Legendary folk singer Judy Collins has been active for over six decades, and though she has written plenty of her own music over the years, many of her best-known songs have been covers, including material written by Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Stephen Stills, and more, as well as an array of traditionals. But now, for the first time in her career, she’s releasing an album of entirely original music, Spellbound, due February 25 via Cleopatra Records (pre-order). “I always knew I was going to be a late bloomer,” Judy said.
“Y’know, things happen when something shifts in your life and you put another discipline in, which leads you to dig out things that might never have happened,” she added, in an interview with Billboard about the album. “The pandemic gave me a chance to actually sit with things that were cooking and get them cooked so they were well enough to go into the studio and record them.”
The first single is “When I Was A Girl In Colorado,” a gorgeous, tender folk song that hearkens right back to the ’60s era that Judy got her start in, and which sounds just as timeless today as her records from back then do. Listen and watch the lyric video below.
The album was co-produced with longtime collaborator Alan Silverman and singer-songwriter Ari Hest, the latter of whom released the collaborative album Silver Skies Blue with Judy in 2016. It features contributions from multi-instrumentalist Thad DeBrock, bassist Zev Katz, and drummer Doug Yowell. The album also features a 16-page booklet with full lyrics and liner notes written by Judy.
Tracklist
1. Spellbound
2. Grand Canyon
3. So Alive
4. Hell On Wheels
5. Shipwrecked Mariner
6. When I Was A Girl In Colorado
7. Thomas Merton
8. Wild With Mist
9. Gilded Rooms
10. Prarie Dream
11. City Of Awakening
12. Arizona
Bonus track:
13. The Blizzard (new version)
