Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – March 18, 2025: Canadian Places

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/595/69388.html

Theme: Canadian Places

This show is a celebration of just some of the many places in our country, and a response to the despicable behaviour of the orange felon in regard to Canada. As so many have reiterated, Canada is not for sale and will never be his 51st state. We have our elbows up.

Shari Ulrich & Mike Regenstreif (2019)

Shari Ulrich- Canada

Back to Shore (Borealis)

Shelley Posen & Mike Regenstreif on Zoom (2023)

Shelley Posen- Ontario Moon

Ontario Moon (Well Done Music)

Over the Moon- Old Alberta Moon

Moondancer (Over the Moon)

Mike Regenstreif & Connie Kaldor (2015)

Connie Kaldor & Roy Forbes- Saskatoon Moon

Wood River (Coyote)

Orit Shimoni- Winnipeg 

Winnipeg (Orit Shimoni) 

Doug McArthur- The Lunenburg Shift

Letters from the Coast/Sisteron (Snow Goose Songs)

Deborah Holland- East Porpoise Bay

I Made It This Far (Deborah Holland)

Oscar Peterson- Place St. Henri

Canadiana Suite (Verve)

Bill Garrett & Mike Regenstreif (2014)

Bill Garrett- Lillooet

Bill Garrett (Borealis)

James Keelaghan- Hope Princeton Road

My Skies (Green Linnet)

Humphrey & The Dumptrucks- Calgary Song

Six Days of Paper Ladies (Boot)

Mike Regenstreif & April Verch (2025)

April Verch & Cody Walters- Up in the Ottawa Valley

Passages and Pairings (Slab Town)

Kevun Head & Mike Regenstreif (2013) photo: Vanessa Burnett

Kevin Head- Saturday Night in South Margarree

Live (Kevin Head Music)

Dave Clarke of Steel Rail & Lucinda Chodan (co-writers of Argyle Street) and Mike Regenstreif (2025)

 
Steel Rail- Argyle Street

Coming Home (Crossties)

Allison Russell- Montreal

Outside Child (Fantasy)

Chris Rawlings & Mike Regenstreif (2007)

Chris Rawlings- Vieux Montréal

Pearl Soup (Cooking Fat Music)

Ken Tizzard & Amelia Curran- St. John’s Waltz

A Good Dog is Lost: A Collection of Ron Hynes Songs (Booth Street)

Bob Stark- Patterson Creek Bridge

Sculpted Pieces of Love (Bob Stark)

Paul Weber- Ottawa Lament

Ode to Gerry Barber (Paul Weber)

Ray Harris- Pontiac County Blues

Kinda Sets the Tone (Ray Harris)

Night Sun- Petawawa River

Drive (Borealis)

Stan Rogers- The Rawdon Hills

Fogarty’s Cove (Fogarty’s Cove/Borealis)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle and Mike Regenstreif (1976) photo: Felicity Fanjoy

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Matapedia

Matapedia (Hannibal)

Mike Regenstreif & Murray McLauchlan on Zoom (2021)

Murray McLauchlan- Out Past the Timberline

Songs from the Street: The Best of Murray McLauchlan (True North)

Next week: Part 1 – Songs of Laura Nyro; Part 2 – Bringing It All Back Home Revisited.

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday March, 2023

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 recorded and can already be streamed on-demand at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/59865.html

The Brothers & Sisters- Mr. Tambourine Man 

Dylan’s Gospel (Columbia)

Three songs in memory of Dane Lanken. Dane, an old friend and colleague in both music and journalism, died on March 3rd, at age 77.

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Jigsaw Puzzle of Life

Tell My Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle with Dane Lanken- No Biscuit Blues

Tell My Sister: Dancer with Bruised Knees (Nonesuch)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Mike Regenstreif, Chaim Tannenbaum & Dane Lanken (1976) photo: Felicity Fanjoy

Kate McGarrigle, Martha Wainwright & Lily Lanken with Anna McGarrigle, Rufus & Loudon Wainwright, Chaim Tannenbaum, Dane & Sylvan Lanken- Johnny’s Gone to Hilo

The McGarrigle Hour (Hannibal)

Rob Corcoran & The Necessary Evils- Over in Verona

Grand Declarations (Rob Corcoran)Er

Steve Lundquist- I’m Not Your Romeo

Acting a Fool (Steve Lundquist)

Lynne Hanson- Seeking Juliet

Eleven Months (Lynne Hanson)

