Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday August 31, 2021: Remembering Nanci Griffith (1953-2021)

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/595/53257.html

Theme: Remembering Nanci Griffith (1953-2021)

Nanci Griffith – a superb and influential singer, songwriter and performer – died on August 13th at age 68. The show includes some of Nanci’s recordings, some of her collaborations with other artists, and some of her songs performed by other artists.

Nanci Griffith- There’s a Light Beyond These Woods
There’s a Light Beyond These Woods (Philo)

Nanci Griffith- Julie Anne
Poet In My Window (Philo)
Kathy Mattea- Love at the Five & Dime
Walk the Way the Wind Blows (Mercury)
Nanci Griffith- Daddy Said
Once In a Very Blue Moon (Philo)

It's been a long time since I’d seen her or been in touch, but Nanci and I were close in the 1980s when she came to Montreal frequently to play concerts at The Golem, the folk club I was then running. She'd always stay with me and we had some great times. One day she wrote the song, “Banks of the Pontchartrain,” in my apartment.

Nanci Griffith- Banks of the Pontchartrain
The Last of the True Believers (Philo)
Tom Russell & Nanci Griffith- St. Olav’s Gate
The Long Way Around (HighTone)
Suzy Bogguss- Outbound Plane
Aces (EMI)

Nanci Griffith- Time Alone
Once In a Very Blue Moon (Philo)

Nanci Griffith & Arlo Guthrie- Tecumseh Valley
Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)
Nanci Griffith- Up Against the Rain
The Loving Kind (Rounder)

Nanci Griffith- Ten Degrees and Colder
Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)
Nanci Griffith- You Were On My Mind
Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) (Elektra)
Nanci Griffith & Tom Russell- Summer Wages
Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) (Elektra)
Nanci Griffith & Ian Tyson- Canadian Whiskey
Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) (Elektra)
Jimmy Buffett & Nanci Griffith- Someone I Used to Love
License to Chill (Mailboat)

Caroline Doctorow- Trouble In the Fields
Trouble In the Fields: An Artists’ Tribute to Nanci Griffith (Paradiddle)
Red Molly- Lookin’ for the Time
Trouble In the Fields: An Artists’ Tribute to Nanci Griffith (Paradiddle)
The Kennedys- I’m Not Drivin’ These Wheels
Trouble In the Fields: An Artists’ Tribute to Nanci Griffith (Paradiddle)
Nanci Griffith- Hell No (I’m Not Alright)
Intersection (Hell No)

Nanci Griffith with The London Symphony Orchestra- Late Night Grande Hotel
The Dust Bowl Symphony (Elektra)
Emmylou Harris & Willie Nelson- Gulf Coast Highway
Duets (Reprise)
Nanci Griffith with Carolyn Hester- Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound
Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)
Lucy Kaplansky- I Wish It Would Rain
Everyday Street (Lucy Kaplansky)
Nanci Griffith- The Wing and the Wheel
The Last of the True Believers (Philo)

Nanci Griffith- Spin On a Red Brick Floor
One Fair Summer Evening (MCA)

Next week: A Tribute to The Everly Brothers

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--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday June 15, 2021

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/595/52334.html

Theme: Working in the Coalmine – Coal mining, traditionally, has been one of the most environmentally destructive sources of fuel. As well, coal mining has been one of the most dangerous occupations with untold numbers of miners being killed over the decades in both large-scale disasters and smaller accidents. Coal mining has also been one of the most dangerous occupations in terms of long-term health effects in the way that coal dust eventually destroys the lungs of miners. As well, the coal industry has been one of the most exploitative of its workers. The songs on this show address those issues.

Allen Toussaint- Working in the Coalmine
From a Whisper to a Scream (Kent)

Mary Hott with The Carpenter Ants- They Built a Railroad
Devil in the Hills: Coal Country Reckoning (Mary Hott)
Last Forever- Pay Day at Coal Creek
No Place Like Home/Last Forever (2nd Story Sound)
Kronos Quartet with Lee Knight- Which Side Are You On?
Long Time Passing: Kronos Quartet & Friends Celebrate Pete Seeger (Smithsonian Folkways)
Frida’s Brow- Canary in a Coal Mine
Frida’s Brow (Frida’s Brow)

Fourtold- Ballad of Springhill
Fourtold (Appleseed)
Matt Anderson- Coal Mining Blues
Coal Mining Blues (Busted Flat)

Judy Collins- Red-Winged Blackbird
Judy Collins 3 & 4 (Wildflower)
Priscilla Herdman- The Coming of the Roads
Darkness into Light (Flying Fish)
Laurie MacAllister- Coal Tattoo
The Things I Choose to Do (Laurie MacAllister)

Tom Paxton- Dogs at Midnight
Tom Paxton 6 (Elektra)
The Friends of Fiddler's Green- Down in the Coalmine
This Side of the Ocean (FOFG)
Jez Lowe with The Bad Pennies- These Coal Town Days
Live at the Davy Lamp (Tantobie)

