Pete Seeger,Woodie Guthrie, Josh White, the MJQ. Mose Allison, Lambert Hendricks and Ross, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Roland Kirk, Charlie Mingus, L V Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, Ravel, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, Helen Morgan, George Gershwin, Rogers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Stevie Wonder,Billie Holiday, Astrud Gilberto, Monica Zetterling, Bill Evans, Peter Kaukonen, Gil Evans, Mercedes Sosa, Nina Simone, Ertha Kitt, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Joao Gilberto, Fleetwod Mac, Cream, Sting, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Helene Renaut,The Grateful Dead, Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman, Howlin' Wolf, Steve Manne, Janis Joplin, Mississippi John Hurt, John Hammond, Childs Ballads, Andres Segovia, Wanda Landowska, Ethyl Merman, Dr John, Frank Zappa, Igor Stravinsky, John Cage, Ravi Shankar etc etc etc...
Water records has re-mastered and re-released the 1969 Warner Reprise Album
OTHER MUSIc at othermusic.com. New York.
RUTHANN FRIEDMAN
Water continues their seamless reissue streak with this '69 find, the lone album by LA-based folksinger Friedman who a few years earlier had found success by penning "Windy" for the Association. Fans of the recent psych-folk implosion (and hallucinogens) could ostensibly crawl inside this gorgeous, unadorned album of lyrical fantasy, gentle yet sturdy acoustic accompaniment, and unmistakable of-the-times demeanor, and quite possibly live contentedly within it forever...
...NEW CD from Water Records
Described as: ...A collection of previously unreleased demos, home recordings, and lost songs circa 1965-1970 from Ruthann's personal archive. Includes detailed song notes by Ruthann, unseen photos, and the original version of 'Windy'...
H2>ALL MUSIC GUIDE
When Water Records -- that venerable San Francisco label that is as unpredictable as it is funky -- reissued Ruthann Friedman's only album, 1968's Constant Companion in March of 2006, it was reasonable to assume that was that. Wrong. Instead, they went about repeating a process... Hurried Life is just what it says it is, a collection of home and studio recordings done between 1965 and 1971. They are "lost" because nothing was ever done with them. Pat Thomas and Nathaniel Russell have assembled a true series of lost gems in these 15 cuts. They are raw, utterly unpolished songs written by the woman who wrote "Windy" for the Association. On first hearing, and rightly so, these are songs that seem to come from a time and place far away. They are full of a seemingly naïve innocence: check the "Sky Is Moving South," and "That's All Right," for starters. But when one considers that the Vietnam War was entering full swing when the first of these songs were recorded, and was still raging when the last of them was, perhaps it's not so distant at all. As the Iraq war and cultural wars tear the fabric of society apart, one can find and hear in these simple songs of love, optimism, hope, change, disillusionment, and betrayal, a mirror, a "Looking Glass" as it were, reflecting the present towards the past and the culture wars that began in the '60s.
Certainly some of these tunes are acid-drenched and full of hippie visions, but there's also a tune about the paranoia and danger of methamphetamine abuse ("Method Madness") here (from her personal experience, according to her annotated notes that accompany each cut). The songs about love both realized and unrequited (check "To Treat a Friend") are certainly relevant to any day and age. What all this proves musically is that Constant Companion was no fluke. Her voice is real here, if less polished in places, and steady for the most part, but not undisciplined, and the songs themselves are full of wonderful turns of phrase, rooted as they are in various American styles (check both the words and the blues picking in "Between the Lines"). In addition to Friedman's songs, there is one by Tandyn Almer (who wrote another big hit for the Association called "Along Comes Mary") called "Little Girl Lost and Found"; it's a wild, multi-tracked and tape-sped tune where she is accompanied in places by Tom Shipley of Brewer & Shipley. It's curious, but it doesn't match the rest of the material here. And, oh yes, "Windy" is here, her demo of the song that she gave to her friends and former housemates the Association. Hurried Life is not an acquired taste. If you liked Friedman's Constant Companion this will most certainly appeal to you. If you have no idea who she is but dig the CD cover photo, (and what's not to like? the period photos are all informal and funky), then suffice to say the music sounds similar. Underlying it all, however, is the seriously under-utilized talent of a gifted pop songwriter who could wrangle words and melody alike with a ferocity that is hidden by the simple guise of the recorded medium. Perhaps Waters can coax Friedman to either dig into the trick bag for more material, or maybe even coax her into recording something new? One can almost bet that either Devendra Banhart or Noah Georgeson would volunteer to help. Recommended without reservation, Hurried Life is a sensual, mischievous, and poetic delight. Thom Jurek
Both are available for purchase online through many vendors. Visit one of the sites below to get your very own copy...
Ruthann Friedman is an enduring gem, a jewel in the headband of 60s culture. She radiates a particular color in the rainbow arc and, with a serious clutch of songs, defines an exact space and time. As a determined musician – her smooth and undulating vocal line is combined with polished stone-washed lyrical poetry. Her legend starts with Windy THE ASSOCIATION took it on and pushed it to the top of the charts in 1967. For Ruthann, Windy was a guy. For The Association, it was Ruthann. Lots of guys really got it about Ruthann. Some really got it about guys with stormy eyes.
