Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday March 22, 2022: Garden 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/595/55612.html

Theme: Garden Songs

David Mallett- Garden Song
Parallel Lives (Flying Fish)

Sharon Goldman- A Garden
Every Trip Around the Sun (Sharon Goldman)
Deborah Robins- Crows in the Garden
Lone Journey (Zippety Whippet Music)
Kat Eggleston- My Father’s Garden
Second Nature (Waterbug)
Claudia Russell & Bruce Kaplan- Winter Garden
Lover’s Tree (Radio Rhythm)

Ruth Moody- The Garden
The Garden (Red House)
Debi Smith- The Garden
Deep Tracks (Degan Music)

Oliver Schroer- The Garden of Birds and Flowers
Camino (Borealis)

Mike Regenstreif, Anne Hills & Tom Paxton (2001)

Tom Paxton- Whose Garden Was This
The Compleat Tom Paxton (Even Compleater) (Rhino Handmade)
Anne Hills- Gardens
Points of View (Appleseed)
Alice Di Micele- Every Seed
Every Seed We Plant (Alice Otter Music)
Irene Kelley- Garden of Dreams
Pennsylvania Coal (Patio)
Dave Clarke- The Healing Garden
The Healing Garden (Crossties)

Shelley Posen- Fork Garden
Menorah: Songs from a Jewish Life (Well Done Music)
Frpm Both Ends of the Earth- In Mayn Garten
Klezmer (Arc)
Night Sun- Gardening Song
Home (Night Sun)
Fran Avni- Down in the Garden
Eretz (Tara Music)
Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars featuring Marjana Sadowska- In Your Garden Twenty Fecund Fruit Trees
Carnival Conspiracy (Piranha)

Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley- In My Garden
Morning Sun (Electro-Fi)
Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges- Royal Garden Blues
Back to Back: Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Play the Blues (Verve)

Rosalie Sorrels & Mike Regenstreif (1993)

Rosalie Sorrels- The Bells of Ireland
Report from Grimes Creek (Green Linnet)
Mara Levine- A Perfect Rose
Facets of Folk (Mara’s Creations)
Susan Crowe- I Stole into a Garden
The Door to the River (Corvus)
Brendan Nolan- If I Had a Garden
Live at the Side Door (Ould Segosha)

Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen- Concertina Garden Medley
Being There (Compass Rose)

Next week: The Art of the Long Song

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Canadian Spaces – CKCU – Saturday July 6, 2013

CKCU can be heard at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and ckcufm.com on the web.

This week’s show was co-hosted by Mike Regenstreif and Chris White.

Canadian Spaces on CKCU in Ottawa is Canada’s longest-running folk music radio program. It is heard Saturday mornings from 10:00 am until noon (Eastern time). It was hosted for more than 33 years by the late Chopper McKinnon and is now hosted by Chris White and a rotating cast of co-hosts. Today was my second time in the co-host’s chair.

Guests: Lenny Gallant and Three Piece Sweet (Christine Graves, Chris MacLean & Jennifer Noxon)

Ruth Moody- Trouble and Woe

These Wilder Things (True North)

Doug McArthur- Boots & Saddles

The Dust of Davy Crockett (Tableaux Vivants)

Eve Goldberg- Let Me Rise

A Kinder Season (Borealis)

Dale Boyle- Leaving Dogtown

Throwback (Dale Boyle)

Maria Dunn- Shareholders’ Reel

Piece By Piece (Distant Whisper)

Old Man Luedecke- Song for Ian Tyson

Tender is the Night (True North)

Ian Tyson- Smuggler’s Cove

All the Good ‘Uns Vol. 2 (Stony Plain)

Bobby Dove- Steal Away

Dovetails (Bobby Dove)

Mighty Popo- Kamananga

Gakondo (Borealis)

Tom Russell & the Norwegian Wind Ensemble- East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam

Aztec Jazz (Frontera)

Martha Wainwright- Matapedia

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

Linda McRae- Gepetto’s Boy

Rough Edges & Ragged Hearts (42 RPM)

The next two songs punctuated Chris White’s phone conversation with Lennie Gallant.

Lennie Gallant- Peter’s Dream

Lennie Gallant Live (Revenant)

Lennie Gallant- Seven Years

When We Get There (Universal)

The next four songs punctuated our conversation with Three Piece Sweet.

Three Piece Sweet- Procrastinator

Live in the studio

Three Piece Sweet- Sparks will Fly

Live in the studio

Three Piece Sweet- Oh Luck

Live in the studio

Three Piece Sweet- Soltarlo

Live in the studio

The show is now available for online listening. cod.ckcufm.com/programs/129/12667.html

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Ruth Moody – These Wilder Things

RUTH MOODY

These Wilder Things

True North Records (Canada)

Red House Records (U.S.)

ruthmoody.com

On These Wilder Things, Ruth Moody of the Wailin’ Jennys offers a hauntingly beautiful set of 10 songs – nine of them original – on themes of love, loss and friendship in arrangements that reflect both traditional and contemporary sensibilities.

