the reluctant female folk musicians

For this post I want to focus on a couple of very talented musicians who choose to walk away from promising music careers and as a result their music sunk into obscurity up until the last few years.  

It Hurts Me Too by Karen Dalton – In 2004 Bob Dylan wrote that Karen was his favorite singer when he first came to Greenwhich Village – in fact they even performed together a few times in those early days of the folk movement along with underrated folky Fred Neil.  Karen recorded two albums in the late 60s/early 70s before dropping out of the music scene all together.   Most music historians argue about what exactly became of her after she dropped out.  It seems the popular belief now is she split time between a desolate cabin in Colorado and staying with old friends in upstate New York.  She died in 1993 from complications of AIDS after spending 8 years living with the disease while fighting drug and alcohol problems.  Fun Fact (in an otherwise dreary post) – Karen’s mother was full Cherokee Indian.   

Tonight by Sibyelle Baier – the story goes German born Sibyelle recorded a handful of tunes in the early 70s when she was both a musician and actress.  She decided not to pursue those early careers and instead moved to America and concentrated on raising a family.  30 years later her son Robby compiled a CD to give as gifts to family after finding the original recordings his Mom had made.  One of those CDs ended up in the hands of J Mascis who in turn passed it on to some of his record label friends at Orange Twin who turned the CD into an official release.  Sibyelle is said to be working on a new album now.  

Diamond Day by Vashti Bunyan – In the mid 60s Vashti was discovered by Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham and released her first single – a Jagger/Richards tune- to little fan fare.  She then started writing her first album while on a commune with folk singer Donovan.  She finally released that album in 1970 but the album never found it’s audience and a frustrated Vashti retreated to live a rural life raising her 3 children and tending to animals.  In that time, her album had become a bit of a collectors item completely outside of her knowing it.  In 2000 the album was re-released and Vashti became a bit of an influence on the newer indie folk movement with Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Animal Collective, and members of Mice Parade working with her.  She now tours and is recording new material again.