Judy Collins In Concert.

Born in 1939 in Seattle Washington, Judy Collins grew up with a musical father and encouraged her to play the piano. Her career has spanned to 36 studio albums, a Oscar nomination and a Grammy Award. Her genres span from Folk, Country, Show Tunes, Pop Music and Rock and Roll.

Her origin of living was Colorado, Denver to be precise. She often would meet famous musicians through her father. Arlo Guthrie, Pete Segar and Leonard Cohen were her biggest influences in her musical life. Like Guthrie and Segar she would commit her life to activism.

While Collins wrote most of her work, it was the writings of two woman that makes Collins most known. "Both Sides Now" written by Mitchell, and "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim which she opened and closed last evening with are her two most recognized commercial hits. Over the years, Collins would borrow songs from another great folk artist, Bob Dylan.

Collins would battle alcoholism all of her adult life. At 84 years of age her voice still resonates. Her playing of both the sting guitar and the piano is impressive indeed. She tells us her life lessons and her meeting of famous musicians in between songs. Last night she kept her stories to musicians and songwriting; she never once delved into the 70's where she was active against the war (good friends with Abby Hoffman and Tim Leary).

At the bucolic Morristown Performing Arts Center last night, the crowd that was there to see her perform were old but not the Yippy's she supported back in the 70's, rather, professional people who just like her music. A mellow crowd for mellow music Collins performed about a half a dozen songs.

Throughout the 50 minutes, Collins spoke way to much in between songs. One song to the other took about 10 minutes which is far to long as the crowd grew restless. Like Springsteen and Streisand, musicians sometimes forget that people are there to hear their music and not to hear the words that they have to say in between songs.

The songs that Collins performed were: "When I Was a Girl in Colorado", "Danny Boy", "Hell On Wheels", "Diamonds and Rust" as well as "Both Sides, Now" and "Send In the Clowns". while the songs represent a smattering of her life's work, it would have been better if she played more songs. At 50 minutes it was disappointing at how little she played.

At various times, Collins would start a story, forget what she was saying; start another story, go back to the original story and end up finishing the second story. When you thought she would start up a new song, she would go off on a tangent about her childhood followed by her hard drinking ways. This would leave the audience getting restless and bored.

Judy Collins was a force as a singer, musician and songwriter, like Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell, she provided great Folk music in the 60's and 70's. From the war ravaged years, to the feminist movement, Collins had her hand on the pulse when it came to social issues at that time. Her music would become more mainstream as the decades moved on. Collins was always able to have a dedicated audience and like Baez and Mitchell, they would follow her and her music wherever she performed.

As a concert goes, last night was a minimalist version of music and more of a celebration of the 84 year old who has written an entertained a loyal audience since the 60's. It didn't seem to much matter that she is older now and not able to perform at the level that she once could.

Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Pete Segar, Abby Hoffman, Timothy Leary, Arlo Guthrie, Woody Guthrie, Newport Jazz Festival, Woodstock, Folk Music, Country Music.