Folk legend judy collins blends music, message, and memory

Media Contact:

Kristen Gleason
Director of Marketing
The Paramount Theater
215 East Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.979.1922 ext. 103
kristen@theparamount.net

For Immediate Release

March 26, 2008

Few singers have the staying power of folk icon Judy Collins. For more than 45 years, Collins has thrilled audiences worldwide with her unique blend of interpretative folksongs and contemporary themes -- her dulcet tones gracing our ears; her poetic lyrics galvanizing a generation.

Alternating between guitar and piano, An Evening with Judy Collins blends “singing, reminiscence and reflection ... into a carefully modulated stream of consciousness” (The New York Times). Collins’ legendary voice will fill the intimate setting of Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater on Thursday, April 10 at 8 pm.

This performance is sponsored by David and Janna Gies. Special Media Sponsor is WMRA 103.5 -- NPR News, NPR Talk.

While Judy Collins made her public debut performing Mozart's "Concerto for Two Pianos" at the age of 13, it was the music of such artists as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, as well as the traditional songs of the folk revival, that sparked Collins' love of lyrics. By 16, she had moved away from the Steinway and began her lifelong love with the guitar.

Singing at folk clubs in Denver, Boulder, Chicago, and New York, it was after a 1961 appearance at Greenwich Village’s The Village Gate that Collins was signed by Jac Holzman of Elektra Records to what was to become a thirty-five year involvement with the company -- beginning with A Maid of Constant Sorrow, her first of three albums of traditional material.

As the 1960s grew more rebellious, Collins was drawn to songs by the social poets of the time, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, and Bob Dylan. She also worked with some of the best musicians of the era, including Jim (Roger) McGuinn, who played guitar on her versions of “Mr. Tambourine Man” and Seeger’s “Turn, Turn, Turn.” The first to record the songs of Leonard Cohen, she brought other performers like Randy Newman and Joni Mitchell to widespread public exposure.

Collins’ 1966 album In My Life had her stepping assuredly into a broad mixture of songs, a characteristic that has stamped her albums ever since. She also began playing the piano again, bringing her musical roots back into her performance.

On her classic 1967 recording Wildflowers, she asked Joshua Rifkin to arrange the entire album for orchestra, breaking new ground in the contemporary song movement. Regarded today as a turning point in her career, Wildflowers gave Collins her first major single with her rendition of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now," and the first of many Grammy nominations. "Both Sides Now" has since been entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

1972’s Colors of the Day has remained one of WEA’s (Warner-Elektra-Atlantic) Top 50 catalogue albums for over 30 years, and is also the album most noted by her number one fan -- President Bill Clinton. Citing it as his favorite, he says it was Collins’ rendition of “Chelsea Morning” that inspired the naming of daughter Chelsea.

Winning "Song of the Year" at the 1975 Grammy Awards was Collins’ version of "Send in the Clowns," written by Stephen Sondheim for his Broadway musical A Little Night Music.

All told, Collins has released more than 40 albums, had numerous Top 10 hits, Grammy nominations, and gold and platinum selling albums. Her recent recordings include Judy Collins Sings Leonard Cohen: Democracy (2004), Portrait of an American Girl (2005), and Judy Collins Sings Lennon and McCartney (2007).

Collins maintains a rigorous 60 to 80 city concert schedule each year in addition to her Wildflower Festival Tour, which since its inception in 2001 has represented the best of American and traditional music with artists like Arlo Guthrie, Tom Rush, Eric Andersen, Richie Havens, Leon Redbone, Janis Ian, Roger McGuinn, and Beth Nielsen Chapman.

Continuing to create music of hope and healing, Judy Collins is truly the definition of a living legend. Her influence in music and politics has spread over decades by means of that distinctive voice, “clear and vibrato free but infected with delicate little shivers ... like a shaft of light falling through a stained-glass window” (The New York Times).

Seats are still available for An Evening with Judy Collins on Thursday, April 10 at 8 pm. Tickets are $38.50, $41.50, $44.50, and $49.50. Half-price student rush tickets and group discounts are offered.

Tickets are available online or through The Paramount’s Box Office at 434.979.1333.

For more information about Judy Collins, please visit www.judycollins.com.