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Judee Sill

A Los Angeles singer, songwriter and arranger who called her music country-cult-baroque, made two albums for Asylum Records in 1971 and 1973, and whose songs found their audience long after her death in 1979.

Origin
Los Angeles, California
Years active
1969-1973
Genres
folk, baroque pop, country, folk rock
Labels
Asylum
Also known as
Judith Lynne Sill

Songwriter

Judith Lynne Sill was born on October 7, 1944; Wikipedia gives Studio City in Los Angeles and MusicBrainz Oakland, so the birthplace is disputed. She spent part of her childhood in Oakland, where her father owned a bar and she learned piano, and she studied church organ and the music of Bach. She played guitar, piano and organ, and her own phrase for her music was country-cult-baroque. In 1969 she was hired at $35 a week by The Turtles' publishing company, Blimp Music, where she wrote "Lady-O", which the Turtles recorded and which charted in 1969, and "Abracadabra".

She was the first artist David Geffen signed to Asylum Records, according to the New York Review of Books. From late 1970 she toured as an opening act, first with Crosby and Nash, and also for Cat Stevens, Gordon Lightfoot and Tom Paxton; a full opening set recorded in Boston on October 3, 1971 is on the Rhino reissue.

Judee Sill and Heart Food

Judee Sill was released on September 15, 1971, 32:55 long, produced mostly by Henry Lewy, with John Beck, Jim Pons and, on the single "Jesus Was a Cross Maker", Graham Nash, and orchestrated by Don Bagley and Bob Harris. David Crosby played guitar and Nash organ, and Clydie King, Rita Coolidge and Venetta Fields sang backing vocals. Its songs were mostly written between 1969 and 1971, and its lyrics center on redemption. AllMusic gave it four stars. The New York Review of Books says it was reportedly produced in eight days.

Heart Food came out in March 1973, 36:14 long, produced by Sill and Lewy, with her own orchestration and arrangements. Its players include Jim Gordon on drums, Buddy Emmons on pedal steel, Spooner Oldham on keyboards, Doug Dillard on banjo and Chris Ethridge and Bill Plummer on bass. It is dedicated to David Omer Bearden, who wrote the lyrics for "When the Bridegroom Comes". It was critically acclaimed and sold little; Asylum dropped her after two albums. XTC's Andy Partridge said in Rolling Stone in 1999 that it was a crime for it to be out of print on CD.

On stage and after

Setlist.fm logs 36 setlists, 25 of them from 1971. She recorded a BBC concert at the Paris Theatre in London on March 23, 1972 (broadcast April 1) and a session at Aeolian Hall on April 5, 1972, and supported Roy Harper on a UK tour in January and February 1973, with dates in Edinburgh, at the Golders Green Hippodrome, in Leeds and Oxford, and a performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test on February 20, 1973. In 1974 she began a third album at Michael Nesmith's studio that was never finished; it appeared as Dreams Come True in 2005. She died on November 23, 1979, aged 35, with no obituary at the time; the New York Times ran one in 2020, in its Overlooked No More series.

Rhino reissued both albums in 2003 and as Abracadabra: The Asylum Years in 2006, which the Guardian gave five stars, and Live in London: The BBC Recordings 1972-1973 followed on May 22, 2007. Admirers include Andy Partridge, Warren Zevon, Shawn Colvin, Steven Wilson, Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes and Bill Callahan. The documentary Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill, directed by Andy Brown and Brian Lindstrom, premiered at DOC NYC in 2022 and reached streaming on April 12, 2024, with Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne among those interviewed.

Records

Songs

Harry Nilsson

Where to go next

Reference

Discography and data

Live performance archives

Fan sites and communities

Sources

  1. Judee Sill, Wikipedia
  2. Live in London: The BBC Recordings 1972-1973, Wikipedia
  3. Judee Sill, setlist.fm
  4. Judee Sill, Bob Claster