Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – January 27, 2026: International Holocaust Remembrance Day

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/595/73873.html

Theme: International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked annually on the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27, 1945. During the Holocaust, more than one million Jews were gassed to death at Auschwitz-Birkenau. In these times of exploding antisemitism and other forms of racism and hatred, it’s important for us to pause and remember the lessons of the Holocaust when Hitler’s Nazi Germany systematically murdered 6 million Jews – about two-thirds of the Jews who lived in Europe. Many of the lessons of the Holocaust, and what led to it, are sadly relevant to what’s going on in the world today.

SONiA disappear fear- By My Silence

By My Silence (Disappear)

John McCutcheon- MS St. Louis

Field of Stars (Appalsongs)

Brendan Nolan- Watching Myself Watch My Son

Beneath White Stars: Holocaust Profiles in Song (AlmondSeed Media)

Simon Spiro- Obodivke Camp (In Obodivker Lager)

Yiddish Glory: The Silenced Songs of World War II (Six Degrees)

Alice Zawadzki- The Sad Camp (Fun a Troyerikn Lager)

Yiddish Glory: The Silenced Songs of World War II (Six Degrees)

Cantor Allan Robuck- So the World Would Know

Beneath White Stars: Holocaust Profiles in Song (AlmondSeed Media)

Lee Oskar- Never Forget

Passages Through Music: Never Forget (Dreams We Share Productions)

Madeleine Peyroux- Dance Me to the End of Love

Careless Love (Rounder)

Leonard Cohen- Lovers

Six Montreal Poets (Folkways)

Leonard Cohen- Puppets

Thanks for the Dance (Columbia/Legacy)

Rod MacDonald- Auschwitz

The Man on the Ledge (Shanachie)

Tim Grimm- Anne in Amsterdam

The Turning Point (Cavalier)

Nefesh Mountain- Piece of the Sun (for Anne Frank)

Songs for the Sparrows (Eden Sky)

Brendan Nolan- Parallel Limbs

Beneath White Stars: Holocaust Profiles in Song (AlmondSeed Media)

Lenka Lichtenberg- Feel with Blood

Feel with Blood (Six Degrees)

Lenka Lichtenberg- Wintry Dusk

Feel with Blood (Six Degrees)

Psoy Korolenko- Transnistrian Lullaby (Transnistria Viglid)

Yiddish Glory: The Silenced Songs of World War II (Six Degrees)

Alice Zawadzki- A Girl from Kyiv (A Meydele from Kyiv)

Yiddish Glory: The Silenced Songs of World War II (Six Degrees)

Theodore Bikel- Partizaner-March (March of the Partisans)

While I’m Here (Red House)

Perla Batalla- The Partisan

A Letter to Leonard Cohen: Tribute to a Friend (Mechuda Music)

Noel Paul Stookey- Jean Claude

Just Causes (Neworld)

Frank London with Cantor Sveta Kundish- Minutn fun bitokhn (Moments of Hope)

Ghetto Songs (Felmay)

Next week: A Tribute to Jackie Washington.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – October 21, 2025: Songs I’ve Heard Missy Burgess Sing

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/595/72459.html

Theme: Songs I’ve Heard Missy Burgess Sing.

Mike Regenstreif & Missy Burgess (2014)

Missy Burgess is a wonderful singer and songwriter who I met shortly after I moved to Ottawa in 2007. Although she’s currently living in Sarnia, Missy remains a treasured part of the Ottawa folk scene. These are all songs I’ve heard Missy sing.

Missy Burgess- Pour Me a Song 

Pour Me a Song (Patio)

Po’ Girl Ain’t Life Sweet

Home to You (Nettwerk)

Martin Grosswendt- Come On In My Kitchen

Dog On a Dance Floor (Philo)

Odetta- Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor

Odetta and the Blues (Fantasy)

Missy Burgess- Basket of Blues

Lemon Pie (Missy Burgess)

Penny Lang- Trouble in Mind

Gather Honey (Borealis)

Mary Gauthier- Mercy Now 

Mercy Now (Lost Highway)

Rosanne Cash- Time

Come On Up to the House: Women Sing Waits (Dualtone)

