Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – January 13, 2026: Lightfoot! Revisited and Kate & Anna McGarrigle 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/595/73656.html

Theme: Lightfoot! Revisited and Kate & Anna McGarrigle Revisited.

Lightfoot! Revisited

Gordon Lightfoot’s debut album – Lightfoot! – was released 60 years ago in January 1966. It was reissued as part of a 3-CD set called The Original Lightfoot.

Gordon Lightfoot- Rich Man’s Spiritual 

The Original Lightfoot – The United Artists Years: Lightfoot! (EMI)

J.P. Cormier- Long River

The Long River: A Personal Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot (Flash Publishing)

Julie Felix- The Way I Feel

Changes (Fontana)

Ian & Sylvia- For Lovin’ Me

Early Morning Rain (Vanguard)

Bonnie Dobson- The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Philadelphia Folk Festival – 40th Anniversary (Sliced Bread)

Phil Ochs- Changes

Phil Ochs In Concert (Elektra/Rhino)

Rodney Brown- Early Morning Rain

The Gales of November: Songs of Gordon Lightfoot (Rodney Brown)

Spanky & Our Gang- Steel Rail Blues 

Live (Mercury)

Bill Hearne- Sixteen Miles 

Always Trust Your Cape (Howlin’ Dog)

Tony Rice- I’m Not Sayin’

Tony Rice Sings Gordon Lightfoot (Rounder) 

Hamilton Camp- Pride of Man

Paths of Victory (Collectors’ Choice Music)

Bruce Cockburn- Ribbon of Darkness

Rarities (True North)

Gordon Lightfoot- Oh, Linda

The Original Lightfoot – The United Artists Years: Lightfoot! (EMI)

Gordon Lightfoot- Peaceful Waters

The Original Lightfoot – The United Artists Years: Lightfoot! (EMI)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle Revisited

Kate & Anna McGarrigle’s self-titled debut album was released 50 years ago in January 1976. It was reissued as part of a 3-CD set called Tell My Sister.

Rufus Wainwright, Anna McGarrigle & Martha Wainwright- Kiss and Say Goodbye

Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- My Town 

Tell My Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Kate McGarrigle- Blues in D 

Tell My Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

June Tabor- Heart Like a Wheel

At the Wood’s Heart (Topic)

Wade Hemsworth- Foolish You

The Songs of Wade Hemsworth (Blackfly Music)

Priscilla Herdman- Talk to Me of Mendocino

Forgotten Dreams (Flying Fish)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Complainte pour Ste-Catherine

Tell My Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Peggy Seeger- Tell My Sister

Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Loudon Wainwright III- The Swimming Song 

Attempted Moustache (Columbia/Legacy)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Jigsaw Puzzle of Life

Tell My Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Linda Thompson & Richard Thompson- Go Leave 

Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Chaim Tannenbaum- Travelling On for Jesus

Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Next week: Duets.

--Mike Regenstreif

Rodney Brown -- Northland

Rodney Brown
North Land
Starslik Records
rodneybrown.ca

Rodney Brown is a veteran singer-songwriter from Thunder Bay who meticulously researches and finely crafts songs that tell stories mostly drawn from the history of northern Ontario.

Among the historical figures encountered on North Land are William McGillivray, for whom Brown’s hometown of Fort William was named (Fort William was merged with Port Arthur to create Thunder Bay). In “I Followed You Down,” Brown retraces McGillivray’s early life, before he came to Canada, in Scotland and England. He follows that song with “McGillivray’s Dream,” a song based on Lord of the North West, Marjorie Wilkins Campbell’s biography of McGillivray in which he sings in awe of McGillivray’s early life and then admits to not being able to finish the later chapters dealing with the ultimate failure of the dream and of the evils committed by Lord Selkirk. In “What Would Susan Say?” Brown speculates about how Susan, McGillivray’s wife, might have felt about the Cree woman who was McGillivray’s country wife.

My first encounter-in-song with The Nancy, a fur trade schooner loaned to the British by the Northwest Company in the War of 1812, was in a Stan Rogers song called “The Nancy,” in which Stan told the story of a victory engineered by the crew of The Nancy. Ultimately, though, as Brown relates in his liner notes, The Nancy was destroyed by her own crew rather than face defeat at the hands of Americans. His song, “Avenge The Nancy” tells how the crew of The Nancy gained their revenge.

My favourite track is “John Macdonell and Magdeleine Poitras,” an infectious song that tells the story of a fur trader and his Métis wife and the majestic home they built on the Ottawa River.

There are several other fascinating stories in other songs on this fine album. Rodney’s singing, the excellent arrangements featuring some of Canada’s finest musicians, and Paul Mills’ crystalline production, all serve the songs exceptionally well.

--Mike Regenstreif