25. Star Shrine: JUDY COLLINS

JUDY COLLINS IN A 1965 FEATURE ON THE LEADING FOLK ARTISTS OF AMERICA. 

As a folkie in the 70s, I was a diehard fan of Peter, Paul and Mary and the King and Queen of Folk Music, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. Among the leading female folk singers, it was Baez who I admired most—she, with the crystal-clear soprano voice self-accompanied by her guitar, singing lyrics, laments, broadside ballads, spirituals and the protest songs of my generation. Hooked on Baez folk, I was ready to kiss the rest of female folksingers goodbye--like Buffy Sainte-Marie and Carolyn Hester –who, I thought were a far second and third to my inimitable Queen Joan.

RARE JUDY COLLINS CDs. Live at Newport, Judy Collins Fifth Album and the 1st two recordings of Judy Collins, "Maid of Constant Sorrow" and "Golden Apples of the Sun". "Live at Newport" compiles her early performance in the mid 60s at America's most well-known folk festival. 

Until I heard Judy Collins—from an old long playing record salvaged from an Angeles thrift shop, singing a plaintive folk tune, “I am a maid of constant sorrow..I've seen trouble all my days..”. I bought the vinyl and immediately played it on our stereo. For the next hour, I was mesmerized by her voice and her storytelling of “The Great Silkie”, “John Riley”, and “The Wars of Germany”. She sang different versions of Baez and Peter, Paul and Mary tunes—like “Fennario”, “Shule Aroon” and “Little Brown Dog” –with her low soprano vocals and unique guitar playing which I thought was more advanced than Joan’s. And while Joan was a purist (for which she was severely critricized, even by Dylan), Judy's musicality allowed her to put her own distinctive spin into the songs and thus, own them.

JUDY COLLINS, self accompanied herself on the guitar, but could also play a mean piano. She studied classical piano music for many years. 

Before I knew it, I was scouring record shops for her albums, and hers were fewer and far more difficult to find. In fact, the first albums I have of her were the later ones, when she had diversified her musical tastes to include songs of Jacques Brel, the Beatles and Leonard Cohen. I knew, from the few articles written about her, that she had a classical background and was taught piano by the great Prof. Antonia Bricco. But she discovered the music of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, and traded her baby grand for a guitar, to the consternation of her father and her professor who believed that a career in folk music was not possible.

  HOOT: A 25-YEAR HISTORY OF THE GREENWICH VILLAGE MUSIC SCENE, has an extensive feature on the early start of Judy Collins, who today, remains a New York resident. 

The next chapter of her life reads like a soap opera: she got married at 19, had a son and took on a job as a folksinger at a Colorado resort lodge to support the family while her husband went to school. Shortley thereafter, Elektra Records signed her up and cut her first record—“A Maid of Constant Sorrow”—the same scratchy disc I found in the thrift shop. Her first 3 albums contained traditional number and a few protest songs written by songwriters like Tom Paxton, Bob Dylan, Eric Andersen and Richard Farina.

 THE JUDY COLLINS SONGBOOK, featuring the celebrated early songs of Judy Collins, 1970. 

But her musical maturation surfaced in 1966 when she recorded the album, “In My Life”, a collection of eclectic songs from other artists like the Beatles and Kurt Weill , featuring lush orchestrations. Her career took off the next year with “Wildflowers”, which contained the hit song “Both Sides Now”, written by the Canadian folkie, Joni Mitchell.

 JUDY ON DVD.Very early Judy performing on Pete Seeger's TV folk show, Rainbow Quest. A recent concert of her also on DVD is "An American Girl In Concert". 

The next years saw Judy Collins shedding off her folk image with a slew of hit songs and albums that reflected her varied musical interests: “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?” had a pronounced country flavor while “Judith” carried the billboard topper, “Send In the Clowns”, a song by Stephen Sondheim from the Broadway musical, “A Little Night Music”. Another song closely associated with her is “Amazing Grace”, a religious hymn and Julie Gold’s “From A Distance” and “Wind Beneath My Wings”, which she recorded ahead of Bette Midler. In 1979, she even posed nude for the cover of her album, “Hard Times for Lovers”!

 A CONCERT PROGRAM OF MS. JUDY COLLINS. 

All was not rosy with her personal life, however, and, in the course of her career, she suffered alcohol addiction, got divorced, lost custody of her son Clark, suffered from tuberculosis and had an abortion. She had a fling with Stephen Stills (of Crosby Stills & Nash. The song “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” was written about her) and actor Stacey Keach. Her second marriage to artist Louis Nelson proved to be more stable but she suffered another personal tragedy when her son, Clark, committed suicide in 1992.

 BIOGRAPHY OF A FOLK SINGER, "Trust Your Heart", as written by Judy Collins. 

Thank God for ebay and amazon.com, I have managed to collect Judy Collins rarities through the years, including her early recordings, videos of her early appearances on TV and various folk festivals and books (she wrote her bio, “Trust Your Heart”, “Singing Lessons” and “Sanity & Grace”, the last deals with her son’s suicide).

TO ALEX CASTRO, LOVE--JUDY COLLINS. 

 I LOVE YOU BACK, JUDAY!

By far, my most treasured Judy Collins item has got to be a personally-autographed souvenir program of her Sarajevo Concert. A few years back, on whim, I had the audacity to write Judy Collins, using an address I found on one of her albums. It was a typical fan letter, narrating how I stumbled upon her first album in a ramshackle thrift shop years before and how I grew up enjoying and learning her songs. Lo and behold, I received a short note from the legendary folk diva herself, personally addressed to me and signed with her precious name.

Now you see why I’m a Judy Collins fan forever. (I am still waiting for an answer from that Baez what'shername..hmmph!)

“If amethysts could sing..they would sound like Judy Collins" --Richard Farina 

(27 April 2009)