RUTHANN FRIEDMAN – Everyone knows its Windy
In her on-line bio, Ruthann states, After Bob Dylan's first album [Live at the Gaslight 1962] was released and LSD was discovered by all, I headed down the road. My first paying gig was at the Green Spider Coffee House in Denver. It was the time of the great Hippy Migration and I sang for my supper up and down the coast of California. One summer I lived in North Beach sharing a room with good friend and brilliant guitarist Steve Mann, playing alternate weekends at the Coffee Gallery and The Coffee and Confusion. Tromping down Broadway in my short madras dress and high green boots&
Coffee and Confusion and CONSTANT COMPANION
In 1964 she encountered defining artist, Van Dyke Parks, who admonished her by saying that if she wanted to become a professional all she had to do was make the commitment. One truly life changing effect Van Dyke had on me was to introduce me to The Association. Again they were kind enough to let me stay in the spare bedroom of their group house on Melrose Ave. The house was near Vermont Avenue within earshot of the Watts riots. In the midst of all that chaos we had great times together and there was always lots of music being played and strange potions, herbal and otherwise, being consumed.
Water Records re-released Ruthann's classic CONSTANT COMPANION. A second CD has followed – A HURRIED LIFE, a compilation of home and studio recordings set down between 1965 and 1971. My songs have been discovered by a new generation, she says, which gives me no end of pleasure. I have refound my joy in music and it is my hope that you will enjoy my efforts./p>
On Tuesday, October 30th, 8:00 PM, Ruthann Friedman will be appearing at the Climate Theater, (285 9th Street at Folsom). Joining the evening is local Pop/Folk artist and French chanteuse HÉLÈNE RENAUT. Breezing into popularity, Hélènes gentle beauty and shimmering musicianship spark day & night dreams of lingering passion, romantic longing, and an occasional glance at tender melancholy. She has placed a number of songs on her space at MySpace – HÉLÈNE RENAUT.
Cover Story: Crosby Stills Nash and Young
October 18th, 1969 No 44
Sixth Big Sur Folk Festival
1969
Featuring:
Joan Baez
Joni Mitchell
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
John Sebastian
Johanna Demetrakas
Dorothy Morrison & the Edwin Hawkins Singers
Mimi Fariña
Julie Payne
Ruthann Friedman
Carol Ann Cisneros
The Comb Sisters
Chris Ethridge
Flying Burrito Brothers
Struggle Mountain Resistance Band
BIG SUR (Wildly abbreviated for this web site)
Big Sur, Calif. - Some of the finest folk singers and musicians in the world positioned themselves on the edge of some of America's most glorious scenery for a farewell to summer and a celebration of nonviolence in mid-September. It was the sixth annual Big Sur Folk Festival, one of the season's smallest (in attendance) and loveliest (in mood)...
...one of the truly fine but sadly unrecognized singer songwriters, Ruthann Friedman, spun three superb musical poems, that nearly topped everything that had come before...Jerry Hopkins
LATIMES
July 22, 2006
Music fest is a many-octaved thing
Outsider artists come together for "5 Nights of Soleros and Bandoleros" to give "folk" a punky, esoteric, jazzy tinge.
By Ann Powers, Times Staff Writer
Devendra Banhart was as pleased as tequila-laced punch, holding his empty margarita glass proudly in the El Cid courtyard Tuesday as the first installment of the ambitious five-night outsider folk music festival he programmed slowly turned into a sellout.
...The only truly notable performer Wednesday couldn't have been more different. Ruthann Friedman took the stage with unassuming sweetness, looking more like someone who'd headline a community picnic than a hipster gathering. The 62-year-old Los Angeles resident, who recorded one album in 1969 that was recently reissued, is best known for writing the Association's vanilla pop classic "Windy," but her set at El Cid showed her talent beyond one-hit-wonder status.
Friedman, a former housemate of David Crosby and the Jefferson Airplane, showed the influence of her peers, but her jazz-touched, melodically complex songs went beyond mere hippie confessions. One reflectively mourned her sister's suicide; another...dedicated to Astrud Gilberto...captured that Brazilian lilt. As she shared stories from her long, strange trip, many of the festival's other performers sat rapt, grateful that Banhart had rescued a mentor from obscurity...
Thank you very much for the Link Up & Sharing Your Music
Nice to meet you through cyberlink!
Keep up the Great Work!
Wishes you All the Best in 2009!
Enjoy your Week!
The new True Margrit CD - The Juggler's Progress - is now available for pre-order, along with t-shirts and artwork, photo and drumheads, as we get ready for our monthlong tour of the Great Northwest! Check it out here: http://bit.ly/7Cu8J
Look for us in Washington, Oregon and California between October 15 and November 15, when our tour wraps up with the big show at San Francisco's best rock club, Bottom of the Hill! For the complete show schedule, check here: http://bit.ly/1UgGqQ
I was flipping through a book at the bookstore tonight when suddenly I saw your beautiful self strumming a guitar in the pages. You are so lovely! Hope to see you soon. I still have a birthday gift to give you! xo
Delighted to have ushered in the Summer Soltice in such fine fashion with you last night/this morning. Always such a joy hearing you play. You are a ray of sunshine! Mwah
I feel so very honored to be so frequently misdialed by you : ) It's neat that whatever causes your phone to do that goes straight to my number (the voicemails are pretty funny...but don't worry i don't eves drop too long ; ))!
P.S. "What A Joy" is so beautiful and lingers with me. I now look forward to you playing it out <3
I'm co hosting my friend Charlie Miller's "Autumn King Show" on KPOO 89.5 FM outta San Francisco on Sunday night, June 7th at 10 PM - 1 AM West Coast time. You can also hear it at www.kpoo.com, so tune in! It's a show that plays a lot of obscure old timey blues, rock and roll, rockabilly, be bop, R&B (the cool greasy 50s kind, not the overproduced sterile Whitney Houston kind) and other cool stuff you usually don't hear on the radio and I'm just gonna be my usual irrepressable self, so call the censors! Fun times are coming!
