Judy Collins Interview

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Rick Landers: I thought in your spare time, if you have any, you might want to read the interview we did with Arlo [Guthrie] last summer.

Judy Collins: Oh, yes! Oh, I love my friend Arlo, when his hair is down, we look like twins.

Rick: That’s right, he’s got this beautiful mane. [Laughing]

Judy: I don’t wear my hair down, except in concert, any more. But, when we were out on tour together, it was very funny, we’d come out to bow and we were like twins. The Bobbsey Twins on tour.

Rick: Was it the Wildflowers Tour where you toured with Arlo and Richie Havens?

Judy: Yes, we did a number of different incarnations. We were out with a lot of people. We were out with Janis Ian, Richie Havens, Jim McGuinn, Arlo…

Rick: You call him Jim? Ah, that’s right, it’s his name! [Laughing]

Judy: Well, I knew him in 1963, when he was playing on my second album, or my third album, I guess. So, sometimes I forget what his name is. What is his name now?

Rick: Roger.

Judy: Roger! Roger! He’s wonderful, whatever you call him. He’s terrific!

Rick: Yeah, he’s nice. I interviewed him about three years ago. He was an early Modern Guitars’ interview. Richie Havens was the second one. He was very, very charming.

Judy: Oh, he’s a lovely man.

Rick: Let’s begin with some background for our younger readers. Please, tell us about the influences your parents had helping you find your musical voice.

Judy: My father was a radio personality. He had a radio show all of my life that I remembered him, for 30 years. In Seattle and Los Angeles and Denver, he was a big star and he had a radio show every day. He talked, he sang, he sang all the Rodgers and Hart songs, and he had guests.

So, I met people like Bob Hope and Red Skelton and George Schering, I always say, “The people with the eight mynah birds and two parrots.” Which is hysterical, because he was blind and he thought they were going to be a great radio act, which they were. People loved them.

But, I was very, very much surrounded by music all my life. My godfather was a great Irish tenor. My father always played all those songs with him. But, I studied piano from the age of about five until I was about 16, quite seriously. I debuted with a symphony at 13.

Rick: You played something by Mozart, right?

Judy: I played K365, Mozart’s “Two-Piano Concerto,” that he wrote for himself and his sister. I played that with a young pianist who now has his own Latin band, I think, Danny Borelo, and I played up a storm! Then, the following year was when I really found folk music, when I was about 14, 15 years old.

Rick: And your mother, was she musical?

Judy: My mother sings. She’s very musical, in a way. But, but she didn’t ever perform. I think, when she met my father she said, “That’s it.” She raised five kids, so that was plenty for her to do. She’s 92 and still going strong.

Rick: Really? Good for her.

Judy: Going strong.

Rick: Did they ground you in the high ethics that you not only seem to embrace, but also practice?

Judy: Absolutely. They were deep, deep Democrats. They were socially conscious. They were activists. My father talked about all kinds of difficult subjects on the radio. John Henry Falk got turned off the radio for that in Texas, and it was quite tragic for John Henry Falk. But, my father was, I think, indulged. People, they liked him. They thought that he was a marvelous man. He was a marvelous man! They took from him what, I doubt, they would have taken from other people. His ideas about McCarthy, you know? And his ideas about living in a democracy and what that means and what your responsibilities are. So, we were raised that way. So, the ‘60s, I was already ready, I guess, for them.

Rick: So, he was also tuned to the civil rights issues at the time?

Judy: Absolutely, absolutely.

Rick: That’s fairly early.

Judy: He was very advanced. He was complaining about the French in IndoChina in 1956 and ‘57 and ‘58 and “What the hell are we doing there? Don’t they read? Can’t they see? Don’t they read history? Don’t they watch the news?”

Rick: That’s right, we supported the French.

Judy: Oh, yes, absolutely! So, he was a very outspoken man. So, they were very, very involved in trying to take action and be upstanding, responsible members of the community

Rick: You were a classical pianist at a very young age and were, in fact, a child prodigy?

Judy: I was a prodigy, yeah.

Rick: What sparked your interest in playing the guitar, other than possibly it being a lot easier to carry around than a baby grand?

Judy: [Laughing] There is that! You don’t have to tune the grand when you sit down to play it. I did a lot of things musically. I was always performing something. I was always either singing on the radio with my father, some old Rodgers and Hart song, or some Dorothy Fielding song and also then playing Mendelsohn. I was always coming up with something for the show, for the school show. I was in Cinderella. I sang the lead part in Cinderella [Sings} “Some day my prince will come”.

