Various Artists – Tribute to the Travelin’ Lady Rosalie Sorrels

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Tribute to the Travelin’ Lady Rosalie Sorrels

rosaliesorrelstribute.com

I was honored to enjoy a long friendship with the late and great folksinger and songwriter Rosalie Sorrels (1933-2017). I was still in high school, circa 1970, when I first encountered her at the Back Door, a Montreal coffeehouse that existed from 1969 to 1971. It was during that Back Door gig that Rosalie wrote “Travelin’ Lady,” her signature song.

By 1972, as a college student in Montreal, I began producing folk concerts in Montreal and my first concert with Rosalie was a double bill with Utah Phillips in 1973. There would be many more concerts with Rosalie in Montreal, and in the late-‘70s and early-‘80s, when I ran a small booking agency for a select roster of folk music artists, Rosalie was one of my clients.

As I noted in an essay in June when she passed away, “Rosalie taught me much about the endurance of the human spirit and that adversities and personal tragedies can be the basis for cathartic art. And she taught me how to recognize greatness in songs.”

And, as Eliza Gilkyson writes in the notes to her track on Tribute to the Travelin’ Lady Rosalie Sorrels, “Any folksinger of my generation must claim Rosalie Sorrels as a foundational influence.”

Tribute to the Travelin’ Lady Rosalie Sorrels is a 4-CD set encompassing 44 songs by almost as many artists. About half the songs are performed by artists I know – including several old friends – and about half are by artists from Rosalie’s home state of Idaho who fell under her spell. At least two years in the making, most of the songs were written by Rosalie. A few others were songs from her vast repertoire, two were written in tribute to her, and a couple are original songs by the late Guy Clark and the late Jimmy LaFave that I can easily imagine hearing Rosalie do.

The album begins with Tom Russell’s “Pork Roast and Poetry,” an original by Tom in which he describes an evening spent visiting with Rosalie at the cabin her father built in Idaho at Grimes Creek. Having spent more than a few evenings in decades long past visiting with Rosalie and sampling her cooking, I can attest to the absolute authenticity of the song.

There are so many great performances on these four CDs that I can barely begin calling attention to all of them. But some of the songs that touched me deepest include Robin and Linda Williams’ rendition of “Borderline Heart,” the title track of one of my favorites of Rosalie’s albums; Eliza Gilkyson’s interpretation of “Travelin’ Lady,” Rosalie signature song written the same week I first met her and the title track from two great albums; Terry Garthwaite’s version of “Apple of My Eye,” a poignant song written for Rosalie’s daughter Shelley (and hearing Terry sing it brought back fond memories of the concert I produced with Rosalie, Terry and Bobbie Louise Hawkins); Laurie Lewis’ version of “Last Go Round”; Peter Rowan’s version of “Go With Me,” a lovely song from If I Could Be the Rain, the first LP of Rosalie’s I ever heard in the late-‘60s; Barbara Higbie’s interpretation of “Hitchhiker in the Rain,” Rosalie’s heartbreaking remembrance of her late son David; John Gorka’s take on “Song for My Birthday,” a song about Rosalie independent spirit; and Jane Voss and Hoyle Osborne’s performance of “Delia Rose,” a song written for a young child.

Rosalie Sorrels & Mike Regenstreif (1993)

And that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There are so many more great songs and wonderful performances – including some which take the songs in different directions from Rosalie’s original versions.

Kudos are particularly due to Idaho singer Rocci Johnson for spearheading this wonderful project (and for her rocking version of “Occasional Man”).

And the four CDs and booklet come in a beautifully designed boxed set inspired by Rosalie’s legendary scrapbook, and filled with photos from it.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Rosalie Sorrels 1933-2017

I am deeply saddened today to learn that my old friend and colleague – and folk music legend – Rosalie Sorrels passed away last night at her daughter Holly’s home in Reno, Nevada. Her children – Holly Marizu, Shelley Ross and Kevin Sorrels – and I believe other family members were with her as she slipped away over the past several days. Rosalie would have turned 84 on June 24.

Rosalie was one of the great interpretive singers on the folk music scene. She sang traditional folk songs, cabaret songs and gave us definitive versions of the songs of so many songwriters – notably Bruce “Utah” Phillips and Malvina Reynolds, among many others. And, of course, she was a remarkable songwriter herself.

Rosalie began her folk music journey in the 1950s and early-‘60s, collecting traditional songs and performing locally in Idaho and Utah – and making an occasional trip east to perform at events like the Newport Folk Festival. She made several albums of traditional songs in those years and one of them, “Folksongs of Idaho and Utah,” originally released in 1961, remains in print to this day via Smithsonian Folkways.

In 1967, she made a lovely album, “If I Could Be the Rain,” in which she introduced her own songs for the first time. About half the songs were Rosalie’s and about half were written by her Salt Lake City friend, Bruce “Utah” Phillips. Rosalie’s guitarist on the album was Mitch Greenhill, who would go to work with Rosalie often over the years as a musician, record producer, and agent.

Around that time, Rosalie’s marriage broke up and she hit the road – five children in tow – to earn her living on the folk music circuit. Nanci Griffith tells Rosalie’s story in the song “Ford Econoline.” Lena Spencer of the legendary folk music venue Caffé Lena in Saratoga Springs, New York, gave Rosalie a home base as she began to travel to folk clubs, concerts and festivals – sometimes traveling by Greyhound Bus – in the U.S. and Canada.

Rosalie played in Montreal often. I was still in high school when I first heard and met Rosalie at the Back Door Coffee House in Montreal, sometime around 1970. The gig at the Back Door was four or five nights long and it was during that stay in Montreal that Rosalie wrote “Travelin’ Lady,” which became her signature song.

I began to produce concerts in Montreal as a college student in 1972 and my first booking with Rosalie was a double bill with Utah Phillips at Redpath Hall on the McGill campus in 1973. By 1974, I was running a Montreal folk club, the Golem Coffee House, and Rosalie played there often throughout the 1970s and ‘80s. Sometimes Rosalie came to the Golem as a solo artist and sometimes with musicians like Mitch Greenhill or Tony Markellis. Sometimes she came to the Golem on a double bill with Utah Phillips, and once as part of a three-woman show with Terry Garthwaite of Joy of Cooking and writer and storyteller Bobbie Louise Hawkins.

Rosalie was a quietly mesmerizing performer on stage and I have so many great memories of performances that I produced with her in Montreal – but also of concerts I saw her do in many other places in Canada and the U.S. In addition to her singing, Rosalie was one of the most masterful storytellers ever.

In the late-‘70s, I operated an independent booking agency for a few years representing a select roster of folk music artists and I was honored that Rosalie was one of my treasured clients.

In her song, “Rosalie, You Can’t Go Home Again,” Rosalie refers to lessons that she learned from her “teachers” – not referring to school teachers. Rosalie was one of my teachers. Rosalie taught me much about the endurance of the human spirit and that adversities and personal tragedies can be the basis for cathartic art. And she taught me how to recognize greatness in songs.

Rosalie Sorrels & Mike Regenstreif (1993)

A quick anecdote: I was at a folk festival with Rosalie – it could have been Mariposa or Philadelphia or Winnipeg or Vancouver, or maybe somewhere else, and Rosalie was in a multi-artist workshop. One of the other artists, a folkier-than-thou type who I will leave nameless, ranted on about how there were no good rock songs, that contemporary singer-songwriters starting with Bob Dylan were all terrible, and that traditional folk songs or songs that have lasted 50 or 60 years were the only ones that mattered. Rosalie responded by saying something like, “Yeah, you’re right, let me play you this song.” She proceeded to sing “If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine/And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung…” When she finished the song, the folkier-than-thou guy said something like, “Now that was a great song! Where did you collect it?” Rosalie turned to him and said, “It’s by the Grateful Dead.”

The memories of times spent with Rosalie – in Montreal, Saratoga, Vermont, Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto, etc. – are flooding back tonight. I remember the performances, for sure, but I also treasure the times around her kitchen tables in Ballston Spa or Burlington or in bars and friends’ living rooms all up and down the road, sitting up late and sharing songs, stories, drinks and memories.

I’m listening tonight to Rosalie’s 1972 album “Travelin’ Lady.” It was her most recent album the first time I produced a concert with her and it remains one of my favorites of Rosalie’s albums. One of the most inspiring songs of Rosalie’s original songs on the album is “Postcard from Indian (Keep on Rocking).” It’s a kind of existential, secular prayer song:

“If I should die before I wake
There’s nothing here I’d want to take with me
I’ve had the best, I’ve had the worst
I’ve been last, I got into the line first
I’ve been hungry, I’ve been satisfied
I’ve seen the carnival, I’ve taken every ride

If I should wake before I die
I’d never stop to wonder why
I’d grab the day, take it and run
Naked, reaching for the sun
I’d run like a rabbit, fly like a dove
All around the world, searching for love…sweet love

And yet here I lie, afraid to sleep
Afraid to look inside too deep
Just want to climb outside this skin
I’ll find out who it is that’s in there
Oh, friends and lovers, keep me afloat
Keep on rockin’…It’s a beautiful boat.”

That’s a message I think Rosalie would want to leave us with: “Keep on rockin’…It’s a beautiful boat.”

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif