RCA)
Leonard Cohen- Warning
Six Montreal Poets (Folkways)
Kate & Anna McGarrigle and Martha Wainwright- Winter Lady
Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (Verve Forecast)
Leonard Cohen- Stories of the Street
Songs of Leonard Cohen (Columbia/Legacy)
Perla Batalla- So Long, Marianne
Bird on the Wire: The Songs of Leonard Cohen (Mechuda Music)

Leonard Cohen- fragment of The Stranger Song
Songs of Leonard Cohen (Columbia/Legacy)

Tex König- Sisters of Mercy
Königsblende (Music Cellar)
Laura Love- Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye
Pangaea (Octoroon Biography)
Leonard Cohen- One of Us Cannot Be Wrong
Songs of Leonard Cohen (Columbia/Legacy)

Reid Jamieson- Bird on the Wire
Dear Leonard (Reid Jamieson)
Leonard Cohen- The Sparrows
Six Montreal Poets (Folkways)
Judy Collins- Story of Isaac
Judy Collins Sings Leonard Cohen: Democracy (Elektra/Rhino)
Leonard Cohen- A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes
Songs from a Room (Columbia/Legacy)

Perla Batalla- Seems So Long Ago, Nancy
Bird on the Wire: The Songs of Leonard Cohen (Mechuda Music)
Leonard Cohen- Les Vieux
Six Montreal Poets (Folkways)
Crowes Pasture- Tonight Will Be Fine
Edge of America (Crowes Pasture)
Leonard Cohen- The Old Revolution
Songs from a Room (Columbia/Legacy)

Judy Collins- Dress Rehearsal Rag
Judy Collins Sings Leonard Cohen: Democracy (Elektra/Rhino)
Laurie MacAllister- Famous Blue Raincoat
The Things I Choose to Do (Laurie MacAllister)
Jennifer Warnes & Leonard Cohen- Joan of Arc
Famous Blue Raincoat: The Songs of Leonard Cohen – 20th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory)

Leonard Cohen- fragment of The Stranger Song
Songs of Leonard Cohen (Columbia/Legacy)

Next week’s show falls on Mardi Gras Day (February 16) and the show will feature songs from or inspired by New Orleans – including some Mardi Gras songs.

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

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Tom Russell – The Tom Russell Anthology 2: Gunpowder Sunsets

TOM RUSSELL

The Tom Russell Anthology 2: Gunpowder Sunsets

Frontera Records

tomrussell.com

fronterarecords.com

The first time I wrote about Tom Russell was in a review of his 1987 LP, The Road to Bayamon. I think I’ve written about every album he’s released since. At some point along the way I referred to Tom as the best singer-songwriter of my generation – the generation that came along 10 or 15 years after Dylan. It was a claim I repeated in 2008 when I wrote the long essay that accompanied Tom’s 2-CD career retrospective, The Tom Russell Anthology: Veteran’s Day and it is a claim that still resonates with me eight years later with the release of The Tom Russell Anthology 2: Gunpowder Sunsets.

This second volume of the Anthology is a generous 19-song, 79-minute set that includes several early songs, several previously-unreleased tracks, and many that were first released in the years since that first volume. The collection is a great introduction to Tom Russell neophytes and it has enough previously-unheard material – and a fresh-sounding sequencing – that makes it a great listen for longtime aficionados like me.

The set kicks off with an undated demo version of “Honkytonk Heart (Like Mine),” an infectious rockabilly tune that sounds like it could have been a hit for Elvis or Jerry Lee back in their Sun Records day. Then we hear a couple of great songs from the ‘80s: an alternate take of “Spanish Burgundy” from the Poor Man’s Dream sessions and a terrific live version from Lost Angels of Lyon of “The Road to Bayamon,” Tom’s vivid description of life in a traveling Puerto Rican carnival.

As I noted in my essay for the first volume of the Anthology, “I’m convinced that Tom’s folk-opera, The Man from God Knows Where, a song-cycle that documents the immigrant experience in America, is the most important folk recording by anyone in the past 25 or more years,” and the track from The Man from God included on the second volume is “Love Abides,” a duet with Iris DeMent, that was the finale to the folk-opera. Set along the borderlands of the United States and Mexico, it’s a beautiful song that contrasts tragedy with blessings, hope and love.

“When Sinatra Played Juarez,” from Borderland, featuring the masterful Tex-Mex accordion playing of Joel Guzman harkens back to decades ago when the Mexican city across the river from El Paso was a mecca for its nightlife and not a drug cartel warzone while in the rocking “Tijuana Bible” from Modern Art he tells the true life tale of a famous Hollywood murder case.