Rick: My wife loves that.

Judy: I was very involved in all kinds of music. But, the thing that turned me around, that really pointed me in the direction that I have always gone afterwards, was the Gypsy Rovers.

Rick: Really?

Judy: My two girlfriends and I had this group called The Little Reds, because we performed a version of Little Red Riding Hood. We’re looking for new material, and I heard this song on the radio called the Gypsy Rover. There was a movie out, probably in 1954, I guess, called The Bold, Black Knight, and that was the theme song. They were using the folk song, and I heard it, and I went crazy because that was the perfect song for us.

They would dance the parts and I would sing and play the piano, and then the guitar, when I got the Gypsy Rover into my repertoire. I had somebody play it when we first did it, because I didn’t play the guitar. Then I heard Joe Stafford singing “Barbara Allen” on the radio, and that was it. That was it for me. I just never looked back.

Rick: You’ve been a strong in the peace movement, civil rights, and other calls for action for human justice. All are based on some form of compassion. Maybe, global or universal are more appropriate words. Do you find you can, somehow, combine all your interests within the context of your support for UNICEF?

Judy: Well, that’s certainly something that I love. I have done some travelling for them and I’ve done some speaking for them. I really think they’re a wonderful organization. And it does encapsulate a lot of the things that I stand for, probably human rights. My husband and I were talking about this. He designed the Korean War Memorial that’s on the Mall here, the beautiful long wall with the faces.

Rick: Really?

Judy: And he’s writing a book about memorials, and he said, “Everything that I read and talk about memorials seems to come down to human rights of some kind.”

Human rights, what we’re fighting for. We’re gonna go to Korea this week, on Tuesday. We fly over for a few days, and he’ll probably have some meetings with various people and I’ll sing at the stadium. Also I’ll go to the DMZ and there’s a little peace conference around this. I think that all of the things that I do, that I choose to do, where I choose to go, what non-profits I tend to support, whether it’s an environmental cause or a cause for human rights or women’s rights. It’s funny, because he and I met 30 years ago last week at an Equal Rights Amendment dinner.

Rick: Oh, did you?

Judy: There were a whole bunch of them in New York to raise money for equal rights for women. I think there’s always a lot of work to be done in the world, and I think people have a responsibility to find out what they care about and try to make some kind of a difference. That’s what our parents taught us, that we should try to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. So, that’s what all of us have sort of done. There’s a real split in our family over this election, by the way.

Rick: I’ve got a question on the election for later.

Judy: The kids, the younger kids, you know, they’re all Obama. I’m a Hillary girl. I’ve always loved Hillary and she’s convinced me. It’s not that I’m not for Obama. It’s that Hillary has convinced me that she’s the better candidate. Obviously, I’ll work for whoever runs, because the Democrats have to pull together if they’re going to win this election.

Rick: Absolutely. Okay, thank you. Recent reports note that world hunger is growing, and that’s just within this last week. Despite the efforts of many to eliminate it, some may consider music a means to draw attention to this tragedy, and others may see it as a palliative with no force.

Judy: Palliative is absolutely right. Well, palliatives are fine also, because people need more than that song “Bread and Roses.”

You need more than “Just the facts, ma’am.” You also need the music and the palliative effects of people talking about these issues and trying to come up with solutions that would be helpful. Certainly, World Hunger Year which was started by the great Harry Chapin, and he was an optimist, you know, when he figured we could do it in a year. I think it’ll always be ongoing, because that’s the nature of the planet.

Sometimes it’s sunny. Sometimes it rains. Sometimes the crops are flooded. Sometimes they thrive. And the terrible conditions of civil rights and human rights that are going on in certain parts of the world very much affect the issue of hunger. In fact, it’s probably deeply influenced by what countries do or don’t do about hunger. But, if you’re a refugee on the run from a dictatorship and the only way you can get fed is if some other country decides to fly food in for you, that’s a terribly difficult situation. But, we have to keep trying to fly the food in anyway, while we try to support the elements in the government that will make sure you are fed. But, I don’t know if there’s any answer to it.

It’s a deep philosophical question, as well as a real huge problem in the world. But, any of these organizations, you know, the World Health Organization and thhe United Nations does so much. We’re so lucky to have the UN. I mean, we could so easily not have it.