Among my favorite songs is “Trouble and Woe,” which reminds me “One Voice,” one of Ruth’s earlier songs recorded by the Jennys. With Ruth singing quietly at the outset and picking out the melody on her banjo, the song begins in a mood of sadness – “The world is full of trouble and woe” – eventually becoming a song of hope, “The world is full of promise and love.”

Other highlights include “Pockets,” a poignant rumination on youthful friendship featuring lovely electric guitar fills and harmony vocals by Mark Knopfler; “Life is Long,” a lovely reminiscence of someone – could be a lover, a friend, a parent – who has died featuring a Celtic arrangement built on Mike McGoldrick’s whistle and John McCusker’s fiddle; and “Make a Change,” an autumnal song that thematically recalls Joni Mitchell’s “Urge for Going.”

In addition to her own songs, Ruth offers a delightful, folk-style version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” which brings something new and different to the song.

From song to song, Ruth moves from banjo to guitar to ukulele and piano and receives multi-instrumental support from producer David Travers-Smith and frequent Jennys sideman Adrian Dolan. Along with those already mentioned, there are cameo appearances from Dobro master Jerry Douglas, Crooked Still singer Aoife O’Donovan, and fellow Jennys Nicky Mehta and Heather Masse. 

These Wilder Things is Ruth’s second solo album. Click here for my review of The Garden, her first.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

The Wailin’ Jennys – Bright Morning Stars; Good Lovelies – Let the Rain Fall

The obvious similarity between the Wailin’ Jennys and the Good Lovelies are that they’re both Canadian – although the Jennys now include an American member – trios of sublime harmony singers. But, the similarities pretty much end there as shown on the fine new CDs the groups have released this month. The Jennys' songs are – mostly – quieter and more subtle and reveal more each time they’re heard. The Good Lovelies are more upbeat and just plain fun from the get-go.

THE WAILIN’ JENNYS

Bright Morning Stars

True North Records (Canada)

Red House Records (U.S.)

thewailinjennys.com

Bright Morning Stars is the Winnipeg-based Wailin’ Jennys third full-length studio album and each of those albums has featured a slightly different line-up.

Their debut EP, The Wailin’ Jennys, and first full-length studio album, 40 Days, featured original members Nicky Mehta, Ruth Moody and Cara Luft.

Firecracker, the second full-length studio album, featured Nicky, Ruth and Annabelle Chvostek; while on the 2009 live album, Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, and, now, Bright Morning Stars, Nicky and Ruth are joined by American singer-songwriter Heather Masse.

As I noted in my review of Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, the Wailin’ Jennys have, with each personnel change, seemingly seamlessly adapted and evolved. There was something different, but consistently Jennyish, with each change. With the live album and several years of touring with Nicky and Ruth, Heather seems like a veteran member of the trio, hardly the new Jenny on the block.

The Wailin’ Jennys take an egalitarian approach to the album. Each contributes four original songs on which she sings lead with the other two supplying their sublime harmonies and they also offer a stunning version of the traditional hymn-like “Bright Morning Stars,” sung in glorious three-part harmony.

Highlights among Nicky’s songs include the opening track, “Swing Low Sail High,” at once both a confession to love’s shortcoming and a reaffirmation of love’s endurance, and “What Has Been Done,” a mysterious ballad, seemingly about a murder, or, perhaps, a suicide, that shows the influence of traditional Appalachian folksongs.

Ruth’s highlights include “Storm Comin’,” a metaphorical piece about being prepared for what life and love have to offer, and “Asleep At Last,” a quiet, beautiful love song.

Heather’s highlights include “Mona Louise,” partly a lullaby and partly a celebration of a new life, and “Cherry Blossom Love,” a haunting song that seems almost equally derived from both the folksong and jazz ballad traditions.

As I noted in the introduction, these songs are – mostly – quiet and subtle and reveal more each time they’re heard.

GOOD LOVELIES

Let the Rain Fall

Good Lovelies/Six Shooter

goodlovelies.com

I looked up the brief reviews I wrote for the Montreal Gazette and Sing Out! magazine of the Toronto-based Good Lovelies self-titled debut album. In both reviews I mentioned the “three promising young singer-songwriters – Caroline Brooks, Kerri Ough and Sue Passmore – delightfully dress up each others’ often-delightful neo-folk, country and swing songs with irresistible three-part harmonies.” The album was on my list of favourites for 2009. The Lovelies also turned out a quick Christmas album in 2009 and are now back with Let the Rain Fall, their third full length CD.

As I mentioned in the intro, Let the Rain Fall, is upbeat and fun from the get-go. While there are a couple of songs that offer moments of sadness, most of the 13 numbers are irresistible, toe-tappers that offer sunny good cheer amid superb three-part harmonies.

While the debut album was built around songs written by each of the Good Lovelies, Let the Rain Fall’s songs – except for a fun cover of hip hop artist K-os’ “Crabbuckit” that they more than pull off – are credited jointly to the Good Lovelies. The result is that the album’s songs are one of a whole rather the sum of its parts. Is it Caroline, Kerri or Sue riding her bike through Toronto in “Backyard”? Which one is getting on the plane for a period of separation – borne of music touring, I presume – in “Every Little Thing”? Maybe it’s all of them and it really doesn’t matter much that they’ve somehow merged the individual identities.

