In 2019, Judy Collins celebrated her 80th birthday and 60 years in the music business. She is a songwriter in her own right but is probably best known as an interpreter of other material by notable artists such as Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Stephen Sondheim.
Throughout her long and illustrious career she has been drawn to collaborations with kindred spirits. This latest addition to her impressive discography finds her teaming up with silken-voiced Norwegian folk artist Jonas Fjeld and the North Carolina acoustic folk band Chatham County Line. Fjeld notes that “what bonded us was a shared love of great songs.”.
Recorded after just three days of rehearsal and preproduction time, 'Winter Stories' is a collection of classics and new tunes recorded in Echo Mountain Studios — a former church — in Ashville, NC.
The full band get to let their hair down on the banjo-driven Bury Me with My Guitar On but otherwise a laid-back, easy listening vibe prevails with the singers taking turns to singing lead vocals, joining together for duets and harmonies.
The collection opens with a cover of Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage. There's also a respectful, but bland, version of Joni Mitchell's classic River and an equally insipid interpretation of Highwayman, Jimmy Webb's much covered standard.
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A new Fjeld song, Frozen North, fits with wintry mood and Collins' The Blizzard is similarly full of imagery relating to inclement weather.
Angels In The Snow and the title track add to the overriding seasonal theme. The impression is that the storms and sub-zero temperatures are a good excuse to get snug and cosy indoors. There's certainly no sense of danger or being at the mercy of the elements.
It's all as warming and pleasant as a late night mug of Horlicks but, unfortunately, with the same soporific effect.
Judy Collins' website
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