There are a lot of countries that really would like us to get out of town. I was massaged this morning by a woman who massaged Kofi Annan recently. I said “Oh, God, I miss him!” It’s not that I don’t like the guy who is there now. But, I knew Kofi pretty well. I just liked him a lot, him and his wife. It takes more than a village, actually.

Rick: Let’s shift a little bit to guitars and we’ll move to some other areas. Martin Guitar paid tribute to you with 6 and 12-string Judy Collins Signature Models. How were you approached, and did you collaborate, and how much did you collaborate in actually working with Dick Boak at Martin?

Judy: I was very struck by the story about Stephen Stills’ Martin guitar. And I was sitting around at home thinking, “Why don’t they make a Martin guitar for me?” I’ve always played a Martin. I was sort of a latecomer to this party, but they were pretty much doing guitars for the guys and they had done one for Joan Baez, and then Dick [Boak] and I met.

It happened very synchronistically. He was reaching out to me and I was saying, “Where are they? Why don’t they come and talk to me?” and then I got together with Dick. I’m so fond of him. He’s so wonderful and so deeply involved in the manufacturing, the putting together of these beautiful handmade instruments. And, so he came to talk to me. We talked about the 12-string, which is what I always have played for many, many years. We came up with a design for the dreadnaught, using a lot of the original measurements, certainly, and some new woods. He did beautiful inlays in mother-of-pearl that say “Wildflower”, the name of my record company, and Judy Collins. They’re very beautiful.

So, I’m excited to have a Martin Judy Collins Signature Guitar. They’re all sold out. I also love that he gives, in my case, I split the proceeds from this guitar between UNICEF and Amnesty International. That’s what they do with the artists. You choose your favorite cause and they give the money, that’s the proceeds to them, which I think is great.

Rick: Yeah, that’s nice. I interviewed Dick about three years ago and then Chris Martin just before that and we talked about the Signature model collaborations. They were just both wonderful guys.

Judy: Dick is so sweet!

Rick: And he’s so funny.

Judy: He’s funny.

Rick: I did the story on the Martin Museum, the new Martin Museum, with Dick. It’s a great place to visit.

Judy: Oh, yes. We were up there opening it last year, I think.

Rick: Oh, were you?

Judy: With Tom Paxton.

Rick: Oh, really? Well, there’s a picture of Johnny Cash where he’s holding his guitar and he’s looking up like this? And so I asked Dick if he would pose like that with that picture behind him. He smiled and said, “Sure.”

Judy: He’s a sweetheart. I’m very fond of him.

Rick: Your voice has always been hauntingly beautiful and mesmerizing. But, not one that would lend itself to hard rock. Have you ever wished you had one of those whiskey voices, so you could belt out a rabid set of rock ‘n’ roll?

Judy: I have been, hmmm, very fortunate is putting it mildly, because I found a great teacher in 1964 or ’65. I was losing my voice and I found him through a couple of people: Harry Belafonte’s guitarist suggested this man. And also the people who used to run a music camp called Indian Hill in Lenox, Mass, where Arlo [Guthrie] went and Carly [Simon] went and my brother, Denver, went and Mimi Farina went. They recommended somebody who worked with the voice. That’s my focus.

My focus is two things: clarity and lyrics. So, whatever I might choose to do, maybe I would sing, I’ve recorded “Salt of the Earth”, and I’ve recorded a lot of, at times, what one would call folk rock. But my intention is to be understood and to be clear. That’s my goal and that’s my object, and that also, by the way, saves the voice. Because, if you’re singing in a clear way and you’re phrasing properly, you’ll end up able to sing until you fall over. This is not the case for most people. Most people do not think of music in those terms, because they don’t have to. It’s not their job to do it. I enjoy listening to rock ‘n’ roll. I love, oh what’s the guy who sung all of the Rodgers and Hart recently, all the show tunes?

Rick: Michael Buble’?

Judy: No, he has this rugged, rough voice. He’s an old rock ‘n’ roller.

Rick: Oh, Rod Stewart?

Judy: Rod Stewart. I love to listen to Rod Stewart! But, if I sang like that for a day, I would never sing again. So, that’s my answer.

I don’t intend to sing like that and never will try. And, if I can’t understand the words, and that applies to opera as well as to anything else, it means that there’s not an attention to the lyric, and this is true whether you’re singing in Italian or English.