Three tracks follow with backing from Calexico from the 2009 album, Blood and Candle Smoke. On “East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam,” Tom recalls 1969 when – as the war in Vietnam raged, Neil Armstrong took his small step onto the moon, and 500,000 people sat in the Catskills mud for a three-day music festival – he went to Nigeria as a young academic to teach. The song “Nina Simone” references the great blues-jazz-folk singer but it’s not about Nina Simone per se. It’s about finding what you need in a voice that understands. Maybe for Tom in a bar in San Cristóbal, it was the voice of Nina Simone on the juke box. I know I’ve heard Nina Simone cut through to my soul when she sings about being “lost in the rain in Juarez” in a way I think Dylan would appreciate. Sometimes my “Nina Simones” have been Rosalie Sorrels or Billie Holiday or a dozen other singers who understand. In “Don’t Look Down,” Tom uses a tightrope walker’s advice as a starting point to reflect on past history, the meaning of life and love, and the future.

Then we hear a couple of tracks from the 2011 album, Mesabi. The title song, which begins with about 10 seconds of solo acoustic guitar picking out the melody line to “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” is named for the Mesabi Iron Range in Minnesota, the area where Bob Dylan grew up in the 1940s and ‘50s. The song begins with a description of the kid that was the young Robert Zimmerman in Hibbing and then shifts into the 1960s and the kid who was the young Tom Russell listening to and being inspired by the troubadour kid singing “Don’t Think Twice” on his uncle’s record player. “Sterling Hayden” is a tribute, of sorts, to the tough guy actor, author and raconteur who mostly lived life on his own terms, famously expressing one major regret: naming names before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy era. “I don't think you have the foggiest notion of the contempt I have had for myself since the day I did that thing,” Sterling Hayden wrote years later. Tom brings a variation of that quote into the song, which he sings as both a third-person narrator and as Hayden himself. Tom’s song refers to seeing Hayden interviewed on the Johnny Carson show. I can also vividly remember a series of fascinating interviews he did in the ‘70s with Tom Snyder on the Tomorrow show.

Two songs are from Aztec Jazz – Tom’s sublime live album with a chamber orchestra, the Norwegian Wind Ensemble – both of them originally released on Blood and Candle Smoke. “Guadalupe,” done beautifully with some gorgeous guitar lines by Thad Beckman and an orchestral arrangement highlighting the oboes, is a song that reveals more every time I hear it. And I’m not necessarily referring to new layers of understanding of what Tom was thinking when he wrote it. I mean what I hear and understand about my own truths and my own quests filtered through Tom’s words and the gorgeous melody. “Finding You” is a beautiful love song written for Nadine Russell, Tom’s wife, and is lushly arranged for the orchestra.

Four songs follow from 2015’s The Rose of Roscrae: A Ballad of the West, the third in Tom’s series of extraordinary concept albums (following The Man from God Knows Where and Hotwalker). In the Irish-influenced “The Rose of Roscrae,” the protagonist, Johnny Dutton, recalls leaving Ireland for America in the 19th century after a conflict with his lover’s father make it impossible for them to stay while in the folk-rocking “Hair Trigger Heart,” he reflects on his life as an outlaw in the (brief) time and place that was the old west. “He Wasn’t a Bad Kid When He was Sober,” deconstructs the myth of Billy the Kid and “Resurrection Mountain,” with vocal harmonies by the McCrary Sisters, is a gospel song that reflects on matters of life and faith.

The CD ends with two more songs I’d never heard before. The undated “Iron Eyes Cody” reflects on the life of an actor who played Indian roles in hundreds of western movies and TV shows – and was, perhaps, most memorably, the crying Native American in the anti-littering public service TV spot in the 1970s. Iron Eyes Cody, who died in 1999 at age 94, always claimed to be Native American but turned out to have been the son of Italian immigrants to the United States. Then Tom ends the set with “Where Do All the Cowboys Go?” a beautiful and fitting finale, sung as a duet with Eliza Gilkyson. The song was written for The Rose of Roscrae but not ultimately used on that project.

Mike Regenstreif & Tom Russell in Montreal (2012)

These songs on The Tom Russell Anthology 2: Gunpowder Sunsets leaves me in anticipation of whatever might be coming next from the best songwriter of my generation.

Note: Comments on some of the songs in this review have been taken from reviews I’ve written about the albums from which they originated.

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--Mike Regenstreif