Themes of home, or, more particularly, being away from home, and love, and missing love, run through many of these songs. But, they are an accurate reflection of the lives of young musicians plying their trade from one end of this vast country to the other and beyond.

The Good Lovelies’ arrangements blend folk, country, jazz and swing influences into something that’s always quite appealing, always very musical, and, almost always, lots of fun to listen to.

--Mike Regenstreif

Ruth Moody -- The Garden

RUTH MOODY
The Garden
Red House Records
ruthmoody.com

Ruth Moody grew up in a Winnipeg-based family that studied and played classical music. Drawn to folk music, she first made her mark on the folk scene as the lead singer of a Celtic-oriented band called Scruj MacDuhk.

Shortly after Scruj MacDuhk broke up, Ruth got together with Cara Luft and Nicky Mehta and formed the sublimely harmonious Wailin’ Jennys which, despite Cara’s early departure – she was replaced by Annabelle Chvostek who was later replaced by Heather Masse -- has become and remained one of the most popular folk groups of the past decade.

The Garden, a kind of chamber-folk album that reflect Ruth’s interests in folk and roots-oriented pop music as well as her classically-influenced background, is her first full-length solo release and it’s a set of fine compositions made riveting by her intimate arrangements – she variously plays guitar, banjo, piano, ukulele and accordion, and surrounds herself with some excellent musicians and harmony singers – and lovely soprano voice.

While I quite enjoy the entire CD, my favourite songs include “The Garden,” which opens like a solo Appalachian folksong with Ruth singing to her banjo but builds into a gorgeous full stringband arrangement featuring the members of Crooked Still, including Aoife O’Donovan on harmony vocals; “Never Said Goodbye,” a lovely, lonely, piano-and-strings ballad that seems so reminiscent of my late friend Kate McGarrigle; and “Closer Now,” which reminds me of Ruth’s best work with the Wailin’ Jennys (and which features gorgeous harmonies from Jenny-mates Nicky Mehta and Heather Masse).

--Mike Regenstreif

The Wailin' Jennys -- Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House; Heather Masse -- Bird Song

THE WAILIN’ JENNYS
Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House
Outside Music (Canada), Red House (U.S.)
thewailinjennys.com

HEATHER MASSE
Bird Song
Red House
heathermasse.com

Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, recorded August 30, 2008, at an old theatre in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, features what’s being referred to as version 3.0 of the Wailin’ Jennys. The original Winnipeg based trio – Cara Luft, Nicky Mehta and Ruth Moody – burst onto the folk scene in 2002 with an eponymously named EP and a fine full-length CD, 40 Days, released in 2004, that established the Jennys as one of the most glorious-sounding harmony groups around.

Cara had left the group and was replaced by Montreal’s own Annabelle Chvostek by the time they recorded their second full-length album, Firecracker, in 2006. After her two year-stint, Annabelle left the band and was replaced by Heather Masse, a New York-based singer-songwriter. With each personnel change, the Wailin’ Jennys have seemingly seamlessly adapted and evolved. There was something different, but consistently Jennyish, with each change.

As much as I’ve enjoyed the fully-produced tracks on their studio albums, I’ve always enjoyed the Wailin’ Jennys best on stage, when it’s just them, their stunning harmonies and the songs. And that’s how it is on this beautifully-recorded live concert set featuring six songs culled from their earlier albums and eight that they’ve recorded here for the first time.

As on the earlier albums, each of the Jennys takes her turns as lead singer with the other two adding sublime, hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck-raising harmonies. Most thrilling of all are the three a cappella songs in which their gorgeous voices are all that we hear. They do marvelous jobs on “Summertime,” the Porgy and Bess classic; Lead Belly’s “Bring Me Little Water Sylvie,” which they first recorded on the first EP, and which Heather now takes the lead vocal; and Heather’s own, too-short, “Paint a Picture.”

Among the other highlights are wonderful versions of couple of traditional songs, “Bold Riley” and “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” Jane Siberry’s “Calling All Angels,” Gillian Welch’s “Calling All Angels,” and a reprise of Ruth’s “One Voice,” from 40 Days which I think must be regarded as the Wailin’ Jennys’ signature song.

The Wailin’ Jennys are also their own band on this live set with Heather on upright bass, and Nicky and Ruth both playing guitars and switching off to several other instruments. The only other musician is the great fiddler, Jeremy Penner, who adds much to the arrangements he plays on.

Heather Masse, the newest Jenny, also has also just released Bird Song, her first, full-length solo album. It’s a fine effort that showcases Heather’s versatility as a singer and songwriter equally at home in jazz, folk, blues and rockabilly veins. In some ways, the album is reminiscent of the best of Norah Jones’ early work, but Heather seems to put herself into the songs in a way that the sometimes detached-sounding Jones didn’t always do.

On Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, Heather proved she can blend beautifully with two other singers. On Bird Song, she proves she and her songs can also stand beautifully on their own.

--Mike Regenstreif