Judy Collins back in Birmingham
Global star Judy Collins is coming to Birmingham in January in what will be her second gig in the city in a year.
The singer-songwriter, who has spent six decades in the music industry, will be back in the Second City promoting her forthcoming new album.
Winter Stories, due out on November 15, sees Collins join up with acclaimed Norwegian folk artist Jonas Fjeld, and masterful bluegrass band Chatham County Line from Raleigh, North Carolina.
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Speaking about the album, she said: “I knew Jonas and Chatham County Line would be a great fit with me. The language of music overarches everything, including geography. When we came together in the studio, we found we could speak to each other in a way that was compatible and nuanced.”
And Fjeld adds: “What bonded us was a shared love of great songs.”
Collins will be performing material from the new record, as well as her mammoth back catalogue of work, when she plays at Birmingham Town Hall on January 18, 2020 - almsot a year to the day after she played at the city's Glee Club on January 29 this year.
The following month, Collins, Fjeld and Chatham County Line headed to vibey Echo Mountain Studios, a former church, in Ashville, North Carolina to put down the new material on record.
Collins recalls: “We would gather around, tell stories and exchange histories - that exchange is very much a part of the folk tradition.”
The resulting album, Winter Stories, is a collection of classics and new tunes. “Learning songs is fundamental to my core being - it’s always an adventure to peek behind the curtain to understand what the writer went through,” Collins adds.
Standouts include Collins' evergreens The Blizzard and Mountain Girl, plus a re-recording of Fjeld’s poignant Angels In The Snow and a stunning rendition of Joni Mitchell’s The River.
Also cherrypicked were songs the artists have longed to record, including Jimmy Webb’s The Highwaymen and Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage. Fjeld contributed his newly-penned Frozen North and the stunning title track, which features the masterly vocal interlace of the two lead artists.
The album's November 15 release on Wildflower Records/Cleopatra Records continues a year which has seen Collins both turn 80 and celebrate 60 years in music.
Tickets to Collins' show at Birmingham Town Hall, priced from £28 to £38, are available from the Town Hall and Symphony Hall website.