There are plenty of operas in New York and I’ve been to three lately. I can tell you about them. Satyagraha about Gandhi, Our Town the other night, which was written by my friend, Ned Rorem, a Pulitzer Prize composer, a great composer. They’re great operas, and Peter Grimes a few weeks before that. Two at the Metropolitan, one at Julliard, and they have little bars that run across the top of the stage that tell you what’s being said in the case of Julliard.

In the case of Peter Grimes, you had a little guide by your chair. They were in English, every one, and I understood maybe about a twentieth of what was being said. I think that’s appalling. There were a couple of very fine singers, but Pavarotti has not dented the consciousness of the teaching staff at these schools, and I don’t know why. I cannot begin to fathom this.

Rick: Because what are they conveying? The sound of the music, but, maybe, not the intent of the lyrics?

Judy: Well, Barbara Cook does a little master class in which he talks about the lyrics, the lyrics, the lyrics. What are you saying? What are you saying and how are you phrasing? She and I studied with the same man, she for a very short time and I for 32 years. So, we got a technique that addresses this, which can be used by anybody, anybody.

So, all of this hogwash about the tone and the beauty of the voice, stand in the way of the main job of the singer, I don’t care what field it’s in, it’s to be understood. I’d frankly rather go hear a Broadway show, because Broadway actually scenes actually seem to be getting better along that line. They understand that the whole point is to be heard.

Rick: Telling the story.

Judy: Telling the story, and, of course, many of the people that we know in the area of folk music, that’s our point. We want to be understood. We want to tell a story. That’s where our tension lies. If we’re not understood, what’s the point? So, it’s funny. You can pretty much understand everything Rod Stewart’s saying. I’ll have to admit it.

Rick:[ [Laughing] It’s true.

Judy: He’s not in the kind of trouble some of these other singers are in, glorious voices are not. It’s not enough to have a glorious voice, not if it’s painful. That’s my little lecture for the day. [Laughs]

Rick: From Seattle to Denver, and then on to New York City, Greenwich Village specifically, what were the driving forces that moved you from town to town, and then what musicians or artists influenced you along your early path?

Judy: Well, my father was a big influence. My father was a very fine singer. He sang beautifully and had a wonderful technique. He was clear as a bell. He sang until the day he died, beautifully. All this wonderful repertoire, the Irish songs, the “Danny Boys”, they get into your, if they’re not in your DNA, then they get into your bloodstream, I think, when you start to sing them.

The influences, I suppose, were mostly my father and my great teacher, Antonia Brico, who taught me a lot of things and the idea of the story which one can get from a lot of people, certainly people like the Weavers and Pete Seeger, who’s a great writer and storyteller and a great finder of songs. He always has had great tastes in finding songs.

I’m going through some correspondence to try and sort things out for a new book I’m doing and I ran across my fan letter, my first and only fan letter from Pete Seeger about a song that I wrote, so it was a big thrill, a song that I wrote called the [“Fallow Way”]. Some student or intern or something had him trapped in a car coming from the Clearwater Festival and made him listen to it over and over and over again. I think he felt he had to do something about it. But, I’m very honored to have had him expressing enthusiasm about my song. Oh my God, this special that’s on him now…[Ed. Note: Judy refers to the HBO TV special on Pete Seeger]

Rick: Yeah, yeah, I saw that.

Judy: Well, he’s the folk singer of all time.

Rick: He’s incredible, just incredible. I’ve gotten a little old ’78 album of his with the song “Jim Crack Corn,” for children.

Judy: Yes, well he sang for children quite a lot, as they pointed out in the special that Jim Brown made about him. There was a time when he couldn’t work and the kids were right there and they just soaked it up and became his next adult fans.

Rick: Were you surprised how rich New York City was with talent when you first arrived? Richie Havens, Roger or Jim McGuinn, Bob Dylan, and I guess, Biff Rose, do you remember Biff Rose?

Judy: No, I don’t know him.

Rick: Oh, he’s a wild man.

Judy: Dave Von Ronk, Tim Buckley, there were a lot of artists.

Rick: Tim Buckley was superb.

Judy: I loved Tim. He was a sweet, sweet darling man. And a lot of people on Elektra I knew, I worked with Josh White, another marvelous, marvelous singer. I mean, real singers, these people. And I got to know the blues guys, you know? I worked with John Lee Hooker in Philadelphia. I was reminded of him the other day and all these people I met at the Newport Festival, including “Mississippi” John Hurt.

