Judy Collins to play Whitefish, Bigfork

Judy Collins is going strong and still feels excited about her career after 56 years in the music business. I spoke with her on the phone recently and was very moved by the spirit she expressed.

“If you’re lucky enough to do what you want and be an artist so that you’re always working, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t always be getting better,” Collins said.

Collins keeps a busy performing schedule and loves live shows. She said live shows are special because performers are combining with the audience to make something that will never happen again and never happened before.

She credits her blind disc jockey father with teaching her how to recognize a good song. He introduced her to American standards and musicians, and had her on his radio show in Denver. When she was 13, she performed her debut as a classical pianist. But she broke with that career path when folk music became her calling. As she grew as a musician, she expanded her interest to include art songs, and other styles of music. Many years later, she co-directed an Oscar nominated documentary about her classical piano teacher called “Antonia Brico: Portrait of a Woman.”

Collins chose a successful path. Her 1967 album “Wildflowers” was entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame. She won a Grammy in 1968 for Joni Mitchell’s song “Both Sides Now.” Her popular rendition of “Send in the Clowns,” written by Stephen Sondheim, won him a Grammy for Song of the Year in 1975.

She loves to support young artists. Her new album of duets, “Strangers Again,” was inspired by wanting to include singer/songwriter Ari Hest who wrote and sings with her on the title song. To make it work, she called many of her friends who are much better known, such Willy Nelson, Jeff Bridges and Don McClean. On the recording, she sings a beautiful Randy Newman song “Feels Like Home” with Jackson Browne and revives her hit “Someday Soon” with Jimmy Buffett.

Supporting little-known artists is not new to Collins. When she started recording Leonard Cohen songs no one knew who he was. And he returned the favor by encouraging her to write her own songs. She had a hit with “Both Sides Now” two years before Joni Mitchell ever recorded it, which helped establish Mitchell as a songwriter. She tells a beautiful story in her book “Singing Lessons: A Memoir of Love, Loss, Hope, and Healing” of sitting with Mitchell as she sang some of her songs.

“I sobbed over their beauty, their luminous lyric strength” Collins recalled. “She played me ‘Michael from Mountains’ that night as the candles flickered against stained glass.”

When Collins was asked how she could continue singing songs she’d sung so many times, she replied, “I always do the songs as if I’ve never done them before.”

Collins will perform Saturday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center, and Sunday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. at the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts.

Tickets range from $29-$39. They can be purchased at www.SingerandSimpson.com or www.Tix.com. Call 406-730-2817 for assistance or more information. Both shows are expected to sell out, so advance tickets are recommended.

Sponsored by Don “K” Subaru and brought to you by Singer and Simpson Productions. Special thanks to The Steinway Piano Gallery of Spokane, Don “K” Subaru and Subaru of America, The Daily Inter Lake, The Lodge at Whitefish Lake and Joel Pemberton of Edward Jones, Whitefish.

Miriam Singer is co-owner of Singer and Simpson Productions. She can be reached at info@singerandsimpson.com.