Here's an article from today's Guardian regarding Karen Dalton and the upcoming release on October 1 of a documentary about her life.
I 'discovered' her only last year. I only wish I had come across her music much earlier.
I must have listened to the track 'Something on Your Mind' a couple of hundred times since then.
I can't recommend it enough and I have posted it again below the article
I am looking forward to the documentary.
‘She went her own way’: the tragic and unusual life of folk singer Karen Dalton | Documentary films | The Guardian
‘She went her own way’: the tragic and unusual life of folk singer Karen Dalton
In a new documentary, the underrated singer’s life of depression, addiction and poverty is told while her incredible talents are celebrated
he outlines of the life led by singer Karen Dalton tell a heartbreaking tale. It was one scarred by consistent poverty, intermittent homelessness, bouts of depression and escalating alcohol and drug addiction, culminating in her death from Aids at 55. Yet, to Robert Yapkowitz, who co-directed a new documentary with Richard Peete titled Karen Dalton: In My Own Time, “there’s an inspirational element to her story. Karen was an artist who didn’t compromise. She made music that she was proud of with the people she loved. And that was the focus of her life.”
Dalton’s fierce commitment to that music, combined with the razor’s edge she lived on, resulted in recordings of uncommon richness, rarity, and sadness. Unfortunately, the depth of the sorrow in her songs, and the eccentricity of her delivery, made Dalton’s music a tough sell in its day. She performed for three decades but only managed to produce two albums during her lifetime, both released at the start of the 1970s, neither of which rewarded her with more than a peek at fame. Mainly it was fellow artists who recognized her uncommon talent at the time. When her career began on the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early ‘60s she was a respected peer to artists like Fred Neil, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan. In Dylan’s memoir, Chronicles Volume 1, he wrote about first hearing her in a local club. “My favorite singer in the place was Karen Dalton,” he wrote. “She was a tall, white blues singer and guitar player – funky, lanky and sultry. Karen had a voice like Billie Holiday’s and played guitar like Jimmy Reed, and went all the way with it.” ...........