Joni Mitchell- Dark as a Dungeon
Archives – Volume 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) (Rhino)
Mose Scarlett with Ken Whiteley- Nine Pound Hammer
The Fundamental Things (Pyramid)
Oscar Brown, Jr..- Sixteen Tons
The Voice of Cool (Not Now Music)

Jim Ringer- Paradise
Waitin’ for the Hard Times to Go (Folk-Legacy)
Susie Glaze- West Virginia Mine Disaster
Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie (Compass)
Glen Reid- The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore
Wildcats Howlin’ (Royston Road Music)
Kathy Mattea- Blue Diamond Mines
Coal (Captain Potato)

Mary Hott with The Carpenter Ants- Annabelle Lee
Devil in the Hills: Coal Country Reckoning (Mary Hott)
Undertakin' Daddies- Pictou County Coal
Post Atomic Hillbilly (Caribou)
Andy & Judy- St. Paul Mine
Let Us Sing (Andy & Judy Daigle)
Annie Lou- Fire in the Hole
End Zone (Annie Lou)

Next week – Summer Songs

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--Mike Regenstreif

Various Artists – Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie
Compass Records 
compassrecords.com

Jean Ritchie, now 91 years old, was born in 1922 to a rural Kentucky family with a rich legacy of singing and preserving the traditional ballads that originated centuries ago in the British Isles and were handed down from generation to generation in the Appalachian Mountains.

Jean arrived in New York City in the 1940s as a social worker but quickly became an important part of a folk scene that included such contemporaries as Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, Alan Lomax and Oscar Brand.

In a career that remained vital until she suffered a stroke in 2009, Jean's contributions were highly significant on a number of levels. She was, of course, a source singer for the many traditional ballads in the Ritchie Family tradition – many of which became standards of the folk revival. She was a folksong collector of note in both the southern United States, and in the British Isles. She was responsible for popularizing the Appalachian dulcimer during the folk revival. She was a compelling singer and she was one of the greatest and most authentic of traditionally-steeped songwriters.

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 folksongs from her repertoire.

While every one of these tracks is more than worthy of praise, I’ll call attention to just a few of my favorites. Among Jean’s own songs that list would have to include the version of the environmental song “Black Waters” that features John McCutcheon, Tim O’Brien and Suzy Bogguss trading verses; “The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore” by Robin & Linda Williams; an almost chamber-folk interpretation of “Morning’s Come, Maria’s  Gone” by Janis Ian; a chilling a cappella rendition of “West Virginia Mine Disaster” by Susie Glaze; a lovely, piano-based version of “One I Love” by Judy Collins; a joyous interpretation of “Roll On Clouds in the Morning” by Kim & Reggie Harris; and a sweet “My Dear Companion” by Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer.

Among the traditional songs, I particularly like the versions of “Pretty Betty Martin” by Kathy Reid-Naiman; “Shady Grove” by Sparky & Rhonda Rucker; “Jubilee” by Kathy Mattea; “Fair Nottamun Town,” sung in two-part a cappella harmony by Elizabeth LaPrelle with Sandy Newlin LaPrelle; the driving, old-time rendition of “Jemmy Taylor-O” by Big Medicine and "Hangman," sung conversationally by Ralston Bowles & May Erlewine-Bernard.

The album ends with Jean herself and live recording of “The Peace Round” recorded in 1992 with overdubbed harmony vocals by many of the artists who contributed to this collection.

Congratulations to Mick Lane, Charlie Pilzer and Dan Schatz who, quite obviously, co-produced Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie with much love.

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--Mike Regenstreif

Top 12 for 2012

Here are my picks for the Top 12 folk-rooted or folk-branched albums of 2012  (including reissues). 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 12 lists. 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. I also took a bit of liberty by listing four reissues by one artist as a single choice.

1. Woody Guthrie, Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection (Smithsonian Folkways). The book and the third CD, which contains much previously unreleased material, make this 3-CD boxed set essential for Woody collectors. The entire set also makes for a great introduction for Woody novices to the great folksinger and songwriter in this year marking the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Click here for my full-length review of Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection.

2. Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas (Columbia). Like so much of Leonard Cohen’s best work, there are layers and layers of meaning and understanding in these songs that I think will continue to reveal themselves over a period of years of repeated listening.

Click here for my full-length review of Old Ideas.

3. Bob Dylan – Tempest (Columbia). This is the work of a master songwriter – the master songwriter of our time – informed by half a century of his own work and by the music of what Greil Marcus called “old weird America,” the folk music and folk-rooted blues and country music which developed in various regions before spreading everywhere via recordings and migratory performers.

Click here for my full-length review of Tempest.

