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Carolyn Hester - Photo taken by Marri Lu Park. Rights owned by Carolyn Hester - Source
Born in Waco, Texas in 1937, Carolyn moved to NYC in 1955 to study theatre. Instead, she became a part of the emerging folk scene, drawing inspiration from The Weavers, Odetta, and Pete Seeger. In 1958, Carolyn Hester recorded 'Scarlett Ribbon' with Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico. There she met a teen-aged guitar player named Buddy Holly. Buddy did not play his new, red Telecaster on 'Scarlet Ribbons' but did play on 4 Christmas songs Carolyn recorded for Coral/Decca. Unfortunately these tapes have not been found after all these years.
Columbia Records, having lost out when Joan Baez signed with Vanguard, was under intense pressure to sign a female folksinger. So John Hammond signed Carolyn Hester. Her 1962 Columbia debut 'Carolyn Hester' featured Bruce Langhorne on guitar and violin, Bill Lee (Spikes Dad) on bass, Carolyn on guitar and vocals and a young Bob Dylan on harmonica. On Dylan's first recordings as a professional musician, he stirs up the spirit of the great Piedmont harmonica man Sonny Terry.
As the British Invasion and Rock n Roll began to dominate popular music, Carolyn Hester's recordings and live appearances became less numerous. Eventually, Carolyn Hester moved to California in 1973 to raise a family with musician/ composer David Blume, creator of 'Turn Down Day' by The Cyrkle. After a 23 year hiatus from the music biz, Carolyn released 'Texas Songbird' in 1996 on her own label, Road Goes On Forever. Although her appearances have been less numerous recently, Carolyn Hester has been a regular performer at the Kerrville Folk Festival and has been good friends with Nanci Griffith for many years. In March 2009, Carolyn, along with Eric Andersen, Roger McGuinn, Billy Bragg, and Judy Collins, celebrated the US Folk Revival at the Folk America: Greenwich Village Revisited at Barbican, London.... New York coffeehouse legends reawaken the spirit of 60's bohemia in London.| "The events which led me to (recording for Columbia Records) were very unexpected...John Hammond had first seen and heard me at Carolyn Hester's apartment. Carolyn was a Texan guitar playing singer who I knew and played with around town. She was going places and it didn't surprise me. Carolyn was eye-catching, down home and double barrel beautiful. That she had known and worked with Buddy Holly left no small impression on me and I liked being around her. Buddy was royalty, and I felt like she was my connection to it, to the rock n roll music that I'd played earlier, to that spirit." Bob Dylan, 'Chronicles, Volume 1' |
'We Dream Forever'… Carolyn Hester… the Texas Songbird… on 'My Back Pages' - The Bob Dylan Hour… Sunday, Aug. 9th at 3pm…
Purchase Bob Dylan's 'Chronicles, Vol 1' or search on 'Carolyn Hester' for her music using this link and you also support WNTI: Chronicles, Vol 1
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