Eric Bibb- 500 Miles

Ridin’ (Stony Plain)

Just Us Lillys- In the Hills of Tennessee

Not Far from the Tree (Just Us Lillys)

Kerri Powers- Speed of the Sound of Loneliness

Words on the Wind (Must Have Music)

Tim Grimm- The Leaving

The Little In-Between (Vault)

Chaim Tannenbaum- Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos

Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)

Mary Gauthier- Sugar Cane

Live at Blue Rock (In the Black)

Geoff Bartley- Joshua Gone Barbados

The Ballad of Billy Bridger (Magic Crow)

Bunny Barnes- Hallelujah

It Goes Like It Goes (Bunny Barnes)

Mike Regenstreif & Connie Kaldor (2015)

Connie Kaldor- The Woman Who Pays

The Woman Who Pays – single (Connie Kaldor)

Mary Beth Carty- Voilà le Printemps

Crossing the Causeway (Mary Beth Carty)

Amelia Hogan- Red-Winged Blackbird

Taking Flight (Amelia Hogan)

Vinta- The Heron’s Rookery

Beacons (Vinta)

Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy featuring Rhiannon Giddens- Woman of the House

Canvas (Linus)

Karan Casey- I Thank My Lucky Stars

Nine Apples of Gold (Crow Valley Music)

Jason Lang- Happiness Is

Handled with Care (Famgroup/Genison Music)

Penny Lang- Diamonds on the Water

Stone + Sand + Sea + Sky (Borealis)

Ball & Chain & The Wreckers- My Time is Gonna Come

Satisfied (Ball & Chain)

Rebecca Folsom- New Way Home

Sanctuary (Sunshine Productions)

Ben & Dom- Children of Darkness

His Head Lies Heavy (Ben & Dom)

Doug Cox & Linda McRae- Beyond the Great Pause

Beyond the Great Pause (42 RPM)

Eric Erickson- Slow and Steady

The Shadow of the Moon (Ardith Recordings)

Annie Capps- How Can I Say This

How Can I Say This? (Yellow Room)

Eric Kilburn- She Do

Reckonings (Wellspring)

Dakota Dave Hull- Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now

Better Late Than Never: The Classic American Guitar-Banjo (Arabica)

Aaron Nathans & Michael G. Ronstadt- Dr. Joelson’s Bag

Hello World (Crooked Cyclone)

Bonnie Dobson- Peter Amberley

At Folk City (Prestige)

The Clancy Brothers & Robbie O'Connell- Those Were the Days

Older But No Wiser (Vanguard)

Lynn Miles- Hwy 105

tumbleWeedyWorld (True North)

Tom Russell- T-Bone Steak and Spanish Wine

October in the Railroad Earth (Frontera)

Keith Glass Band- Come Along

Different World (Stump)

Rick Scott & Nico Rhodes- Hurt So Long

Roots & Grooves (Grand PooBah Music)

Shari Ulrich & Mike Regenstreif (2019)

Shari Ulrich- Free Fall

Everywhere I Go (Borealis)

Derek Vanderhorst- Hanging on Your Door

Wildflower (Derek Vanderhorst)

Scarlet Rivera- Before Everything Changed

Tribute to a Song Poet: Songs of Eric Andersen (Y&T Music)

My Politic- Cursing at the Night & at the Morning

Missouri Folklore: Songs & Stories from Home (My Politic)

Marilyn Jordan- Calico Curtains

Both Things are True (Marilyn Jordan)

The Klezmorim- Firen Di Mekhutonim Aheym

First Recordings (Arhoolie)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on April 22. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm. 

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday March 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/128/55682.html

Richie Havens- Here Comes the Sun
Résumé: The Best of Richie Havens (Rhino)

Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez Seeger- Maple Syrup Time
Seeds: The Songs of Pete Seeger, Volume 3 (Appleseed)
Le Vent du Nord- Dans l’eau-de-vie de l’arbre
20 Printemps (La Compagnie du Nord)
Tamarack- Maple Syrup
Leaving Inverarden (Folk Era)
Trent Severn- Stealin’ Syrup
Trillium (Trent Severn)

Jesse Winchester & Mike Regenstreif (2000)

Jesse Winchester- Yankee Lady
Live From Mountain Stage (Blue Plate Music)
Bob Stark- I Can’t Be Sure
Sculpted Pieces of Love (Bob Stark)
Colleen Peterson- Brand New Tennessee Waltz
Beginning to Feel Like Home (Capitol)
Michael Miland- Isn’t That So
Michael Miland (Michael Miland)
Jennifer Warnes- You Remember Me
Shot Through the Heart (Arista)

