Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – June 4, 2024: Remembering Spider John Koerner; The Enduring Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis

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/595/65407.html

Themes: Part 1: Remembering Spider John Koerner (1938-2024) / Part 2: The Enduring Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis (1896-1972)

Part 1: Remembering Spider John Koerner

Spider John Koerner was an influential folk and blues legend who died of cancer on May 18 at age 85.

Spider John Koerner was already one of the leading performers on the Minneapolis folk scene when Robert Zimmerman, still a teenager, moved there to attend the University of Minnesota. Spider John was highly influential in the musical direction that Zimmerman took that year – including beginning to call himself Bob Dylan. In his memoir, Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan wrote: “Koerner was tall and thin with a look of perpetual amusement on his face. We hit it off right away … when he spoke he was soft-spoken but when he sang he became a field holler shouter. Koerner was an exciting singer and we began playing a lot together.”

I first discovered Spider John Koerner while I was a teenager. It was probably 1969 or ’70 when I bought an LP called Blues, Rags & Hollers by the trio of Koerner, Ray & Glover – Spider John Koerner, Dave "Snaker" Ray and Tony "Little Sun: Glover. The album, from 1963, was mostly solo cuts by one or another of the three, along with a few duo cuts by two of the three.

Koerner, Ray & Glover- Linin’ Track

Blues, Rags & Hollers (Red House)

Ray Wylie Hubbard- Spider, Snaker and Little Sun

Tell the Devil I’m Coming As Fast As I Can (Bordello)

Spider John Koerner & Dave "Snaker" Ray- Black Dog

(Lots More) Blues, Rags & Hollers (Red House)

Koerner, Ray & Glover- What’s the Matter with the Mill

(Lots More) Blues, Rags & Hollers (Red House)

Spider John Koerner- Froggie Went a-Courtin’

Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Been (Red House)

Spider John Koerner- The Roving Gambler

Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Been (Red House)

Spider John Koerner- The Days of Forty-Nine

StarGeezer (Red House)

Spider John Koerner- Taking My Time

StarGeezer (Red House)

Part 2: The Enduring Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis

Reverend Gary Davis, who died in 1972 at age 76, was a street preacher and a highly influential legend of blues, gospel and folk music. His guitar playing influenced many of the artists who came into the folk scene in the 1950s, ‘60s, ‘70s and continuing to the present.

Reverend Gary Davis- You Got to Move

A Little More Faith (Prestige/Bluesville)

Mountain City Four- Motherless Children

Mountain City Four (Omnivore)

Mr. Rick- I’ll Fly Away

Mr. Rick Sings About God + Booze (Mr. Rick)

Mary Flower- Sit Down on the Banks

Gary Davis Style: The Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis (Riverlark)

Michael Jerome Browne- Reverend Strut

Gettin’ Together (Borealis/Stony Plain)

Reverend Gary Davis- I’m Glad I’m in That Number

A Little More Faith (Prestige/Bluesville)

Marie Knight- When I Die

Let Us Get Together: A Tribute to Reverend Gary Davis (M.C.)

Andy Cohen- Pure Religion

Oh Glory, How Happy I Am: The Sacred Songs of Rev. Gary Davis (Riverlark)

William Lee Ellis- I Heard the Angels Singing

Gary Davis Style: The Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis (Riverlark)

Roy Book Binder- The Preacher Picked the Guitar

Singer-Songwriter Bluesman (PEGleg)

Dave Van Ronk- Cocaine

Live at Sir George Williams University (Just a Memory)

Reverend Gary Davis- Buck Dance

Live & Kickin’ (Just a Memory)

Guy Davis- Candy Man

Stomp Down Rider (Red House)

Penny Lang & Friends- God Knows How Much We Can Bear

Gary Davis Style: The Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis (Riverlark)

Mitch Greenhill & Mayne Smith- Samson & Delilah

Gary Davis Style: The Legacy of Reverend Gary Davis (Riverlark)

Bruce Cockburn- Twelve Gates to the City

Bone on Bone (True North)

Reverend Gary Davis- I Will Do My Last Singing in This Land Somewhere

Live at Newport (Vanguard)

Next week: Songs for Fathers

--Mike Regenstreif

Dave Ray – Legacy

DAVE RAY

Legacy

Red House Records

redhouserecords.com

After Bob Dylan, the most significant musicians to come out of the folk scene around the University of Minnesota, circa 1960, was the trio of Koerner, Ray & Glover – guitarist-singers “Spider” John Koerner and Dave “Snaker” Ray and harmonica player Tony “Little Sun” Glover. Along with such seminal figures as Dave Van Ronk in New York and Eric Von Schmidt in Cambridge, Koerner, Ray & Glover paved the way for all of the blues revivalists who followed in their footsteps.

The tracks on classic Koerner, Ray & Glover albums like Blues, Rags & Hollers and (Lots More) Blues, Rags & Hollers only occasionally featured all three musicians. Most songs had one or another of the trio performing solo or in duos with one of the others and Ray’s cuts highlighted the sets.

