The theme on this edition of Stranger Songs is Remembering Bruce Murdoch (1947-2026.
Pictured: Mike Regenstreif & Bruce Murdoch (2007).
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| fragment of The Stranger Song Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen - Columbia/Legacy 
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| Special thanks to Bill Garrett for his assistance in assembling several of the recordings heard on this show.
Bruce Murdoch, a great singer-songwriter and dear friend, passed away on June 11 at age 78. I kept in touch with Bruce – most recently just last month – and although I knew his time was short, it was still difficult to hear the news that he’d died. I was still a teenager and Bruce was in his early 20s when we first met on the Montreal folk scene, circa 1970. I loved his songs and took every opportunity I could to see him perform at venues like the Back Door, the Yellow Door and Montreal Folk Workshop. By that time, Bruce was back in Montreal after five years or so of performing primarily in the U.S. where he was active in the Civil Rights and anti-war movements. In the fall of 1972, when I started my first concert series at Dawson College in Montreal, I asked Bruce to headline the first concert. Then, in the spring of 1974 when I took over running The Golem, a Montreal folk club that had been founded in 1973 by Saul Markowicz, Bruce was the artist I booked for my opening weekend. Bruce played there often during my first stint at the Golem from 1974 to 1976. In 1965, at age 17, Bruce was one of four performers whose first recordings were featured on an LP called the Singer-Songwriter Project. The others were Richard Fariña, Patrick Sky and David Blue – who was then still known by his real name: David Cohen. |
| Farewell My Friend Bruce Murdoch - Singer Songwriter Project - Elektra
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| Rompin’ Rovin’ Days Bill Staines - Journey Home - Red House
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| Down in Mississippi Bruce Murdoch - Singer Songwriter Project - Elektra
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| Try an' Ask Bruce Murdoch - Singer Songwriter Project - Redhouse
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| Bruce’s first full-length album was 33 1/3 Revolutions per Minute released in 1970. Unfortunately, the LP suffered from poor sound quality and some questionable sound effects, which Bruce told me were imposed against his will. But, despite those issues, there were some great songs on the album – including the next six songs.
The first two 33 1/3 RPM songs are from a 1968 concert tape that Bill Garrett has in his collection. |
| Spanish Songs of Spain (Letters to Lucille #2) Bruce Murdoch - 1968 live tape from New York City – courtesy of Bill Garrett
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| Justines Blues Bruce Murdoch - 1968 live tape from New York City – courtesy of Bill Garrett
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| The next two songs are from a recording of an interview at KPFA radio in Berkeley, California in 1969 that Bruce gave me many years ago. |
| September 4 – 4 East Bruce Murdoch - From a 1969 radio show on KPFA in Berkeley
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| To Angela Bruce Murdoch - From a 1969 radio show on KPFA in Berkeley
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| (Can I) Come Across to You Penny Lang - Live at the Yellow Door - She-Wolf
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| Let's Lay Down Our Drums Bruce Murdoch - 33 1/3 Revolutions per Minute - Stormy Forest
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| As mentioned earlier, Bruce Murdoch returned to Montreal around 1970 and quickly became one of the city’s best-loved folk artists. He performed regularly on the Montreal scene, including a couple of concerts at Dawson College and many gigs at the Golem that I presented.
However, by late in the 1970s, Bruce decided to stop performing and put his guitar away for about 25 years. He moved to Alberta, went back to school and got his teaching credentials and became a high school teacher and volunteer firefighter in Hinton, a small town about 280 km west of Edmonton. However, before he moved to Alberta, he recorded a self-titled LP for the CBC with producers Bill Garrett and Paul Mills that included many of the songs he’d been singing in Montreal during the ‘70s. |
| Joshua (Rough Night in Jericho) Bruce Murdoch - Bruce Murdoch - Radio Canada International
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| Fool Like Me Bruce Murdoch - Bruce Murdoch - Radio Canada International
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| (The Plains of) Jericho Bruce Murdoch - Bruce Murdoch - Radio Canada International
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| Wings was another of Bruce Murdoch’s songs that was on the Bruce Murdoch LP. In 1971, years before Bruce’s own recording of Wings, it was done as single by Bill & Sharon – the duo of Bill Garrett & his then partner Sharon Ryan – and I’d like to thank Bill for digitizing it so that I could play it on this show. |
| Wings Bill & Sharon - Wings – single - Much
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| Snowdon Bruce Murdoch - Bruce Murdoch - Radio Canada International
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| As mentioned, Bruce Murdoch gave up performing in the late 1970s. For reasons that I fully understood, Bruce was done with the music scene. He needed to get away from it, to go somewhere where he had no history and start over. So he moved out west, went back to school, and became a high school teacher and volunteer firefighter in Hinton, Alberta. His guitar sat unplayed in its case for 25 years.
When I spoke to him in 1994, after I started the Folk Roots/Folk Branches radio show on CKUT, I told him there was a guest spot for him on the show as soon as he was ready to make music again. Ten or 11 years later, Bruce let me know that the guitar was starting to come out of the case again, that songs were starting to come again. Bruce promised that as soon as he was ready, mine would be the first radio show he’d play his songs on. As fate would have it, Bruce accepted Adrien Doucette’s invitation to perform at the 2007 Branches & Roots Festival in Ormstown, Quebec and made it to Montreal in time to be my final studio guest on CKUT before I left Montreal to move to Ottawa. In 2008, Bruce released a CD of new songs called Matters of the Heart, and a year or so later, he left Alberta and settled in Ormstown, a small town about 45 minutes south of Montreal. Bruce’s new songs were different than the ones he was writing in the 1960s and ‘70s. They were generally more personal and less obviously political, but they were every bit as compelling. |
| Angels in My Heart Bruce Murdoch - Matters of the Heart - Bruce Murdoch
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| Daly’s Song Bruce Murdoch - Matters of the Heart - Bruce Murdoch
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| I Sit and Count the Stars Bruce Murdoch - Matters of the Heart - Bruce Murdoch
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| I Keep You in My Heart Bruce Murdoch - Matters of the Heart - Bruce Murdoch
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| In 2011, Bruce released another CD of new songs called Sometimes I Wonder Why the World. |
| The Rookie Bruce Murdoch - Sometimes I Wonder Why the World - Bruce Murdoch
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| I’m at the Mercy of Your Smile Bruce Murdoch - Sometimes I Wonder Why the World - Bruce Murdoch
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| I’d Walk a Thousand Miles Bruce Murdoch - Sometimes I Wonder Why the World - Bruce Murdoch
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| I mentioned that Bruce’s newer songs were less political than the ones he was writing in the 1960s and ‘70s – which is not to say that he didn’t still write political songs. In 2015, Bill Garrett produced a recording of a new political song by Bruce. |
| Begone You Neocons Bruce Murdoch with Bill Garrett & Sue Lothrop - Begone You Neocons – single - Bruce Murdoch
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| Mandy, Bruce’s partner, asked me to say that anyone with memories of Bruce that they’d like to share with the family can send them to… brucemurdochmusic@gmail.com |
| Amanda Bruce Murdoch - Sometimes I Wonder Why the World - Bruce Murdoch
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| fragment of The Stranger Song Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen - Columbia/Legacy
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Sorry for the loss of your dear friend, Mike. I look forward to getting acquainted with his music today.
9:49 AM, June 23rd, 2026