Tom Paxton, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer- When the Big Bad Books Go Boo
When the Big Bad Books Go Boo – single (Community Music)
Carla Ulbrich- From the Bible
Twang (Romantic Devil)

Rupert Wates- For the People
For the People (Rupert Wates)
Greg Greenway- Let It Roll
Songs From the Beginning (Sheen of Heat Music)
Johnsmith- Virgil’s Sweet Six String
Backroads (Blue Pine Music)

Mike Mullins- Beneath the Skye the Water is Wide
8-String Sketches (Rubber Chicken)

Mike Regenstreif & Bruce Cockburn (2017)

Psoy Korolenko- Babi Yar
Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II (Six Degrees)
Sophie Milman- Tulchin
Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II (Six Degrees)
Tom Paxton- Silent Night
New Songs for Old Friends (Reprise)
Leonard Cohen- The Partisan
Songs from a Room (Columbia/Legacy)
Bruce Cockburn- If I Had a Rocket Launcher
Greatest Hits (1970-2020) (True North)

Lisa Null- Sweet Dove of Peace
Legacies (Folk-Legacy)
Sue Horowitz- Peace Song
Notes From the Garrison (Sue Horowitz)
Noel Paul Stookey featuring Theresa Thomason- In Reverence
Fazz: Now & Then (Neworld Multimedia)
Priscilla Herdman- Peace Must Come
Darkness Into Light (Flying Fish)

Eliza Gilkyson- Colorado Trail
Songs from the River Wind (Howlin’ Dog)
Tom Russell & Ian Tyson- Navajo Rug
Cowboy’d All to Hell (Frontera)
Over the Moon- Someday Soon
Chinook Waltz (Borealis)
Bill Staines- My Sweet Wyoming Home
Miles (Mineral River)
Willie P. Bennett- Blackie and the Rodeo King
Blackie and the Rodeo King (Bnatural Music)

Hoyle Osborne- Can-Can
Ragtime Cowboy Joe: Piano Music from an Old West Saloon (Ripple)

Shari Ulrich & Mike Regenstreif (2019)

Rick Fines- Live Forever
Solar Powered Too (Rick Fines)
Susan Crowe- Still, You Do Not Come
The Door to the River (Corvus)
Shari Ulrich- Busy
Back to Shore (Borealis)
Lynn Miles- Main St.
We’ll Look for Stars (Must Have Music)

The Duke Robillard Band with Michelle Willson- Trouble in Mind
They Called It Rhythm & Blues (Stony Plain)
Barbara Dane- Prescription for the Blues
Trouble In Mind (Dreadnaught)
Memphis Slim & Willie Dixon- Chicago House Rent Party
Songs of Memphis Slim & Willie Dixon (Folkways)
Kenny ‘Blues Boss’ Wayne- Rock and Rolling This House
Blues from Chicago to Paris: A Tribute to Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon (Stony Plain)

Pierce Turner- Don’t Get Too Fallen
Terrible Good (StorySound)
The Band- I Shall Be Released
Music from Big Pink: 50th Anniversary (Capitol)
Cowboy Junkies with Garth Hudson- Clothes Line Saga
Garth Hudson Presents a Canadian Celebration of The Band: 10th Anniversary Edition (Curve Music)
The Brothers & Sisters- My Back Pages
Dylan’s Gospel (Columbia)
Bob Dylan- Visions of Johanna
The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert! (Columbia/Legacy)

Wynton Marsalis- The Pearls  
Selections from Swinging into the 21st (Columbia)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on April 23. I also host Stranger Songs on CKCU every Tuesday from 3:30-5 pm.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Canadian Spaces – CKCU – Saturday August 10, 2019

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

This particular show is now available for on-demand listening. https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/129/44224.html

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). 


This week’s show was hosted by Mike Regenstreif (subbing for Chris White).

Guests: Ronney Abramson & Jerry Golland; Shari Ulrich.

