Lenox — Judy Collins was never a belter. We are glad of that, because it means her voice is wonderfully intact after making music with it for well over half a century. She will make her 10th Tanglewood appearance on Friday, August 30, joined by the Indigo Girls, Rufus Wainwright, and Lucy Wainwright Roche.
After her 2018 Tanglewood appearance, I wrote: “Her voice is purer, stronger, and steadier than it was when she appeared on television shows like ‘The Midnight Special’ in the 1970s.”
The quality of Collins’ singing is still almost inexplicable, but she explains, “I do a lot to protect and take care of my voice, and I practice every day—you have to or you lose it.”
Surely, after a career spanning seven decades, there is nothing new under the sun for Judy Collins. But there is: In 2022, for the first time, she released an album consisting entirely of songs she wrote. That is notable because of all the songwriters she put on the map early in her career—people like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. “Spellbound” was nominated for a “Best Folk Album” Grammy award. Her live shows are likely to feature a sampling of material from that album.
By now, you have probably noticed that folk music practitioners like to write songs about stuff that matters. They tend to be social activists, writing songs to inform, protest, cajole, encourage, and admonish their fellow travelers. The Indigo Girls (Amy Ray and Emily Saliers) have kept up that tradition for the last three-and-a-half decades, addressing issues like immigration reform, LGBTQ advocacy, education, death-penalty reform, and Native American rights. They have also recorded a lot of music, which has earned them a large following: 16 studio albums (seven gold, four platinum, one double platinum) have produced sales of over 15 million units. They won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1990.
Saliers says, “In our often-terrifying present, we are all in search of a daily refuge, a stolen hour or two, to engage with something that brings us joy, perspective, or maybe just calm.”
It is nice to know that The New York Times recognizes Rufus Wainwright’s “genuine originality.” But there is such a thing as damning with faint praise. Plenty of musicians show genuine originality (Tiny Tim, for example). But Wainwright, in a period of 26 years, has created a boatload of well-crafted songs, and his self-titled debut album, according to Rolling Stone magazine, was one of 1998’s best albums of the year. Also that year, he won the magazine’s recognition as Best New Artist. Ten albums and two operas later, Wainwright has proven to be an artist of lasting significance, with a list of collaborators that includes Elton John, Burt Bacharach, David Byrne, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, and Sting.
Lucy Wainwright Roche is Rufus Wainwright’s half sister and the daughter of singer-songwriters Loudon Wainwright III and Suzzy Roche (of The Roches). She was one of the winners of the 2008 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival’s “Emerging Artist” competition and one of six winners of the 2009 Grassy Hill Kerrville Folk Festival’s “New Folk Singer/Songwriter” competition. Two songs (“Once In” and “Starting Square”) from her 2010 debut album “Lucy” are featured on the soundtrack of the 2013 film “The Last Keepers.”
There is an evocative purity to Roche’s voice that is frankly heartbreaking.
More than a few of Lucy’s fans say she has a “voice from heaven.” One commented on YouTube, “Lucy gets the least attention and has the best voice of all the [W]ainwrights. I think her voice sounds like an angel. I met her once at a concert of Rufus’s and I told her she should have been the featured artist rather than always her brother. I am a major Rufus fan but I told her she wasn’t getting the attention she deserved.”
Hear Judy Collins, the Indigo Girls, Rufus Wainwright, and Lucy Wainwright Roche on Friday, August 30, 7 p.m., at Tanglewood. Tickets are available here.
