Judy Collins—the Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, actress, activist, and Academy Award-nominated director and producer (!)—will be honored as “2022 Woman of the Year” at Nevada Ballet Theatre’s 38th annual Black & White Ball, on Saturday, April 09, at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas.  Chaired by Todd-Avery Lenahan & John Gorsuch and Dawn & Christopher Hume, it is destined to be a night to remember!  Collins, a living American treasure blessed with perfect pitch and a remarkably clarion soprano voice, established her bona fides during the late Sixties, singing beautifully arranged covers of songs by then-emerging songwriters—think Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, and the late, great Leonard Cohen—in her crystal-clear voice.

[For more background on Collins’ remarkable career of more than 60 years, take a gander at my article, NBT to Honor Judy Collins as 2022 Woman of the Year, from last December.]

I was fortunate to spend an unexpectedly laughter-filled half-hour, recently, speaking with Collins, telephonically; so, here then, is Part 2 of our interview.

CONTINUED FROM PART 1...

Does a song take on different meanings to you as time goes on and your life experience changes? Specifically, does singing “Both Sides Now” in your 80s mean something different than it did when you were singing it in your 20s?

Not really. And I don't know how to express that, but age doesn't have anything to do with what's going on in your head. And as far as that goes, it's usually that I'm up there singing. The audiences, they can't be on their phones. They can't be standing up and screaming. That's not the kind of show that I do. And they're in the same kind of silent dream world that I'm in because they're having their images. I'm having my images. What has changed over the years is what I might be thinking of or dreaming of at the time that I'm singing a song. So it could be about my life, about the things that I wish for, about what's on my mind. But it's kind of a dream place where miracles can happen. And I think that's what happens to audiences. They get into their own direction, and something about what's going on with the music reminds them about things in their lives that they might be able to do something about. I mean, I think that's what art is about anyway. It's transformative. It should be. And it leads people to have hope and develop the ideas and the thoughts that are, in a way, secret to them until they get inspired by music.

Wow!  Now, you first heard “Both Sides Now” over the phone, if I’m not mistaken…

I did.

And you first heard “Send in the Clowns” when your friend Nancy Bacal sent you the cast album and insisted you play that song. When you first hear a song that you know you want to make your own and you want to sing it, is there any sort of physical manifestation that happens? Do the hairs on the back of your arm stick up or do you get a chill or a shiver that runs down your spine?

Yes!  All of those things happen. I just go nuts! I mean, I say, "Oh, I’ve got to sing it. I’ve got to sing it, and I’ve got to sing it now." It's instantaneous. And then if I hear something that I don't like, I never want to hear it again. But my attraction to the material that has turned into my life's work—whether I'm writing it or hearing it and experiencing it—it's instant. I was doing a concert the other night at Temple Emanu-El in New York, and it was focused on Leonard Cohen. He always said, "I don't know where they came from." Also, Leonard said—he said in one of these little notes that actually comes from Sylvie Simmons, quoting him as saying—"I like simple things," he says. "I like simple things, and poetry more. The song arises out of the guitar playing, just trying different sequences and every day singing until I feel that I've got something there." And he says, "Then I know—I feel a kind of a catch in my throat, and I know that I'm in contact with something that's just a little deeper than where I started when I picked the guitar up. That's what happens."

It's a very mysterious process. And the same thing happens when I hear something that I have to sing. I'm going to record in a little while. I'm going to record one of his songs, “The Stranger Song,” which I first heard in 1966 when he came to see me and brought me three songs. He brought me “Dress Rehearsal Rag,” and “Suzanne,” and “The Stranger Song.” And I've recorded the other two, of course, but not “The Stranger Song.” And I'm finally going to get my teeth into it.

How exciting!  If you could perform a duet with any living artist, who would it be and what song?

Ari Hest, and the song he wrote, called “Strangers Again.” *

What is the most misunderstood thing about Judy Collins?

That I'm very serious. I'm not! And I love to laugh! I'm very funny to myself and with my friends and on stage. I mean, my big deal is to tell jokes and have a good time on stage. Hal Prince was a very good friend of mine at the end of his life, in the few years that I got very close to him. And Stephen, of course, I'd known for a long time. But they came to hear me at Café Carlyle, one year after I'd made my Love Letter to Stephen Sondheim (2017) album. And I was singing a lot of the songs. And they were there, and they seemed to be having a terrific time. And my husband and I went back to say hello to them at their table, and they were just enjoying themselves so much and laughing. And I said, "Did you like the songs?" And Hal said, "No, we know you can sing." He said, "But we did not know that you have shtick."

Indeed! And mazel tov to that!

Thank you!

Okay. Which young artists today do you most admire?

Well, I love Brandi Carlile, and I love Shawn Colvin.  I've written a song about Shawn.  And I think they're amazing artists, amazing writers. And I'm eager to hear what people write and what they sing: It's always a new experience. And I love Suzanne Vega so much. 

All three of them are such incredible artists and women.  And Shawn is fascinating and with a great story of her own.

Fascinating. Yeah. She's a wonderful, wonderful writer, singer, and performer.

CONCLUDED IN PART 3...

Judy Collins honored as 2022 Woman of the Year
Nevada Ballet Theatre | 38th Annual Black & White Ball
April 09, 2022 | Encore at Wynn Las Vegas
Click HERE for info and tickets

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[Editor’s Notes: * Written by Ari Hest and Marvin Etzioni, “Strangers Again” was originally released by Hest on his album "Someone to Tell" (2004).  It was first recorded by Judy Collins and Hest in 2015, and served as the title track for Collins’ duets album Strangers Again (2015).  The song was also featured on the duo’s duet album, Silver Skies Blue (2016), which was nominated for a GRAMMY in the category of ‘Best Folk Album.’  This marked a 42-year gap since Collins’ previous GRAMMY nomination (in 1975, in the category of ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female’ for “Send in the Clowns”), leading Collins to quip to Variety, “I’ve been working all this time, and I guess the Grammys were somewhere else.”]