You could go down the street and you could hear, Dylan who was singing old Woody Guthrie blues when I first met him. I met and worked quite often with people like Bud and Travis, Will Holt, Dolly Jonah, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. I worked with a lot at the Gate of Horn.

Rick: Chicago?

Judy: Mmm hmm. So, I really was exposed to a lot of these wonderful artists.

Rick: Sandy Denny.

Judy: Sandy. I met her, you know, I heard her music and recorded “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?” before I met her. Then, when I went to London in, I guess it must have been ’69,I went to do concerts and met her at that point. Then she died, I think in ’70 or ’71, way too soon.

Rick: Did you know Hedy West?

Judy: I knew Hedy. I saw Hedy not too long ago when we were inducting Phil Ochs into the Hall of Fame in Cleveland and she was there, and Carolyn Hester was there. Carolyn Hester was married to Richard Farina, so I knew her probably by 1963. I knew her and Farina when they were still married.

Rick: I have a 1962 longneck Ode banjo that Hedy once owned.

Judy: Oh, “Haydee” she called herself.

Rick: “Haydee”, really, I didn’t know that.

Judy: Oh, yes.

Rick: That’s good to know.

Judy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. She wanted to call herself that. I don’t know that anybody ever called her that.

Rick: Okay, you’ve sung at the White House for Presidents Kennedy and Clinton. Do you expect to sing for our next President?

Judy: Well, I certainly hope so. I actually wasn’t in the White House when I sang for President Kennedy. We were doing a big dinner for him at the Shoreham Hotel, it was called Dinner with the President. It was a big television special and the Clancy Brothers were on it, a wonderful singer named Lynn Gold, Josh White, Will Holt and Dolly Jonah were on it. Robert Ryan was the emcee. It was a great event and we got to meet the President, so it was very exciting.

Rick: But you do expect to…you hope?

Judy: Well, if the invitation comes, it comes and I would be pleased. I was down in Philadelphia stumping for Hillary the other day and had dinner with President Clinton and we’ve seen a lot of each other over, since we met in 1991. I certainly have been at the White House singing and socializing and staying overnight, sometimes, and enjoying that wonderful, rich group of people that he had around him. Brilliant, brilliant people!

Rick: You’ve covered many great songwriters and most recently you released a new compilation of Beatles’ songs. First, let me ask you if that album cover was designed to reflect the Beatles first Capitol album cover?

Judy: No, how funny! No, not at all. It wasn’t. It was designed because it was the picture that was the best picture of a group that we took!

Rick: What a coincidence.

Judy: And,it’s the one we decided to use. So, it was a total coincidence. But I like coincidences, don’t you?

Rick: Yeah, yeah.

Judy: That’s very sweet. I also ran across some letters from Paul. Linda and I were friends, and in one of the letters he expresses that, you know, that since she and I were friendly. Paul and I have developed a nice friendship since then.

Rick: How do you select the songs for your CDs and do you have any favorite sets you find yourself playing and singing when you’re home alone on a rainy day?

Judy: [Laughing] There is no such thing! That’s when you’re working. You’re working on the next album, you’re writing the next book, you’re practicing the piano, you’re trying to figure out the chords to “Dark Eyes”. [Both laughing] In the case of the CD, there’s always work to be done so nothing gets wasted, nothing, no time.

But, I love to go to the movies. I’m a great movie buff. My husband and I love to go to good movies. Right now, the answer is that I only sing songs that I love. When I did the McCartney album last summer, I only chose the songs that I loved. I didn’t have to worry or wonder or mess around with different selections. I wasn’t gonna do something like, “So, why’d you only choose the ones that nobody knows?” What a terrible idea. If nobody knows them, then probably nobody likes them.

Rick: Number nine, number nine. Remember that one? [Both laughing]

Judy: So, oh yes, the old cheat books, what did they call them? So I just chose the ones that I loved and I had a very good time making that record. I love doing the songs in concert. It’s great fun and a big surprise and everybody knows “Something.” They certainly know “64”, they certainly know “Norwegian Wood” and, maybe, something of “Penny Lane.” So it’s fun, because we get a lot of sing-alongs out of those songs.

Rick: One of my favorites on that is “Golden Slumbers.” You go a little bit into a lower register and then you shift gears. What a wonderful rendition.

Judy: I love it so much! It’s a wonderful song. Thank you! I love that song, too.

Rick: I thought it was beautiful.

Judy: Very special song.