Moore & McGregor- Summertime 
Dream with Me (Ivernia)

Jessica Heine- Captain My Captain

Goodbye Party (Fallen Tree Records)

Graham Lindsey w/Westmannafolk- From Away

Tradhead (Wavelength Media)

David Newland- Under Forever Skies

Northbound: The Northwest Passage in Story and Song (David Newland)

Orit Shimoni- When You Are a Wanderer

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

Lucas Choi Zimbel- What Owns Who

Tempered Tantrum (Lucas Choi Zimbel)

Jamie Anderson- Run to the Darkness

The Truth Appears (Tsunami)

Old Man Luedecke- Lonely County

Easy Money (True North)

El Coyote- Leaving Thunder

El Coyote (El Coyote)

Tomato Tomato- Ophelia

Canary in a Coal Mine (Tomato Tomato)

James Gordon- Fall and Rise

The Heritage Hall Sessions (Borealis)

Meg Tennant- Sunny Shore Café

Echoed Light (Meg Tennant)

Marc Nerenberg- Delia’s Gone

Delia’s Gone: Murder Ballads & Other Songs of Love & Death (Marc Nerenberg)

Ken Tizzard- Man of a Thousand Songs

A Good Dog is Lost: A Collection of Ron Hynes Songs (Ken Tizzard)

Ray Harris- Late Night Phone Calls

Kinda Sets the Tone (Ray Harris)

Ronney Abramson & Mike Regenstreif (2016)

Ronney Abramson & Jerry Golland- Your Love Gets Me Around

Live in the Studio

Ronney Abramson & Jerry Golland- Down to the River

Live in the Studio

Ronney Abramson & Jerry Golland- Three O’Clock Ride

Live in the Studio

Ronney Abramson & Jerry Golland- Light Up Your Love

Live in the Studio

Shari Ulrich & Mike Regenstreif (2019)

Shari Ulrich- Canada

Back to Shore (Borealis)

Shari Ulrich- A Bit of Forgiveness

Back to Shore (Borealis)

Chaim Tannenbaum- Belfast Louis Falls in Love

Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)

My next show on CKCU is August 17 when I’ll be hosting the Saturday Morning program from 7 until 10 am.

Find me on Twitter. @MikeRegenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Top 14 for 2014

Here are my picks for the Top 14 folk-rooted or folk-branched albums of 2014 (including reissues). As in past years, I started with the list of more than 400 albums that landed on my desk over the past year and narrowed it down to a short list of about 30. I’ve been over the short list a bunch of times and came up with several similar – not identical – Top 14 lists. As I’m about to take a break from blogging until January, today’s list is the final one. The order might have been slightly different, and there are several other worthy albums that might have been included, had one of the other lists represented the final choice.

1. Jesse Winchester – A Reasonable Amount of Trouble (Appleseed). My late friend Jesse Winchester wrote most of these songs in the wake of his first bout with cancer and finished recording the album just a few weeks before he passed away after the cancer returned. As I noted in the Montreal Gazette, there is a sense of mortality to many of the songs and the “album ends with ‘Just So Much,’ a beautiful and deeply affecting reflection on faith in God, on love, and on coming to terms with approaching death. A sad but perfect finale to a brilliant songwriting career.”

Click here for my full-length review of A Reasonable Amount of Trouble.

2. Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete (Columbia/Legacy). The most mythologized bootleg recordings of all time are finally released in their (more or less) complete form in a beautifully packaged 6-CD set. Old folk, country, blues and rock ‘n’ roll songs, covers of songs written by contemporary peers like Ian Tyson, Utah Phillips and Johnny Cash, lead into early versions of many Dylan classics and obscurities. As I noted, it is “endlessly fascinating” and “a great addition to the old weird Americana that is so much a part of what folk music is.”

Click here for my full-length review of The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete.

3. Leonard Cohen – Popular Problems (Columbia). As I noted, “it occurs to me as I’ve listened and re-listened to the songs on Popular Problems that it is Leonard the poet as much as Leonard the songwriter that we’re listening to. Many of them are sung in a way that suggests recitation as much as singing and some of them have musical accompaniments that bolster the singing/recitation with pulse or heartbeat rather than melody… Popular Problems is yet another compelling masterwork. These are songs I fully expect will continue to reveal more layers of meaning with every hearing.”

Click here for my full length review of Popular Problems.

4. Dave Van Ronk – Live in Monterey (Omnivore). The late, great Dave Van Ronk was at the peak of his form when this unreleased-until-this-year set was recorded in 1998. The set list includes many songs from the standard Dave Van Ronk canon but ends with a beautiful version of Ian Tyson’s classic “Four Strong Winds.” Dave recorded “Four Strong Winds” on To All My Friends in Far-Flung Places, but I don’t recall ever hearing him do it live.