Ray went on to a long career working occasionally with Koerner and Glover – I remember meeting and hearing them at the Winnipeg Folk Festival in the 1980s – as well as in duos with Glover, fronting his own bands, and as a solo artist. Ray, who died of lung cancer in 2002 at age 59, kept on playing until the end.

Legacy is an exhaustive 3-CD set that collects 55 recordings – most of them previously unreleased – made over the course of his 40-year career. We hear him mature from a teenaged guitarist trying to imitate Lead Belly to a fully developed master of both rural and urban blues styles.

The recordings on the first CD cover the years from 1962 to 1987. While early tracks like “Alabama Women” and “Fannin Street” sound imitative, we quickly hear him find his own blues voice and begin to offer more fully developed interpretations of songs like Brownie McGhee’s “Lonesome Road,” with Glover offering more than credible Sonny Terry-style harp, and Blind Blake’s “Fighting That Jug.”

The 21 songs on the second CD were recorded between 1988 and 1994 and are highlighted by Jimmy Reed’s “Take Out Some Insurance,” with Ray on electric guitar, Tommy Johnson’s “Big Road,” on which he plays an electric 12-string, and Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues,” on which he plays acoustic 12-string. All three tracks, and many others on the disc, feature some excellent harp work by Glover.

The 18 songs on the third CD date from 1995 to 2002. By this time, Ray was a fully developed blues artist. His versions of such pieces as Tommy McClennan’s “Shake ‘Em On Down,” Joe Callicott’s “Fare Thee Well,” Blind Blake’s “That Will Never Happen No More,” and even a bluesified version of Bill Monroe’s bluegrass classic “With Body and Soul” are a constant delight. And, again, all of those tracks feature great contributions from Glover on the harmonica.

Legacy is a great reminder of an important, if under-appreciated, artist no longer with us. The 32-page booklet includes photos and an excellent essay and song notes by Glover.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Various Artists -- A Nod to Bob 2

VARIOUS ARTISTS

A Nod to Bob 2

Red House

redhouserecords.com

A decade ago, when Bob Dylan turned 60, Red House Records, the superb folk music label based in Dylan’s home state of Minnesota, released a sublime tribute album called A Nod to Bob, that featured Red House artists of the day – including Rosalie Sorrels, Greg Brown, Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Guy Davis, Lucy Kaplansky and others – each doing a Bob Dylan song.

Now, with Dylan turning 70 this coming Tuesday, Red House has released another fine tribute featuring 16 of its solo artists or bands – including seven who were on the first Nod to Bob in 2001 – each doing a Dylan song or, in the cases of Spider John Koerner (“The Days of Forty-Nine”), Hot Tuna (“Mama, Let me Lay It On You”) and Guy Davis (“House of the Rising Sun”), great versions of traditional songs from Dylan’s repertoire.

Among my favourite tracks are John Gorka’s beautiful version of “Just Like a Woman,’ a gorgeous take on “Buckets of Rain” by Danny Schmidt, Meg Hutchinson’s haunting piano-based arrangement of “Born in Time,” and Jimmy LaFave’s intense folk-to-rock version of “Not Dark Yet.” There’s probably no other current artist who understands Dylan’s fusion of folk music and rock ‘n’ roll intensity better than Jimmy LaFave.

I have to admit that I much preferred the songs that Lucy Kaplansky and Eliza Gilkyson chose for Nod 1 to the ones they chose for Nod 2, but, still Lucy’s version of “Every Grain of Sand,” and Eliza’s live version of “Jokerman,” are both first-rate. As are almost all of the rest of the tracks.

I would say that if you’re looking for the best-ever various artists tribute album to Dylan, my vote would probably go to 2001’s A Nod to Bob. If you’ve got that one and want a more-than-worthy sequel, A Nod to Bob 2 is highly recommended.

---Mike Regenstreif

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (August 17-23)

Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007 (and around the world via the web for most of those years). Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued for some time as occasional features on CKUT, and is now a blog. Here’s the 51st instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back, continuing through the end of this month, at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

August 18, 1994: Show theme- A tribute to Woody Guthrie.
August 17, 1995: Extended feature- Brother acts.
August 20, 1998: Guests- Doug McArthur & Jeffra.
August 19, 1999: Guest- Spider John Koerner.
August 17, 2000: Extended feature- Songs of Malvina Reynolds.
August 22, 2002: Guest- Mae Moore.
August 18, 2005: Extended feature- Tribute to the late Vassar Clements.

August 17, 2006: Guest- Tom Lewis.
August 23, 2007: Guest- Noah Zacharin.
August 21, 2008 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): Tribute to the late Artie Traum.

Pictured:  (Top) Artie Traum and Mike Regenstreif on October 12, 2006; (Bottom)  Tom Lewis and Mike Regenstreif at CKUT during Folk Roots/Folk Branches on August 17, 2006.

--Mike Regenstreif