Judy Collins Performs Entire 1967 Album, ‘Wildfowers,’ On Northeastern U.S. Tour

Judy Collins, “the wild ageless angel of pop,” will perform all of the songs on her 1967 album, Wildflowers, at Town Hall in New York tomorrow night.

She will be joined by conductor and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tania Leon and the Harlem Chamber Players.

According to Town Hall, “in 1964, a star in the world of folk music, Collins made her concert hall debut at Town Hall. But by the mid-1960’s, having studied classical piano as a teenager with Antonia Brico (who led an all-female orchestra at Town Hall in 1935), she knew she wanted to make an album that would take her listeners into a new and meaningful musical territory.

“She once said, ‘Jacques Brel began as a troubadour with a guitar and nothing else, but I saw him work as early as 1968 in New York with a full orchestra. And I said to myself, that’s where I’m moving.’”

The result of this decision was her sixth studio recording, Wildflowers.

“In Wildflowers,” Town Hall continued, “with encouragement from Leonard Cohen, Collins first revealed herself as a songwriter in her own right. Three original songs – Since You Asked, Skyfell and Albatross – established her as a major pop composer. Those compositions, plus additional ones by Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Jacques Brel and medieval composer Francesco Landini, helped to make it her highest charting album to date. The record is highlighted by Collins’ stunning rendition of Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now, which has entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame.”

Singer-songwriter Collins has released over 50 albums, including Spellbound, out last year, and written books including Sanity & Grace; her memoir, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music; and Cravings.

She remains a social activist, working with UNICEF and other causes. She also co-directed an Academy Award-nominated film, Portrait of a Woman, about Brico, the first woman to conduct major symphonies around the world.

Under commission of the New York Philharmonic, Havana-born Leon wrote the orchestral work, Stride, for which she was awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in music. Last December she received a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime artistic achievement.

The Harlem Chamber Players is a collective of ethnically diverse, professional musicians who bring affordable, accessible, live classical music to the Harlem community and beyond.

Performing with singer-songwriter Madeleine Peyroux, Collins will bring her Wildflowers concert to four other venues in the northeastern United States from April 19 through April 27.