Rick: Your voice, that voice, has always been remarkable and at one point it looked like it was going to be taken away, and you’ve faced a lot of personal tragedies and challenges throughout your life. Would you suggest that music not only has a calming effect during such times, but also a healing quality?

Judy: Definitely so. I have had some, I mean, getting through my son’s suicide was terrible and I really do think the music just pulled me through. A lot of things, I had a lot of help, I had a lot of therapy. I did a lot of writing about it. I’ve written a couple of books about it and I do go on keynote speeches now for suicide prevention groups and mental health groups. I do talk a lot about that subject and a good deal about the link between suicide and alcoholism and suicide and drug addiction, which people don’t talk about too much. I think the writing helped a lot. But, I think the music is really overall the thing that, you know, gets me through the day.

Rick: Thank you. Tonight you’ll be performing at a sold-out crowd at the Birchmere. What do you most seek from audiences while you’re on stage and what have they given back to you?

Judy: Well, they pay my rent and I am a renter. [Smiles] They have followed me through all kinds of machinations and changes and directions in my career, that were unusual choices. I love my audiences! I think so highly of them and I know what an effort it is to be a fan and to follow a writer, an artist, and go and see them. That’s a big deal.

I also believe that live music has a particular kind of power, that when you go to hear an artist work, you’re doing something for yourself, and for the artist, of course, that’s very much fundamental. It’s fine to have videos and DVD’s and concerts on PBS, which I very much appreciate. But, the live concert really beats it all. That’s where you really get to know and understand the artist.

Rick: And you can connect then with your audience?

Judy: Yes, yes. Love my audience!

Rick: With all the songs in your inventory, how do you come up with what you’ll perform on any given night? Do you ad-lib because it seems right at the time, or do you have a set list you kind of stick to?

Judy: I have a number of shows that I do. I sort of use the bones of the structure to then go off in other directions and I also find that that’s…I’m afraid that I could never do the same show every night. I don’t think I’m capable of it. But, I think that there’s a reason for that, because of all this material and all the stories that link with the material. You’re always thinking of things you haven’t talked about before. And I have a lot of fun. It’s part of the creative process for me to sit down with my road manager and my musical director and talk about what we’re gonna do.

And it’s always different. We have a bundle of jokes, maybe 40 or 50 jokes which can kind of guide us. We have, there are probably, how many songs? My husband says “Could you give me just an inventoriy list of all the songs that you do?” I can go back to album number one. I can go through almost 45 albums now, and choose things that are appealing.

I’m doing a Dylan sequence now which is very exciting, because I’ve recorded a lot of Dylan and done the songs and recorded an album of Dylan songs and an album of Leonard Cohen and recorded those all through my work. But, now I’m beginning to, instead of just singing one song by the artist, I’m beginning to develop a kind of profile of the artist by reminding people of the things that I’ve recorded and the things this artist may have written. I’m very entranced right now with Jimmy Webb and I’ll be doing some of his things tonight

Rick: Oh, really? Oh, great!

Judy: I recorded “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” a number of years ago. But, now I’m adding a couple of the brand new songs.

Rick: Good, we’ll be there tonight so we’ll look forward to that.

Judy: Oh, good, good.

Rick: Can you tell us of any of the most touching moments that you’ve experienced during your times on stage?

Judy: There are these moments, when my granddaughter’s been on stage with me. That’s fun. That’s been terrific. Some of these family reunions have been great in Colorado. Red Rocks, the concerts that we did in Aspen at the Wheeler Opera House with Kris Kristofferson. They were fun, because everybody in the whole family was there. And the concerts at Wolftrap are always very special. They have a continuity and the fans have been coming for so many years and they bring their kids and then the kids bring their kids. So, that’s pretty exciting.

Sally Ride [U.S. astronaut] came to my concert at Wolftrap one year and that was thrilling to meet her. I wrote a song about Eileen Collins, the first woman astronaut. I’ll sing it tonight. I haven’t sung it in awhile. And I might do “Walls”, the song I wrote around the poetry that my husband was writing when he was doing the Korean Wall. I might sing that tonight. I’ll have to practice it, because I want to do that in Korea next week.

Rick: As a major artist, you have had opportunities to communicate your beliefs and make positive contributions that many of us can’t. If you could speak to a group of children today and offer them some advice on how they might contribute to the greater good, what would you tell them?

Judy: Study an instrument or an art, deeply, and vote.

Related Links
Judy Collins
UNICEF
Martin Guitar Company
The Birchmere