Missy Burgess- Don’t Go to Cincinnati

Play Me Sweet (Missy Burgess)

Pete Wernick’s Live Five & Joan (Nondi) Wernick- My Buddy

Up All Night (Niwot)

Mose Scarlett, Jackie Washington & Ken Whiteley- We’ll Meet Again

We’ll Meet Again (Borealis)

Kimmie Rhodes & Willie Nelson- Picture in a Frame

Picture in a Frame (Sunbird)

Missy Burgess- My Blue Sweater

Lemon Pie (Missy Burgess)

Jay Linden- That Lucky Old Sun

Under the Radar (Jay Linden)

Missy Burgess & Michael Burgess- When You Wish Upon a Star

Pour Me a Song (Patio)

Ball & Chain & The Wreckers- Come on Up to the House 

Satisfied (Moo Music)

Missy Burgess- Missy’s Blues

Pour Me a Song (Patio)

Steve Earle & The Del McCoury Band- Pilgrim

The Mountain (New West)

Madeleine Peyroux- Smile

Half the Perfect World (Rounder)

Missy Burgess- Dance Me Slow

Play Me Sweet (Missy Burgess)

Next week: Remembering Bob Franke and Danny Thompson.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday June 7, 2022: Disney Songs

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU in Ottawa on Tuesdays 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 at 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/595/56478.html

Theme: Disney Songs

This theme was inspired by Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, and other Florida Republicans who picked a fight with Disney because Disney ultimately stood up for the LGBTQ+ community in the wake of Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay law.

Ken Nordine, Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Natalie Merchant, Michael Stipe, Mark Bingham, The Roches/Los Lobos- Opening Medley: Hi Diddle Dee Dee (An Actor’s Life for Me)/Little April Shower/I Wanna Be Like You
Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films (A&M)

Louis Armstrong- Whistle While You Work
Disney Songs the Satchmo Way (Buena Vista)
Mary Martin with Tutti Camarata & His Orchestra- Heigh-Ho
Disney’s Jazz Album: Big Band & Swing (Disneyland)
Imany- Someday My Prince Will Come
Jazz Loves Disney (Verve)

Dakota Dave Hull & Sean Blackburn- Blue Shadows on the Trail
River of Swing (Arabica)
Louis Armstrong- Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo
Disney Songs the Satchmo Way (Buena Vista)
Scatman Crothers, Phill Harris, Thurl Ravenscroft & Liz English- Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat
Disney’s Jazz Album: Big Band & Swing (Disneyland)

The Amazing Keystone Big Band- Steamboat Willie
Jazz Loves Disney (Verve)

Louis Prima- Chim Chim Cher-ee
Let’s Fly with Mary Poppins (Walt Disney)
Julie Andrews- A Spoonful of Sugar
Disney’s Jazz Album: Big Band & Swing (Disneyland)
Gia Malone- Sister Suffragette
Let’s Fly with Mary Poppins (Walt Disney)
Duke Ellington- Let’s Go Fly a Kite
Mary Poppins (Reprise)
Louis Prima & Gia Malone- Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Let’s Fly with Mary Poppins (Walt Disney)

Mary Martin with Tutti Camarata & His Orchestra- I’m Late
Disney’s Jazz Album: Big Band & Swing (Disneyland)
Bill Lee- Cruella De Vil
Disney’s Jazz Album: Big Band & Swing (Disneyland)
Melody Gardot- He’s a Tramp
Jazz Loves Disney (Verve)
Missy Burgess & Michael Burgess- When You Wish Upon a Star
Pour Me a Song (Patio)

Phil Harris- Thomas O’Malley Cat
Disney’s Jazz Album: Big Band & Swing (Disneyland)
Eliza Gilkyson- Bare Necessities
Your Town Tonight (Red House)

Bonnie Raitt & Was (Not Was)- Baby Mine
Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films (A&M)
Guy Van Duser with Leon Collins- When I See an Elephant Fly
Stride Guitar (Rounder)

Madeleine Peyroux- The Golden Touch
Jazz Loves Disney (Verve)
Maria Muldaur with Dan Hicks- Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
Swingin’ in the Rain (Music for Little People)
Aaron Neville- Mickey Mouse March
Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films (A&M)

The Dave Brubeck Quartet- Give a Little Whistle
Dave Digs Disney (Columbia)

Next week: Songs of Wade Hemsworth and Songs of Bill Morrissey

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Duke Robillard – Duke Robillard and his Dames of Rhythm

DUKE ROBILLARD

Duke Robillard and his Dames of Rhythm

M.C. Records

dukerobillard.com

mc-records.com

As I mentioned in my 2009 review of an album by Sunny and her JoyBoys, “I’ve been listening to bandleader, guitarist and producer Duke Robillard since he fronted the first Roomful of Blues album in 1977. I was very happy to have Duke as a guest a couple of times on the Folk Roots/Folk Branches radio show; once in the company of Kansas City legend Jay McShann, the late, great swing and blues pianist and singer. Of all of Duke’s many and varied recordings, my favorites are his swing and jazz albums. And this is one of his best swing and jazz albums.”

And the constantly delightful Duke Robillard and his Dames of Rhythm may well be his best swing and jazz album yet. Duke plays acoustic archtop guitar throughout the 15 tracks and sings lead on three songs – and duets with Sunny Crownover (of Sunny and her Joy Boys fame) on another. There are absolutely fantastic rhythm and horn sections (including my old friend Billy Novick on clarinet and alto sax) and most of the lead vocals are handled by rotating cast of extraordinary Dames of Rhythm: the aforementioned Sunny Crownover, Maria Muldaur, Kelley Hunt, Madeleine Peyroux, Catherine Russell, and Elizabeth McGovern.

These songs – all, I believe date from the first half of the 20th century – swing hard in the hands of Duke and the band. The interplay between the musicians is always a delight and each of the singers more than rises to the occasion.

Even though these songs are all familiar, they all sound terrific. Some of my favorites include Maria Muldaur’s versions of “Got the South in My Soul” and “Was That the Human Thing to Do,” two more of the several Boswell Sisters numbers she’s done over the years; Madeleine Peyroux’s versions of Fats Waller’s “Squeeze Me,” and “Easy Living,” a Billie Holiday standard (she has the perfect voice to sing Billie Holiday songs); Kelley Hunt’s versions of “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone”; Sunny Crownover’s duet with Duke on “From Monday On”; and “Blues in My Heart,” sung by Catherine Russell, one of my favorite jazz singers.

The album ends with the band blazing through a hot version of “Call of the Freaks,” a great old New Orleans tune composed by Paul Barbarin and Luis Russell (Catherine’s father).

From beginning to end Duke Robillard and his Dames of Rhythm is filled with nothing but great stuff.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Various Artists – Note of Hope: Woody Guthrie & Rob Wasserman, a collaboration in Words and Music

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Note of Hope: Woody Guthrie and Rob Wasserman – a collaboration in words and music

429 Records

woodyguthrie.org/noteofhope.htm

“The note of hope is the only note

That can keep us from falling to the bottom of the heap of evolution

Because, largely, about all a human being is anyway

Is just, a hoping machine.”

-Woody Guthrie, Notes About Music, 3/29/1946

During the almost-14-year run of the Folk Roots/Folk Branches radio show on CKUT in Montreal, I did a bunch of special programs devoted to the songs of Woody Guthrie.

Almost 11 years ago, on January 4, 2001, Nora Guthrie, Woody’s daughter and director of the Woody Guthrie Archives, joined me on one of those shows to talk about Woody, the archives and the various projects she had done, or had in the works, to bring the thousands of unheard songs in the archives to life.

One of the projects she mentioned was a multi-artist collection being spearheaded by the great bassist Rob Wasserman. I was already a big fan of Rob’s playing and of his Duets album for which he collaborated with a different artist on every track, so the Woody Guthrie project was something I quickly began looking forward to.

Years passed since that radio show. When I’d see Nora over the years, she’d tell me the project was still ongoing. Finally, Note of Hope is out, released in conjunction with celebration leading to the centennial of Woody’s birth on July 14, 2012.

Rob Wasserman’s bass playing is the heartbeat of this collection, and the soul is Woody Guthrie’s writings, dating from his New York – particularly Brooklyn – years of 1942 to 1954.

It’s an eclectic collection of artists and an eclectic range of material that Rob and Nora have assembled for Note of Hope. There are artists rooted in folk, rock, jazz and hip hop – or various combinations thereof – and the songs, mostly set to music by the individual artists themselves, or in collaboration with Rob, stretch far and away, both lyrically and musically, from the standard Woody Guthrie canon. In addition to having been a prolific songwriter, Woody was also a prolific prose writer and I'm sure some these pieces were not written as songs. Several of the most compelling tracks are performed as spoken word pieces with musical backing.

The spoken word tracks, and a couple of others that are kind of sung-spoken, remind me of Jack Kerouac’s recorded readings with musical backing.

Among the spoken word pieces is “Voice,” performed by Ani DiFranco, a Coney Island meditation on how it is not real, authentic, everyday people reflected in popular culture – something that’s not much different 60 or 70 years later.

Another is “I Heard a Man Talking,” a reading by the late Studs Terkel, the legendary Chicago radio interviewer and oral historian. The piece, written in 1943, is a story that could have come out of Kerouac’s On the Road, written almost a decade later. It makes me wonder if Kerouac’s stream-of-consciousness writing style was at least partially inspired by Woody’s writing.

And then there’s “There’s a Feeling in Music,” read by Pete Seeger on top of a banjo and bass arrangement composed and played Tony Trischka and Rob. Written in 1942 just two years after Woody and Pete met for the first time in New York City, it is a beautifully written rumination on why music and songs are so important and so much a part of our lives.

“The Debt I Owe,” set to music with some of his additional words by Lou Reed is almost a talking song too. The narrator walks around Coney Island – where Woody lived with wife Marjorie Mazia Guthrie and kids Arlo, Joady and Nora – ruminating on money troubles in a way that seems to so reflect the burdens of so many in our own 21st century economic crisis. But, there’s another layer to the song. The real debt is not about money, it’s about the times we’re living in – “the bell is ringing out danger,” Lou sings (and a line Lee Hays and Pete Seeger would use a few years later) – and the people we love and sometimes hurt, and owe so much to.

Other highlights include “Wild Card in the Hole,” set to music and sung by Madeleine Peyroux, another song that seems as reflective of our own times as of 1949 when Woody wrote the words; and “Old Folks,” set to music and sung by Nelly McKay, in which the narrator muses on the weariness and accomplishment of old age and the optimism of youth.

The finale, “You Know the Night,” set to music by Rob and Jackson Browne, and sung by Jackson, is an amazing 15-minute tour-de-force in which Woody vividly recalls the night he met Marjorie. Written in 1943, it almost presages songs like “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” that Bob Dylan would start writing two decades later.

The performing artists in this collection are of our time, but I never cease to be astounded how so much of Woody’s writings, from six or seven decades ago, seems to be as much, or more so, of our time as his.

--Mike Regenstreif

Various artists -- Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert
Rounder
rounder.com

This CD collects highlights from an October 2009 concert at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of Rounder Records, one of the most important, and by now one of the most venerable, of roots-oriented independent record labels.

Featured on the CD are two songs each from some of the most popular artists on Rounder’s current roster: Minnie Driver, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Irma Thomas, Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck (with Abigail Washburn on one song and Jerry Douglas on the other); and Mary Chapin Carpenter. All of them perform together on a spectacular grand finale medley.

As well, there are several performances not from the concert that were shown on the big screen at the Opry concert and are included here including a song from Robert Plant & Alison Krauss and two songs each from Madeleine Peyroux and Steve Martin.

Minnie Driver, who hosted the concert – an edited version was a recent PBS fundraiser – may be a bit of a weak link musically in such a stellar lineup, but all of the artists turn in terrific performances. It’s a great party that touches several of Rounder’s main bases: bluegrass, Zydeco, R&B, contemporary folk, etc.

But what the CD doesn’t really give us is a sense of Rounder’s tremendous musical legacy. I’ve known the Rounder folks for most of those 40 years and I’ve collected hundreds and hundreds of their albums. Here, then, is a list of 40 of my favourite albums released or reissued by Rounder over the years, either on Rounder, or its subsidiary or acquired imprints. For the sake of variety, I’ve included no more than one album by any artist or group, no various artists collections, and the list is presented in alphabetical order.

Chava Albertstein & the Klezmatics- The Well
David Amram‑ No More Walls
Rory Block- Gone Woman Blues: The Country Blues Collection
Roy Book Binder- Polk City Ramble
Brave Old World- Beyond the Pale
Guy Clark- Craftsman
J.D. Crowe- J.D. Crowe & the New South
Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard- Hazel & Alice
Nanci Griffith- Last of the True Believers
Woody Guthrie- My Dusty Road
John Hartford- Aereo‑Plain
Priscilla Herdman- Forgotten Dreams
Anne Hills- Angle of the Light
Tish Hinojosa- Culture Swing
Flaco Jiminez- Arriba El Norte
Bill Keith- Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass
Klezmer Conservatory Band- Live: The Thirteenth Anniversary Album
Allison Krauss- I've Got That Old Feeling
Lew London- Swingtime in Springtime
David Mallett- Inches & Miles
Martin, Bogan & Armstrong- Martin, Bogan Armstrong/That Old Gang of Mine
Mary McCaslin- Way Out West
Katy Moffatt- Evangaline Hotel
Bill Morrissey- Bill Morrissey
David Olney- Roses
Tom Paxton- Even A Grey Day
Utah Phillips- The Telling Takes Me Home
Red Clay Ramblers- It Ain't Right
Peter Rowan- Peter Rowan
Tom Russell- Poor Man's Dream
Mike Seeger- Third Annual Farewell Reunion
Paul Siebel- Paul Siebel
Skyline with Tony Trischka- Ticket Back: A Retrospective
Michael Smith- Michael Smith/Love Stories
Bill Staines- Tracks and Trails
Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin- Our Town
Happy & Artie Traum- Hard Times in the Country
Guy Van Duser & Billy Novick- Exactly Like Us
Dave Van Ronk- Sunday Street
Doc Watson- Sittin’ Here Pickin’ the Blues

--Mike Regenstreif

Various artists -- Things About Comin' My Way: A tribute to the music of the Mississippi Sheiks

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Things About Comin’ My Way: A tribute to the music of the Mississippi Sheiks
Black Hen
blackhenmusic.com

One of the nice things about being my age is that as a young folkie, I had opportunities to see, in some cases meet, and, in a few cases, even work with, some of the legendary first generation recording artists whose music so influenced everything that came after. One of the artists I got to work with in 1974 as an area co-ordinator (stage manager) at the Mariposa Folk Festival was Sam Chatman, who I believe was about 77 or 78 years old at the time.

Back in the 1920s and ‘30s –- in addition to being a solo blues artist –- Sam often performed and recorded as a member of the Mississippi Sheiks, one of the great African-American string bands. Their biggest hit was “Sitting On Top of the World,” a song that has since become a standard in blues, bluegrass, western swing, folk and even rock repertoires. Sam had one of the most-lined faces I’ve ever seen, but there was so much musical history etched inside each and every one of those lines.

When I met Sam Chatman, he was 35 or 40 years removed from the heyday of the Mississippi Sheiks. And, now, 35 years after that, comes this excellent tribute featuring various artists interpreting 17 of their songs in their own individualistic ways.

I like almost all of these interpretations but some of my favourite tracks include a cool version of “Honey Babe Let the Deal Go Down” by Bruce Cockburn that begins with some great fingerpicking blues patterns and builds into a Preservation Hall-style arrangement highlighted by William Carn’s trombone; Del Rey’s take on “We Are Both Feeling Good Right Now,” featuring her goodtime vocals and her ragtime guitar playing interacting with a choir of three clarinets; an arrangement of “The World is Going Wrong,” by Geoff Muldaur and the Texas Sheiks that recalls Geoff’s days in the Jim Kweskin Jug Band; and a faithful version of “Sitting On Top of the World,” by the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a great trio at the forefront of the revival in African American stringband music.

Other highlights include tracks by Madeleine Peyroux, John Hammond, the Sojourners, Kelly Joe Phelps and producer Steve Dawson.

--Mike Regenstreif