4. Stan Rogers – Turnaround/Between the Breaks … Live!/Northwest Passage/From Fresh Water (Borealis). Remastered and reissued versions of the final four of the five original albums Stan Rogers – in my opinion, Canada’s greatest folksinger and songwriter – recorded for his family owned record label (the first in the series was reissued in 2011).

Click here for my full-length reviews of Turnaround and Between the Breaks … Live!

Click here for my full-length reviews of Northwest Passage and From Fresh Water.

5. Tom Russell – Heart on a Sleeve (Frontera). A remastered and reissued version of the great solo debut  album – with six bonus tracks – by the artist who I’ve come to think of as the greatest songwriter of my generation.

Click here for my full-length review of Heart on a Sleeve.

6. Eric Bibb – Deeper in the Well (Stony Plain). Mostly recorded in Louisiana with musicians who add some Cajun and Creole influences, this is yet another inspired and inspiring set by the great acoustic blues and folk artist.

Click here for my full-length review of Deeper in the Well.

7. Maria Dunn – Piece By Piece (Distant Whisper). This suite of eight songs inspired by the waves of women immigrants who worked at the GWG clothing factory in Edmonton between 1911 and 2004 – and which is sung from some of their perspectives – is one of this year’s folk music masterpieces.

Click here for my full-length review of Piece By Piece.

8. Anne Hills – The Things I Notice Now: Anne Hills Sings the Songs of Tom Paxton (Appleseed). This is an excellent set of some of the finest songs written by one of our finest songwriters – sung by one of our finest interpretive singers. Tom Paxton joins Anne for three duets.

Click here for my full-length review of The Things I Notice Now: Anne Hills Sings the Songs of Tom Paxton.

9. Lucy Kaplansky – Reunion (Red House). Many of these songs movingly and poignantly reflect on family relationships and the continuity of generations.

Click here for my full-length review of Reunion.

10. Kim & Reggie Harris – Resurrection Day (Appleseed). Filled with glorious harmonies, this album inspires with a message that we are all important and vital parts of a world that is so much bigger than any of us.

Click here for my full-length review of Resurrection Day.

11. Kathy Mattea – Calling Me Home (Sugar Hill). A moving folk music album by a one-time country music hit-maker which explores her deep roots in the Appalachian Mountains.

Click here for my full-length review of Calling Me Home.

12. Hans Theessink & Terry Evans – Delta Time (Blue Groove). A second superb collaboration by the always excellent Hans Theessink, a Dutch blues singer based in Austria, and Terry Evans, a fine blues and gospel singer originally from Mississippi.

Click here for myfull-length review of Delta Time.

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--Mike Regenstreif

Kathy Mattea – Calling Me Home

KATHY MATTEA

Calling Me Home

Sugar Hill

mattea.com

In a career dating back to the 1980s, Kathy Mattea had a bunch of country hits. In 2008, though, she shucked all commercial pretence and released Coal, a thematic folk and bluegrass album of songs about the lives of Appalachian coal miners. It was her finest work ever. Whether singing about lost ways of life or of lost lives, she found the emotional essence of each song and brought it, sometimes powerfully, sometimes beautifully, to the fore.

Although only a few of the songs on Calling Me Home explicitly deal with coal miners, the album, both thematically and musically, does continue in the vein of Coal and at least equals, if not surpasses, the predecessor’s achievement.

The deep Appalachian roots of the album are signaled from the beginning of the first song, Michael and Janet Dowling’s “A Far Cry,” when the first sound heard is the fiddle and the second is the mandolin. The song itself, memorably recorded years ago by Del McCoury, is a powerful song of regret from the perspective of someone who forsook their life in the Appalachians, and the love they had there.

As noted, several songs deal directly with coal mining issues. Jean Ritchie’s quietly powerful “West Virginia Mine Disaster,” sung from the perspective of a woman whose husband was one of many men lost in the latest mining disaster and who fears a similar fate could await her sons. “Black Waters,” also written by Jean, and equally quietly powerful, is a lament for the environmental devastation the coal industry has wreaked in states like Kentucky, where Jean comes from, and West Virginia, where Kathy comes from. In Larry Cordle’s “Hello, My Name is Coal,” the narrator is coal itself contrasting its virtues and its sins.

Most of the other songs are drawn from writers who are either from the Appalachians like the late Hazel Dickens, or who have immersed themselves in the traditional culture and/or music. Among the most compelling are Si Kahn’s “Gone, Gonna Rise Again,” in which a beloved and wise grandfather is recalled; and Alice Gerrard’s “Calling Me Home,” sung a cappella with chilling harmonies by Tim Eriksen, in which a dying man says his farewells.

The mostly-acoustic arrangements featuring such musicians and harmony singers as Bryan Sutton, Stuart Duncan, Tim O’Brien, Emmylou Harris, Aoife O’Donovan, Mollie O’Brien and Alison Krauss serve the songs perfectly.

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--Mike Regenstreif