Every decade since the 1960s, folk/pop singer Judy Collins has released at least one album. In fact, she’s released more than 60 albums during her career, including 36 studio albums. In 1961 she released her first record, A Maid of Constant Sorrow. However, she’s best known for the Joni Mitchell-penned “Both Sides Now” — which won Collins her first and only Grammy in 1969 — the Stephen Sondheim song “Send In the Clowns,” from the musical A Little Night Music, her best-selling album Judith, released in 1975 and her cover of “Amazing Grace.”
Like many folk singers of the ’60s, Collins began her career covering Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger protest songs. She recorded Leonard Cohen’s music before he became a household name. A lifelong activist, Collins testified in 1969 at the infamous Chicago Seven trial, and was ahead of her time in supporting abortion rights. Besides singing, she’s also an actress, a director (in 1974 she and co-director Jill Godmilow received an Oscar nomination for directing the documentary Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman), a podcast host and a memoirist.
At 85 years young, Collins is still touring and releasing albums. In 2019, she finally had her first number one album, Winter Stories. A duet album, it saw her collaborating with Norwegian musician Jonas Fjeld. In 2022, her first album of only original material, Spellbound, came out, and it received a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. Even though Collins isn’t known to younger generations the way fellow folk artists like Mitchell and Dylan are, she has contributed a wealth of varied material, activism and grace to the world. Collins offers something for everyone — including her divergent cover of Yazoo’s synthy ‘80s song “Only You.”
Judy Collins plays Memorial Hall on Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. More info: memorialhallotr.com.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Oct. 16 print edition.
This article appears in Oct 16-29, 2024.