A Breed Apart
On Born to the Breed, a diverse group of musical artists pay tribute to JUDY COLLINS' songwriting
Since the early 1960s, Judy Collins has lent her silvery voice to the work of dozens of great composers and lyricists, ranging from Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Webb, Lennon & McCartney to Stephen Sondheim, Weill & Brecht , Jacques Brel, and Yip Harburg, among many more, creating classic renditions of their songs. Less known is the fact that Collins, who initially viewed herself strictly as an interpreter of the songs of others, has been crafting her own beautiful songs for four decades. Fans of Collins are certainly aware of "Houses," "My Father," "Albatross" and "Since You've Asked" from her great albums of the 1960s, but may not have noted that the singer and the writer are one and the same. The perception of Judy as a voice only will be changing, however, with the forthcoming release of
Born to the Breed, a new collection of established and emerging artists (among them Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen, Rufus Wainwright, Chrissie Hynde , Jimmy Webb and Bernadette Peters) tackling her songs. The album has been issued by Collins' own Wildflower Records, a label that issues new and old material by Collins, as well as recordings by a wide variety of other artists.
Collins recently visited the New York offices of ASCAP to discuss the new album, her decades long career and her own current music and business activities.
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| Collins with Rufus Wainwright |
On the new album:
"It was sort of rolling around in my head that we should do something with the songs I've written, but we didn't quite know what It was just an adventure for me. We've gathered together a great group of singers and performers. The thing that really kicked it off was a couple years ago at South X Southwest in Austin where Chrissie Hynde told me, in passing, that of her top ten songs, "My Father" topped the list. And I said, ‘Whoa, that's interesting. Why don't you consider recording that?' She did, and we ended up with sixteen recordings by sixteen different artists. There are songs done by Jimmy Webb, Joan Baez, Dar Williams, Shawn Colvin, Dolly Parton, Rufus Wainwright, Bernadette Peters and Leonard Cohen."
First songwriting attempts:
"Leonard Cohen encouraged me to begin writing, so that's why he performs "Since You've Asked," my first song. It's so special because I literally never thought of writing songs. I had recorded probably recorded four of his songs at that time, in 1966 and 67, including "Suzanne" and "Dress Rehearsal Rag," which were the first recordings of his songs -- he had not recorded them yet. At the time, Leonard said, "Why aren't you writing?" I couldn't think of an answer, so I had to write something. And "Since You've Asked" was the result."
Moving from folk music to a more multi-genre sound in the mid 1960s.
"There was a ten year period of albums that were kind of shaping the statement about what my career was going to be, beginning with
Fifth Album, In My Life and especially
Wildflowers, because it was since then I started to write my own songs. I try to find great songs and do them justice. I am very eclectic about what kind of an orchestration I use. It could be a capella, it could be a full orchestra, but there's an eclecticism that was really solidified at that time and the people accepted it. It was totally exciting with different kinds of sounds. On
Wildflowers, we decided to abandon all thought of folk guitars and have orchestrated versions of songs."
On the difference between being a song interpreter and a songwriter.
"In a way, it doesn't matter whether you wrote it or found it -- if you strip a song down to what you are looking for as an artist. If you can create that yourself, wonderful; but other than that, you must find it in other places. It amounts to the same thing. You have to personalize a song, put a stamp on it and make it entirely yours."
On owning her own label.
"I really started this label in self-defense because I felt that there wasn't any place that was giving me the kind of support or continuity or anything that I was used to. So I thought, "Well why not?" We didn't intend, at first, to be anything but a vanity label -- just to get my music out. Then we had a five-year plan and we said, "OK, in five years we'll see." The way record labels succeed seems to be the following: You have a legend and then you have newcomers. You cross-market them and you use the advantage of having the legend to get into the doors and you bring along your new artists, and that's what we have done. I'm a legend -- or getting old enough to be one, having put in all these years.
Katherine DePaul is the president of my label, Wildflower Records. She gets it about my career. She understands what happened and how it impacts today and what the effect of a nearly 50- year career is on a consistent audience. It has been consistent. I have never gone away and the audience has never gone away. There are pockets where there are thin times, and then they get better and then they get great. Everybody has those times."
On the music business in the digital era.
"I don't think there is anything wrong with change because it's always going to happen, The media changes always have allowed doors to open that you didn't know about before and opportunities of a different kind appear. We have made wonderful new discoveries as to how to get work done and how to get royalties done and how to keep yourself out there, along with I Tunes and all the other options. It's a very adventurous time. Of course, I'm a Taurus, so I never give up."
- Jim Steinblatt
