Judy Collins - Friend of the DFC

Judy Collins is an award-winning singer-songwriter and a music legend. She also happens to be a Friend of the Denver Folklore Center. Ms. Collins moved from Seattle to Denver, CO in 1949 (when she was 10 years old). She and the DFC go way back to the early Harry Tuft days - she’s visited the store and Swallow Hill “for various things over the years”. That’s why we were pleased when she took time during her current tour to speak with us about her latest album and popular podcast.

Judy Collins - Live at The Town Hall, NYC revisits her 1964 concert there and boasts nearly the same setlist. The idea came from the folks at the town hall who called her and asked if she “would please do a refresher for people”. She was excited because the first concert she performed was at the venue. “I had to go back and relearn a number of the songs I didn’t know anymore. It was great! I did a Dylan and some others, and it was quite exciting. Of course, it’s wonderful to have an audience and I’ve played that hall so many times. It’s so beautiful and I had a great band, and everyone laughed at my jokes, so it was a lot of fun.” 

Ms. Collins is currently on tour to support the album and finds returning to performing for a live audience “exhilarating, exciting, wonderful, it’s amazing! People are so happy to see me, they’re so happy to be out doing anything.” And she sees herself performing live for quite some time. “The rest of my life. It never stops. It’s what I do. It’s what I conceive of as my life’s work.” Ms. Collins doesn’t take a lot of time off either. “In between touring I make albums, do projects, practice piano and I have a social life. There’s always a lot happening.”

In July, Ms. Collins premiered her podcast Since You’ve Asked. She hosts and speaks with some of her friends, favorite musicians and artists including Jeff Daniels, Julia Cameron, Ben Harper, Arlo Guthrie, Clive Davis, Molly Jong Fast, Christiane Amanpour, Jac Holzman, Betty Buckley and Pat Allerton. She says the podcast is “great fun. I had the idea early in the pandemic to do it. It’s very special. I’m listening to the episodes myself they’re so good."

And interviewing is nothing new to her. "I’ve spent my life being interviewed. I’ve had a background of interviewing because my father was a great radio personality. He was always interviewing people for his radio show in Denver (on KOA radio Chuck Collins Calling) and in Los Angeles and Hollywood. I grew up with interviews. The thing is I love conversation with people. I love to hear who they are, what they’re doing and where they’ve been, the life they live. I feel comfortable in that respect.”

Ms. Collins has a new record dropping in February 2022 called Girl from Colorado. “It’s the first time I will have done an album of all my own songs, brand new songs. I’m already singing them on the road and it’s great fun. I play the piano and guitar - I can get around on the guitar but it’s not my main purpose in life. All my songwriting has been done on the piano. That whole area of my life that has to be kept intact in order to write songs. I practice most every day. That’s what I do between figuring out what to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

You can listen to Judy Collins’ podcast Since You’ve Asked on all major platforms HERE. 

Hear Judy Collins - Live At The Town Hall, NYC - on Spotify or Amazon 

And see her upcoming concert dates HERE.