Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – September 1, 2026: Remembering Dolly Parton; Graceland Revisited

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/595/76938.html

Themes: Part 1 – Remembering Dolly Parton (1946-2026); Part 2 – Graceland Revisited.

Part 1 – Remembering Dolly Parton (1946-2026)

Dolly Parton – who died on August 25 at age 80 – was a legendary and beloved singer, songwriter, actor and philanthropist.

Dolly Parton- 9 to 5

The Hits (Camden)

Maria Muldaur- My Tennessee Mountain Home

Maria Muldaur (Reprise)

Eva Cassidy- Coat of Many Colors

Somewhere (Blix Street)

Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton- Daddy was an Old Time Preacher Man

RCA Sessions 1968-1976 (RCA/Legacy)

The Wailin' Jennys- Light of a Clear Blue Morning

Fifteen (True North)

Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris- Wildflowers

The Complete Trio Collection (Rhino)

Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris- My Blue Tears

The Complete Trio Collection (Rhino)

Nicki Parrott- Jolene

If You Could Read My Mind (Arbors)

Dolly Parton with Mary Hopkin & Porter Wagoner- Those Were the Days

Those Were the Days (Sugar Hill)

Dolly Parton- I Will Always Love You

The Hits (Camden)

Part 2 – Graceland Revisited

Paul Simon’s monumental album, Graceland, mostly recorded in South Africa with South African musicians and singers, was released 40 years ago on August 25, 1986.

John Stewart & Darwin’s Army- Boy in the Bubble 

John Stewart & Darwin’s Army (Appleseed)

Melody Walker & Jacob Groopman- Graceland

We Made It Home (Maker/Mender)

Paul Simon- I Know What I Know

Graceland (Warner Bros.)

Paul Simon- Gumboots

Graceland (Warner Bros.)

Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Melissa Etheridge & Joe McBride- Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes

Long Walk to Freedom (Heads Up International)

Peter Sprague & Lisa Hightower- You Can Call Me Al

Spinning in Infinity: Peter Sprague Plays Paul Simon (Peter Sprague)

Amber Rubarth- Under African Skies

Cover Crop (Camblum)

Ladysmith Black Mambazo & Sarah McLauchlan- Homeless

Long Walk to Freedom (Heads Up International)

Paul Simon- Crazy Love, Vol. 2

The Concert in Hyde Park (Legacy)

Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. & The Zydeco Twisters- That was Your Mother

More Fun with Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. & The Zydeco Twisters (ATO)

Paul Simon- All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints

Graceland (Warner Bros.)

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday July 18, 2023: Seven Psalms and Other Songs of Paul Simon

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/595/61226.html

Theme: Seven Psalms and Other Songs of Paul Simon.

Simon & Garfunkel- The Sound of Silence

Wednesday Morning 3 A.M. (Columbia)

Lucy Wainwright Roche & Suzzy Roche- Bleecker Street

Mud & Apples (Lucy Wainwright Roche & Suzzy Roche)

Dawn Tyler Watson & Paul Deslauriers-Homeward Bound

En Duo (Justin Time)

Caroline Doctorow- The Dangling Conversation

Dreaming in Vinyl (Narrow Lane)

Kate Campbell- America

The K.O.A. Tapes (Vol.1) (Large River Music)

Dave Van Ronk- Punky’s Dilemma

To All My Friends in Far-Flung Places (Gazell)

Emmylou Harris & The Nash Ramblers- The Boxer

Ramble in Music City: The Lost Concert 1990 (Nonesuch)

Morgane Imbeaud & Elias Dris- Bridge Over Troubled Water

Homeward Bound: The Songs of Simon & Garfunkel (Fredonia)

Mara Levine- Song for the Asking

Facets of Folk (Mara’s Creations)

The Wailin' Jennys- Loves Me Like a Rock

Fifteen (True North)

John Stewart & Darwin’s Army- Boy in the Bubble

John Stewart & Darwin’s Army (Appleseed)

Melody Walker & Jacob Groopman- Graceland

We Made It Home (Maker/Mender Records)

Ladysmith Black Mambazo- Homeless

Live at the Royal Albert Hall (Shanachie)

Carrie Elkin- American Tune

The Penny Collector (Carrie Elkin)

Paul Simon’s new album, Seven Psalms, consists of just one track. Simon’s vision is that it is something to be listened to in its entirety so he weaves the seven psalms together into one piece. The seven psalms are The Lord, Love is Like a Braid, My Professional Opinion, Your Forgiveness, Trail of Volcanos, The Sacred Harp, and Wait. The second vocalist heard occasionally in the piece is Edie Brickell.

Paul Simon- Seven Psalms

Seven Psalms (Owl Legacy)

Paul Simon & Phoebe Snow- Gone at Last

Still Crazy After All These Years (Warner Bros.)

Next week: Name That Tune.

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday August 18, 2018

Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU in Ottawa heard live on Saturday mornings from 7 until 10 am (Eastern time) and then available for on-demand streaming. 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 at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and http://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web.

This episode of Saturday Morning can be streamed on-demand at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/38929.html

Extended feature: Paul Simon.