Click here for my full-length review of Live in Monterey.

5. Tom Russell – Midway to Bayamon (Frontera). A collection of rarities recorded between 1982 and 1992, most of them are from a pair of cassette-only releases from 1985 and 1987, as well as several demos, 45s and unreleased live cuts. An essential set by the artist I regard as the finest songwriter of my generation.

Also noteworthy are two other Tom Russell compilations released this year: Tonight We Ride: The Tom Russell Cowboy Anthology (Frontera) and The Western Years (RockBeat).

Click here for my full-length reviews of Midway to Bayamon, Tonight We Ride and The Western Years.

6. Eric Bibb – Blues People (Stony Plain). “As I’ve said before, Eric Bibb is one of the most inspired and inspiring of contemporary blues (and folk) artists. Blues People is yet another offering from the prolific singer, guitarist and songwriter that reinforces that opinion… There is a concept to Blues People as its songs – 11 of which were written or co-written by Eric while four were drawn from other sources – capture snippets of the lives of musicians who have played blues over the past century or so and place them in the context of the times and changing times in which they’ve lived.”

Click here for my full-length review of Blues People.

7. Garnet Rogers – Summer’s End (Snow Goose Songs). “Seven years on from his last album, and after years of thinking he was done with recording, Garnet Rogers has released Summer’s End, a collection of beautiful heartrending songs about memory, grief, hope and love… A quietly subdued tour de force.”

Click here for my full-length review of Summer’s End.

8. Catherine Russell – Bring It Back (Jazz Village/Harmonia Mundi). Another in a series of great albums by my favorite present-day jazz singer. Catherine Russell fully understands the roots of early jazz and classic blues while bringing a contemporary sensibility and swing to her performances. On Bring It Back, Cat draws on such sources as Duke Ellington, Ida Cox, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday and her father, Luis Russell.

9. Various Artists – Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie (Compass).

Jean Ritchie, who turned 92 today (December 8), is one of the great links between traditional Appalachian folksongs and contemporary folk-rooted songwriting. “On the two CDs of Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie, a remarkable group of artists – some very famous, some relatively unknown – pay tribute to Jean’s legacy with loving, joyous performances of 37 songs, many of them Jean’s own songs, others traditional folk songs from her repertoire.”

Click here for my full-length review of Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie.

10. Chris Smither – Still on the Levee: A 50 Year Retrospective (Signature Sounds). Chris Smither “is one of those musicians who has continued to mature and become more compelling with time and on Still on the Levee, a superb 2-CD set, he returned to [his hometown of] New Orleans to re-imagine and reinterpret 24 songs” he’s written over the course of his 50-year career.

Click here for my full-length review of Still on the Levee: A 50 Year Retrospective.

11. John Gorka – Bright Side of Down (Red House). John Gorka writes and sings beautifully crafted songs that capture the lives, feelings and turning seasons of real, believable people. Along with 11 of his own songs on Bright Side of Down, John also includes a lovely version of the late Bill Morrissey’s “She’s That Kind of Mystery.”

12. Anne Hills – Tracks (Hand & Heart Music). “On the appropriately named Tracks, Anne Hills turns her beautiful voice and highly skilled songwriter’s pen to songs about trains and people whose lives are affected by them. Like almost all of Anne’s solo albums and her many collaborative efforts, Tracks – with nine of Anne’s songs and four well-chosen covers – is filled with gorgeous singing and seemingly simple yet elegantly perfect acoustic arrangements.”

Click here for my full-length review of Tracks.

13. Shari Ulrich – Everywhere I Go (Borealis). A lovely and lovingly-produced collection of songs that deal perceptively with themes of nature, love, loss, and life’s choices. Having heard just about all of Shari Ulrich’s group and solo work dating back to the ‘70s, I think Everywhere I Go represents her best work yet.

14. Notre Dame de Grass – That’s How the Music Begins (Notre Dame de Grass). With That’s How the Music Begins, Notre Dame de Grass, the finest pure-bluegrass band to ever come out of Montreal, offers “a textbook example of everything a traditional bluegrass fan would want in an album. There’s some excellent original material, some traditional standards, some outstanding instrumentals, and some gospel, all played and sung within the standard bluegrass instrumentation and vocal styles defined by Bill Monroe and other first-generation bluegrassers like the Stanley Brothers and Flatt & Scruggs.”

Click here for my full-length review of That’s How the Music Begins.

Find me on Twitter.twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif