Various Artists – Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies From The Canyon
Lovingly researched and annotated, Wayfaring Strangers collects fourteen performances from the late ’60s and early ’70s by women folksingers. All were inspired by Joni Mitchell, if not stylistically then at least by her independence and inter-genre sensibilities. Only one was issued by an established label (it’s also the set’s only cover, Ellen Warshaw’s version of “Sister Morphine” from her sole Vanguard release). Their individual stores are familiar (made one album, found little or no success, time passed, settled into career and family), making for a vivid portrait that resonates for anyone who was listening to music three dozen years ago. The records that yielded these songs tended to be issued in tiny quantities. Quintessentially local and regional in their reach, the singers sound familiar because sonically, they are. But they also sound like someone who could have been playing in a coffeehouse anywhere in America circa 1972.