Originally published by L.S. Media. June 7th 2011.

Judy Collins is one of the great survivors of Folk music. Eclectic in her musical tastes and vision, she continues to thrill audiences with renditions of her own work and those of who she adores.

For the University of Liverpool to play host to one of the all-time greats of music can be seen as a particular pleasure and for the audience who sat patiently it was one of those rare nights where you allowed the artist to do whatever they wanted, talk about whatever they fancied and play whatever tunes they could muster. For Judy Collins comes across as one of those wonderful women who wants to impart knowledge of her life and who looks genuinely pleased to see people hanging on her every word.

For Ms. Collins the chance to sing a Lennon and McCartney composition proved too great as she gave a sterling performance of the timeless classic In My Life. The delicateness of Judy Collins voice had those assembled in a kind of rapture all evening but none so more as she gently played this wonderful song.

Judy Collins shared stories of her life with a willing audience; they may have heard it before but unusually and respectively to the artist on stage, every member of the seated crowd stayed silent, and listened intently as if hearing the story of her father being a disc jockey in America for the very first time.

It’s hard to believe that the young girl who released A Maid of Constant Sorrow back in 1961 could still sound so riveting, however by closing your eyes, it was not had to imagine that same woman singing on stage and performing such songs as Bob Dylan’s Tambourine Man, Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece Send in the Clowns and her great friend Leonard Cohen’s Bird on a Wire without having a lump in the throat.

Timeless quality!

Ian D. Hall