Karen Dalton – 1966

  • January 4, 2012

There’s been a recent resurgence in the work of Karen Dalton, a Cherokee/Irish-American folk musician who was an integral member of the early 60’s Greenwich Village scene. Bob Dylan called Dalton one of his favorite singers of the era, with “a voice like Billie Holiday and played guitar like Jimmy Reed.” However Dalton rarely performed in public, known for her rare performances playing the twelve string guitar and a long neck banjo while kicking back with friends. Her two studio albums, 1969’s It’s So Hard To Tell Who’s Going To Love You the Best and 1971’s In My Own Time, were re-released in 2006 and now archival rehearsal tapes are being released on Delmore Recordings later this month under the title, 1966. That year Dalton and Richard Tucker were captured at her rural Colorado cabin reheasing for an upcoming gig by Carl Baron, who brought along his reel-to-reel. 1966 is the result of those sessions, caught in all their raw beauty. Be sure to take a listen to this rare gem by a reclusive singer in her prime. – Written by JFelton

SIMILAR | Sibylle Baier, Elizabeth Cotton, Josephine Foster, Michael Hurley, Fred Neil, Richard Tucker