Conversation with Judy Collins

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Judy Collins

Updated: January 20, 2012 10:52AM

Judy Collins, legendary folk music star and Grammy winner, performs Friday night at the Woodstock Opera House in downtown Woodstock. She is also on tour with a new children’s book and 3-song CD, When You Wish Upon A Star (Imagine! A Peter Yarrow Company). Collins also recently released a new album, “Bohemian,” (Wildflower Records) and a memoir, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life In Music, (Crown).

Music, says Collins, is a necessary part of life: “I don’t know how life can be managed without music, and of course friends, and the comfort of having the art in our lives, and the poetry in our lives. I just think that they help us get through so many things.”

This iconic artist, famous for her stunning voice and enormous blue eyes, as well as years of passionate activism, spoke recently with Pioneer Press.

Q: You did not start out as a folksinger, but you were a piano prodigy as a child, with expectations that you would become a concert pianist. Did your family support your desire to switch from classical to folk, knowing that you had a rare potential as a pianist?

A: I was raised in a family in which my father was a musical maverick. He had a radio show for years, traveled, toured and interviewed a lot of great artists. He was smart enough to get me started on piano when I was four and a half. And I would also sing the songs of Rodgers and Hart, and songs he had on his radio show. And we were surrounded by classical music, always had Chopin playing on the radio on Saturdays, and the music of the Irish and English tradition. There was the church music, the choirs in school, the opera choruses I sang on, plus the piano and becoming a prodigy in that. So, he wasn’t particularly surprised when I made the switch. It was a matter of a love affair with folk music that swept me away.

Q: What were your early influences in folk that turned your head around?

A: They were strange influences. The two people that I heard sing songs that really enchanted me were Jo Stafford singing “Barbara Allen,” and a man named Elton Hayes who sang on a movie score, from an Alan Ladd movie called “The Black Knight,” and it was a version of “The Gypsy Rover” which really took me to the heights. Those two songs caused me to switch directions. It wasn’t until later that I discovered Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie and the other ‘folk scare’ artists.

Q: What do you recall about playing in Chicago, back in the day s of the Gate of Horn and other folk clubs?

A: Well, I got (to Chicago) in 1960. I had been recommended by Bob Gibson to the Gate of Horn. It was owned by Albert Grossman and Alan Ribback, and Ribback was the guy who lived and breathed and worked at the Gate of Horn, while Albert ran around the country trying to hear other new artists. I walked in there with a cast from my toes to my hip because I had a skiing accident. I hobbled onto the stage, and after Alan heard me sing, he said, “well you can sing in a cast, okay with me.” So I was there for six weeks the first time, appearing with Dolly Jonah and Will Holt.

Q: Your activism, from civil rights to peace, to educating the public on mental health issues, has been a big part of your life. With the Occupy Wall Street movement, some of your lyrics and songs are being used in OWS youtube videos. Did use of your song from the ’60s surprise you?

A: Well I knew. I mean, the world is not an easy place, and everybody who has anything always is trying to keep it, especially at the top, and we have become top-heavy here. The 99 per cent have had their jobs lost and been decimated by the government’s ideas of how they should support the rich. And (we) allow lobbyists to take over the world and bust the unions, and not give our teachers and our artists who make this a democratic community where we can get education and health care, and pay attention to the things in our lives. You know, they’re winning out, and we just can’t allow this to happen. So, for me, it is a great inspiration to see people gathering and saying, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” And what’s it’s going to take is legislation. We’ve got to get control over these large money escapades that involve people who are greedy and crooked, and who have every kind of support from government. Without any kind of monitoring of financial misbehavior, with the leaks in the system that allow corporations to be treated like an individual, and make decisions that sway politics in this country. It’s about time.

Q: You are still the ruby-throated sparrow, with a voice as lovely as ever. Time has not affected your voice, it seems. Do you do anything special to protect and maintain your vocals?

A: I do what I was told by my teacher. I try to take care of myself — get a lot of rest, eat right, don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t swear, don’t scream (laughs).

Q: Tell us about your concert Friday night (Jan. 20) at the Woodstock Opera House.

A: I’ll play guitar and piano, and with my musical director, Russell Walden, who is wonderful. You know, when you have 50 years of material (well, 70 really) to choose from, it leaves you a lot of leeway (laughing). Of course, I’ll do some of the hits, and a couple of the songs from my new album, “Bohemian”, and “Amazing Grace” and a few other surprises.

Q: You have a new children’s book, When You Wish Upon A Star, a book that includes 3 songs on a CD.

A: The book was done for the Peter Yarrow imprint (Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary). He started this book company 7 or 8 years ago, and it did so well he was given an imprint, and called me to sing on “Over The Rainbow,” and this year’s book is When You Wish Upon A Star. His purpose was to get good songs back into kid’s lives and I think he’s done a good job with that.

Q: With your own label, Wildflower Records, do you like your role, not just as an artist with your own projects, but also being a mentor and bringing other artists up?

A: It’s been a very interesting enterprise. I started the label about eleven years ago, because I was absolutely at the end of my tether with the big companies, and making albums that were disregarded and let die on the vine. I decided I could let them die on the vine myself, thank you very much. So I started doing my own albums, but suddenly people began to come out of the woodwork and asked to be part of this label. I hope we have done well with them. I hope we have helped to achieve some public voice and face with their artistry. There are a number of wonderful artists. I have helped them to tour a little more, and sometimes to get on the radio, and get some of the press they might have missed otherwise, so I hope we have done something.