Dave Fry- Giant

Troubadour (Dave Fry)

In memory of Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin- A Change is Gonna Come

I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (Rhino)

Aretha Franklin- Respect

I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (Rhino)

El Coyote- Lighten Up Diane

El Coyote (El Coyote)

Tom Russell- Alkali

Old Songs Yet to Sing (Frontera)

Eliza Gilkyson- Solitary Singer

Secularia (Red House)

Jimmy LaFave- Minstrel Boy Howling at the Moon

Peace Town (Music Road)

David Kaufman- The Fire Next Time (1970)

Second Promise (Sun-Street)

Kate McGarrigle- Annie

Tell My Sister (Nonesuch)

Chaim Tannenbaum- (Talk to Me of) Mendocino

Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)

Bob Dylan- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

Live 1962-1966: Rare Performances from the Copyright Collections (Columbia/Legacy)

Orit Shimoni- Hallelujah

Lost and Found on the Road to Nowhere (Orit Shimoni)

Jory Nash- Sister Station

Wilderness Years (Thin Man Records)

David Olney- Always the Stranger

This Side or the Other (Black Hen)

Zoe Speaks- Wings of a Dove

Wings (Redbird)

Joe Jencks- Shuttle & Loom

The Forgotten: Recovered Treasures from the Pen of Si Kahn (Turtle Bear Music)

Grit Laskin- Sewing Machines

Unabashedly Folk (Borealis)

Mustard's Retreat- I’m Gonna Walk It with You

Make Your Own Luck (Yellow Room)

Lucy Wainwright Roche & Suzzy Roche- Bleecker Street

Mud & Apples (Lucy Wainwright Roche & Suzzy Roche)

Eva Cassidy- Kathy’s Song

Time After Time (Blix Street)

Dawn Tyler Watson & Paul Deslauriers- Homeward Bound

En Duo (Justin Time)

Simon & Garfunkel- The Sound of Silence

Sounds of Silence (Columbia)

Caroline Doctorow- The Dangling Conversation

Dreaming in Vinyl (Narrow Lane)

Kate Campbell- America

The K.O.A. Tapes (Vol.1) (Large River Music)

Simon & Garfunkel- The Boxer

Bridge Over Troubled Water (Columbia)

Johnny Cash- Bridge Over Troubled Water

American IV: The Man Comes Around (American)

The Perusasions- Slip Sliding Away

No Frills (Rounder)

The Wailin Jennys- Loves Me Like a Rock

Fifteen (True North)

Paul Simon- Take Me to the Mardi Gras

There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (Warner Bros.)

Carrie Elkin- American Tune

The Penny Collector (Carrie Elkin) 

Melody Walker & Jacob Groopman- Graceland

We Made It Home (Maker/Mender Records)

John Stewart & Darwin's Army- Boy in the Bubble

John Stewart & Darwin’s Army (Appleseed)

Ladysmith Black Mambazo- Homeless

Live at the Royal Albert Hall (Shanachie)

Paul Simon- Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes

Graceland (Warner Bros.)

Sophie Milman- Shpatsir In Vald (A Walk in the Forest)

Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II (Six Degrees)

Theodore Bikel- Partizaner-March (March of the Partisans)

While I’m Here (Red House)

Leonard Cohen- The Partisan

Songs from a Room (Columbia/Legacy)

Psoy Korolenko & Isaac Rosenberg- A Shturemvint (A Storm Wind)

Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II (Six Degrees)

Vince Halfhide- Cobalt Miner’s Daughter

Vince Halfhide (Vince Halfhide)

Vince Halfhide- Sonny Boy Said

Vince Halfhide (Vince Halfhide)

Kaia Kater- Harlem’s Little Blackbird

Nine Pin (Kaia Kater)

Reggie Harris- Harlem Renaissance

Ready to Go (Reggie Harris Music)

Dakota Dave Hull- Movin’ Day

This Earthly Life (Arabica)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on September 15.

Find me on Twitter. @MikeRegenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Caroline Doctorow – Dreaming in Vinyl

CAROLINE DOCTOROW

Dreaming in Vinyl

Narrow Lane Records

carolinedoctorow.com 

Music, for a lot of baby boomers like me, was big deal when we were young (and remains a big deal for some of us). Acquiring a new LP from a favorite band or solo artist was often a major event. The songs meant something to us and so many have stayed with us over the decades.

Caroline Doctorow’s new CD, Dreaming in Vinyl, is a reminder of those days. Eight of the 10 songs are seemingly timeless interpretations of songs that first came out between 1965 and 1970 while the other two – Caroline’s originals – evoke that period.

Almost all of the covered songs on Dreaming in Vinyl were instantly familiar to me as they were drawn from LPs I owned back in the day (and most of those I now have on CD reissues). And the only song I didn’t really know, “Hard, Hard Year,” was because it wasn’t on one of the Hollies’ LPs I did have back then.

Caroline’s versions of these songs remain quite faithful to the original versions. Her always-lovely voice is well served by her own guitar playing and overdubbed harmonies, by violinist Chris Tedesco, and by the layered accompaniment of producer Pete Kennedy on all other instruments. Among my favorites are Bob Dylan’s “Time Passes Slowly,” Paul Simon (Simon and Garfunkel)’s “Dangling Conversation,” which chronicles a couple’s growing alienation from each other, and Richard Holler’s poignant topical song “Abraham, Martin and John,” an iconic hit by Dion after the assassinations of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy.

The versions of the Lou Reed and John Cale (Velvet Underground & Nico)’s “Sunday Morning,” Randy Newman’s “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today,” Donovan’s “Turquoise,” and John Lennon and Paul McCartney (Beatles)’s “Across the Universe” are all also noteworthy.

As mentioned, Caroline’s two original songs evoke that period when we were buying vinyl LPs. “To Be Here” is a beautiful love song and travelogue. “That’s How I’ll Remember You,” is a lovely farewell written for Caroline’s father, the acclaimed novelist E.L. Doctorow, who died last year.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif