Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – September 23, 2025: "If It Were Up to Me" and Songs of Cole Porter

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/595/72082.html

Themes: Part 1 – “If It Were Up to Me”; Part 2 – Songs of Cole Porter (1891-1964).

Part 1 – “If It Were Up to Me”

Cheryl Wheeler wrote “If It Were Up to Me” more than 25 years ago about the epidemic of gun violence in the United States – an epidemic that was bad then and which has only grown worse since.

The Advocate Collective included Aaron Parnell Brown, Andy Rogovin, Beth Wood, Crys Matthews, Danielle Miraglia, Erik Balkey, Genevieve, Joe Crookston, Kim Moberg, Lilli Lewis, Lisa Bastoni, Monique Byrne, Mya Byrne, Neale Eckstein, Pat Wictor, Rod MacDonald, Tom Prasada-Rao, Tret Fure, and Vance Gilbert.

The Advocate Collective- If It Were Up to Me

If It Were Up to Me – single (Hudson Harding Music)

Eric Bogle- Roll Call

A Toss of the Coin (Greentrax)

Ellis Paul- When Angels Fall

55 (Rosella)

HuDost- Broken Down in America

The Monkey in the Crown (Open Sesame Music)

Kemp Harris- Don’t You Hear Them America

The America Chronicles (Righteous Mischief)

Tom Paxton- Johnny Got a Gun

Wearing the Time (Sugar Hill)

Friction Farm- Louder Than Guns

Stone By Stone (Friction Farm)

Eric Andersen- Dangerland (Love People Not Guns)

Eric Andersen in (Spoken) Pieces (EARecords)

Magpie- What If, No Matter

A Tiding (Longtail)

Part 2 – Songs of Cole Porter (1891-1964)

Cole Porter was one of the songwriters responsible for the standards referred to as the Great American Songbook.

Martha Wainwright- Allez-vous-en

The McGarrigle Hour (Hannibal)

Billie Holiday- Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love)

The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Volume 9 (1940-1942) (Columbia/Legacy)

Susie Arioli Swing Band featuring Jordan Officer- What is This Thing Called Love

It’s Wonderful (Susie Arioli Swing Band)

k.d. lang- Love for Sale

Recollection (Nonesuch)

Mose Scarlett- Miss Otis Regrets

The Fundamental Things (Pyramid)

Noa- Anything Goes

Afterallogy (Naïve)

Mary McCaslin- Don’t Fence Me In

Old Friends (Philo)

The Bill Hilly Band (The Bills)- Begin the Beguine

All Day Every Day (Borealis)

Nikki Yanofsky- I Get a Kick Out of You

Nikki By Starlight (MNRK Music Group)

Sophie Milman- My Heart Belongs to Daddy

Sophie Milman (Linus)

Harry Connick, Jr..- Just One of Those Things

True Love: A Celebration of Cole Porter (Verve)

Lew London- Night and Day

Swingtime in Springtime (Philo/Rounder Archive)

Anita O'Day- You’re the Top

Anita (Verve)

Next week: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – April 30, 2024: Remembering Pete Seeger

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/595/64978.html

Theme: Remembering Pete Seeger (1919-2014)

Pete Seeger – who died in 2014 at age 94 – was a folksinger, musician, songwriter, author and activist at the vanguard of the folk revival from the 1940s until his death. Virtually all of us who came into the folk scene over the past seven decades or more, stand on Pete’s shoulders.

Pete Seeger- Tomorrow is a Highway

If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope and Struggle (Smithsonian Folkways)

The Weavers- Kisses Sweeter Than Wine

The Weavers at Carnegie Hall (Vanguard)

Nanci Griffith with Odetta, The Indigo Girls, Kennedy Rose, John Prine, James Hooker, Barry & Holly Tashian, John Gorka, David Mallett, Marlin Griffith & Jim Rooney- Wimoweh (Mbube)

Other Voices/Other Rooms (Elektra)

Perla Batalla- Guantanamera

Discoteca Batalla (Mechuda Music)

Peter Paul & Mary- If I Had a Hammer

Peter Paul and Mary (Warner Bros.)

Noel Paul Stookey- Not That Kind of Music

At Home: The Maine Tour (Neworld)

Pete Seeger with Arlo Guthrie & Shenendoah- Precious Friend You Will Be There

Precious Friend (Warner Bros.)

Bruce Cockburn- Turn, Turn, Turn

Rarities (True North)

Kronos Quartet with Sam Amidon, Brian Carpenter, Lee Knight & Aoife O'Donovan- Where Have All the Flowers Gone

Long Time Passing: Kronos Quartet & Friends Celebrate Pete Seeger (Smithsonian Folkways)

Magpie- Last Train to Nuremburg

Endless River (Long Tail)

Ken Whiteley- Quite Early Morning

Ken Whiteley and the Beulah Band (Borealis)

Pete Seeger- One Grain of Sand

Dangerous Songs!? (Columbia/Legacy)

Tom Paxton, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer (The Power of Song)

All New (Community Music)

Annie Patterson- Pastures of Plenty

Meet Me By the Moonlight (Annie Patterson)

Arlo Guthrie with Shenendoah- Sailing Down This Golden River

Outlasting the Blues (Rising Son)

Pete Seeger- Of Time and Rivers Flowing

Pete (Living Music)

Reggie Harris- High Over the Hudson

On Solid Ground (Reggie Harris Music)

Happy Traum- Empty Pocket Blues

I Walk the Road Again (Roaring Stream)

Rosalie Sorrels- Old Devil Time

Report from Grimes Creek (Green Linnet)

Penny Lang- Oh, Had I a Golden Thread

Carry On Children (She-Wolf)

Pete Seeger- Both Sides Now

Young vs. Old (Columbia)

John McCutcheon with Hot Rize- Well May the World Go

To Everyone in All the World: A Celebration of Pete Seeger (Appalsongs)

Next week: Songs for Mothers.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday November 16, 2021: The Guitar

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/595/54163.html

Theme: The Guitar

Guy Clark- The Guitar
Somedays the Song Writes You (Dualtone)

John Gorka- Nazarene Guitar
True in Time (Red House)
Mary Chapin Carpenter- Old D-35
One Night Lonely (Lambent Light)
Jamie Anderson- Linda’s Guitar
Songs from Home (Jamie Anderson)

Mike Regenstreif & Michael Smith (2014)

Michael Smith- Gamble’s Guitar
Time (Flying Fish)
Fink, Marxer & Gleaves- Maybelle Played Guitar
Maybelle Played Guitar – single (Community Music)
Amos Garrett- Always Got Your Hands On That Guitar
Acoustic Album (Stony Plain)

Paul Mills- Doc’s Guitar
The Other Side of the Glass (Borealis)

Mike Regenstreif & Steve Gillette (1994)

Susie Burke & David Surette- I Turn to My Guitar
Waiting for the Sun (Madrina Music)
Kinky Friedman- Me & My Guitar
Circus of Life (Echo Hill)
Alex Cuba- En Mi Guitarra
Lo Unico Constante (Caracol)
Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen- La Guitarra
Live in Concert (Compass Rose)

Hans Theessink- Big Bill’s Guitar
Hard Road Blues (Minor Music)
Eric Bibb- Booker’s Guitar
Booker’s Guitar (Telarc)
Roy Book Binder- The Preacher Picked the Guitar
Singer-Songwriter Bluesman (PEGleg)

Michael Jerome Browne, Mike Regenstreif & Eric Bibb (2005)

Magpie- This Guitar
Of Changes and Dreams (Long Tail)
Toasted Westerns- Second Fiddle to an Old Guitar
Out to Lunch!  (Moo Music)
Michael Jerome Browne- I’m a Guitar King
Sliding Delta (Borealis)
Kate Campbell- Yellow Guitar
Monuments (Large River Music)

Cheryl Wheeler- Mrs. Pinocci’s Guitar
Mrs. Pinocci’s Guitar (Philo)
Tish Hinojosa- Voice of the Big Guitar
Homeland (A&M)
Stephen Fearing- This Guitar
Yellow Jacket (True North)

Judy Collins & Mike Regenstreif (2014)

Judy Collins & Jona Fjeld with Chatham County Line- Bury Me with My Guitar On
Winter Stories (Wildflower/Cleopatra)
Laurie Lewis & Kathy Kallick- Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar
Together (Rounder)

Jeff Healey- Guitar Duet Stomp
The Best of the Stony Plain Years: Vintage Jazz, Swing and Blues (Stony Plain)

Next week: Songs and Conversation with Si Kahn

Find me on Twitter. www.twitter.com/mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Playlist: Folk Roots/Folk Branches - February 8-15, 2014

Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif is a thematic program streamed on the radio service at Roots Music Canada. – http://www.rootsmusic.ca/

A new show debuts every Saturday and repeats daily through the rest of the week.

February 8-14, 2014

Theme: Remembering Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger- Where Have All the Flowers Gone

If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope & Struggle (Smithsonian Folkways)

Peter, Paul & Mary- If I Had a Hammer

Peter, Paul and Mary (Warner Bros.)

Judy Collins- The Bells of Rhymney

3 & 4 (Wildflower)

Pete Seeger- Wimoweh

The Complete Bowdoin College Concert 1960 (Smithsonian Folkways)

Pete Seeger- Waist Deep in the Big Muddy

Headlines & Footnotes: A Collection of Topical Songs (Smithsonian Folkways)

Bruce Cockburn- Turn, Turn, Turn (To Everything There is a Season)

Where Have All the Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger (Appleseed)

Arlo Guthrie & Sarah Lee Guthrie- Sailing Down This Golden River

More Together Again In Concert (Rising Son)

Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez-Seeger- Guantanamera

More Together Again In Concert (Rising Son)

Pete Seeger w/Arlo Guthrie- Quite Early Morning

Together In Concert (Rising Son)

Leon Bibb & Eric Bibb- Oh, Had I a Golden Thread

A Family Affair (Jericho Beach)

Kim & Reggie Harris, Magpie & Pete Seeger- Old Devil Time

If I Had a Song: The Songs of Pete Seeger Vol. 2 (Appleseed)

Pete Seeger w/Arlo Guthrie- Precious Friend You Will Be There

Precious Friend (Warner Bros.)

Tom Paxton- The Honor of Your Company

Live For the Record (Sugar Hill)

Pete Seeger & the Cathedral Singers- To My Old Brown Earth

Pete (Living Music)

This show can be heard at http://www.rootsmusic.ca/radio/ on:

Saturday, February 8 – 10-11 am

Sunday, February 9 – 10-11 am

Monday, February 10 – 9-10 pm

Tuesday, February 11 – 9-10 pm

Wednesday, February 12 – 11 pm-12 am

Thursday, February 13 – 11 pm-12 am

Friday, February 14 – 11 pm-12 am.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time. Please adjust the schedule for whatever time zone you’re in.

Next week: A Visit to Leonard Cohen’s Tower of Song

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Kim and Reggie Harris – Resurrection Day

KIM & REGGIE HARRIS

Resurrection Day

Appleseed

kimandreggie.com

As I noted in a feature story I wrote for Sing Out! magazine (“Kim and Reggie Harris: Building Bridges,” Summer 2007), I’ve long been inspired by Kim and Reggie Harris – by their moving work as recording and performing artists and by the deep commitment they have as activists who use their art to help make ours a better society.

As they note in the booklet to Resurrection Day, much of this album was inspired by Reggie’s 13-year battle with an autoimmune disease – a battle he almost lost but overcame thanks to a liver transplant in 2008.

Reggie sings about his battle with the disease most explicitly in the contemplative title song. It’s not a religious resurrection he sings about – however much faith may have played a role in his recovery – it is literally a physical resurgence after “a long, long journey” filled with “pain so deep” he questioned, “Will I get over? Can I get over?” The questions are answered in the chorus, “Hallelujah! A new day is here/You’ve got a new race to run/Resurrection day, resurrection day.”

Several of the album’s other songs – both Reggie’s originals and material drawn from tradition or from other writers – allude metaphorically to moving forward in life and love. In Phil Ochs’ “Do What I Have to Do,” the narrator pledges to do what he has to do, to be what he has to be despite whatever obstacles might stand in his way. In “Here and Now With You,” a gentle, Brazilian-styled love song dedicated to Kim, Reggie sings about love supplying the force needed to overcome trial and distance. And in “It’s All About Love,” they sing about the combination of faith, trust and dedication which add up to love.

Among the album’s most poignant songs are “When Mom Left Us Here,” an expression of feelings at the loss of a parent, Matthew Jones’ “Tree of Life,” sung beautifully by Kim with gorgeous harmonies by a circle of friends recorded at the Old Songs Festival, and "Traffic," a topical song about slavery in our contemporary world.

Other highlights include the depression-era classic, “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” updated with a new last verse and rollicking zydeco arrangement to give it a contemporary feel, and the inspirational “Butterfly,” co-written by Reggie and producer Ken Whiteley, who sings it with them. (Kim and Reggie sang on Ken’s version of the song on his 2010 album, Another Day’s Journey.)

And, in this year of marking the centennial of Woody Guthrie’s birth, they end the album with “Roll On Woody,” a tribute to that most iconic of folksingers and songwriters.

As with all of Kim and Reggie’s albums, their voices frequently intertwine and support each other in glorious harmonies. Also, as with all of Kim and Reggie’s albums, they inspire with a message that we are all important and vital parts of a world that is so much bigger than any of us.

Pictured: Terry Leonino & Greg Artzner (Magpie), Kim & Reggie Harris, Pete Sutherland, Larry Penn, Utah Phillips and Mike Regenstreif at the 2005 Champlain Valley Folk Festival.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Steve Gillette -- The Man

STEVE GILLETTE
The Man
Compass Rose Music
abouttheman.com

The Man is a very different kind of album for Steve Gillette – one of the finest folk-oriented singer-songwriters since the 1960s. (His best-known song is “Darcy Farrow,” a standard of the folk repertoire since Ian & Sylvia recorded it about 45 years ago.)

The Man is a concept album that tells the story of Danny Murrow, a guitar player who was there at the dawn and flowering of the jazz age in the early decades of the 20th century leading up to and including the Great Depression and Second World War. Steve uses a combination of spoken word narration on top of instrumental versions of songs from that era, songs from those days he sings in Danny’s character, and several original songs that he wrote – and one Bessie Smith song that he rewrote – to move the story along.

Steve tells Danny’s story using a combination of fact and fiction. The fictional Danny interacts with all kinds of real musicians including the likes of Paul Whiteman, Bix Biederbecke, Bessie Smith, as well as John Hammond, the legendary talent scout and record producer. He picks up songs from Fats Waller, Count Basie and Yip Harburg and is affected by the contemporary events of the world from the racism of the era to the stock market crash and the loss of his son in the war – an event that leads him into a period of intense soul searching in which he concludes (in one of Steve's original songs) that "God is love, only love, nothing more, nothing less."

Steve surrounds himself with some great musicians on these tracks including the likes of Bill Shontz, Peter Davis, Dave Davies and Peter Ecklund on horns; Randy Wolchek and Steve’s late father, George Gillette, on piano; Jack Williams on guitar; Scott Petito, Glen Fukunaga and David Jackson on bass; Mark Graham on harmonica; and Paul Pearcy on drums. Among the all-star back-up singers are Cindy Mangsen; Kim and Reggie Harris; and Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino (Magpie).

I love what Steve has done with this album. In telling Danny’s fictional story, he’s also giving us a small slice of the early jazz world.

Steve has also put together a website about the project that is well worth checking out.

--Mike Regenstreif

Singing Through the Hard Times: A Tribute to Utah Phillips

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Singing Through the Hard Times: A Tribute to Utah Phillips
Righteous Babe
righteousbabe.com

Note: This review, from the Summer 2009 issue of Sing Out! Magazine, is posted here at the request of several of the artists who contributed to the collection.

Talk about timing, this 39 song, 2-CD collection tribute to the late Bruce (Utah) Phillips begins with Magpie, Dan Schatz, Emma’s Revolution – and a bunch more folks playing instruments and singing the chorus – performing “Singing Through the Hard Times,” a previously unheard song of Bruce’s that sure sounds like the perfect song for the recessionary hard times we’re living through right now. In fact, many of these songs would fit that bill.

This obviously loving collection includes 29 songs recorded specifically for this project and 10 more that were previously released. I counted 29 songs that were written or co-written by Bruce, three more that he didn’t write but which were part of his repertoire, and another seven that were in the spirit of some aspect of his music or persona.

There are far too many highlights in this collection for me to mention, but I would call your attention to the already-mentioned title song, and the excellent versions of “I Remember Loving You” by Tom Paxton, “Goodnight Loving Trail” by Gordon Bok, “Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia” by Emmylou Harris and Mary Black, “The Soldier’s Return” by Rosalie Sorrels, “He Comes Like Rain” by Finest Kind and “Look for Me in Butte” by Mark Ross.

I’d also draw your attention to Fast Rattler’s version of the rarely-performed “Paddy Welcome Back.” Fast Rattler’s lead singer is Bruce’s son, Brendan, who I remember as a baby and toddler.

Perhaps another volume would be in order. Off the top of my head, I can easily think of another album’s worth of songs and a whole bunch of appropriate artists to sing them.

--Mike Regenstreif