Connie Converse was a folk-music genius. Then she vanished

Posted by mellosouls 3 days ago

Counter95Comment20OpenOriginal

Comments

Comment by scarecrowbob 7 hours ago

I'm not familiar with this writer. I'm not surprised- I know many hundreds of fairly good writers who live and die, many without recording much of their work. It's not at all uncommon in this world.

What is rare is that there is a good enough story to some company think re-releasing a record might get some interest.

For about 15 years, I stage managed the New Folk competition at the Kerrville folk festival. It was pretty impressive to see 24 singer songwriters (selected from a poool of 600-1000 or so) all play over the course of 2 concerts, bringing whatever they thought was their best material.

Even weirder was going to Folk Alliance this year and running into all these folks who are slightly familiar... "oh, yeah, I remember you- I put a mic in from of you for 3 songs, 8 years ago".

Of the 800 or so songs I have heard there over the years most were as good as anything I hear outside these little folk music spots.

I know a solid 100 or so folks who put out an album of good work and then went on to live their lives. It's such a hard thing to make money off it that our time gets spent up doing all of the many, many other things in life that are compelling but pay better.

Still, if you look, you'll find folks who are out there writing songs to play. Even better, they are still alive and get really happy when you give them some cash for a tip.

Comment by speak_on 6 hours ago

In my teens I was really into '60s and '70s counterculture and spent most of my nights looking up music from that era. Among all the lesser-known gems with surprising longevity (e.g. Tractor), there were hundreds - if not thousands - of bands with only one or two albums. A few times I was so fascinated by these short-lived bands that I looked up the musicians and reached out to them on Facebook (in its early days). All of them responded and were surprised and happy to chat about their band. And yeah... they just live "normal" non-musician lives now.

Comment by flir 5 hours ago

I'm really surprised that you're that deep into folk and have never heard of Connie Converse. She's turned up on my radar multiple times over the past couple of decades, and I don't go looking for her, or much folk content.

I guess it underlines that we all live in filter bubbles - I had assumed she was more well-known than she really is based on news stories like this. Every other artist mentioned on this page? I've never heard of them. Off to youtube...

Comment by dn3500 11 hours ago

I knew her in Ann Arbor. By then she had stopped performing but I heard her play a couple of times at my uncle's house. I now wish I'd paid closer attention, I was just a stupid teenager at the time.

Comment by Loughla 9 hours ago

That's an amazing experience even if you couldn't recognize it at the time. That's legitimately cool, and you can say you were in the room with genuine once in a lifetime talent. Not everybody has that experience.

I saw Dave Matthews play a very small show (like 30 people were there maybe) when I was younger while we waited for change to make a phone call. I didn't really pay attention, but remember thinking that this guy was really weird and really different and really really good. I wish I had stayed for the entire thing and maybe talked to him. But, at least the memory is there.

Comment by speak_on 9 hours ago

Fascinating! Did her music feel different from other musicians at the time? Listening to some of her songs now, it's hard not to feel like she was way ahead of her time. Though that could just be hindsight talking.

Comment by ilamont 10 hours ago

What year was this?

Comment by Teever 16 hours ago

Roving Woman is my favourite song of hers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAfUXna0N-4

This cover is pretty spectacular:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFazlnIxHmE

Comment by js2 16 hours ago

It's the first song mentioned in the article, but oddly no link to a performance. There's links to two other of her songs. The cover is lovely, as is the rest of that artist's music.

Gosh, "Talkin' Like You (Two Tall Mountains)" is heartbreaking:

https://youtu.be/W3IfRX3NwbA?si=BTC9teo4q0BH5DE5

Comment by slibhb 15 hours ago

Talkin' Like You is incredible

Comment by msaltz 8 hours ago

I love her. Listening to her album sounds like you’ve opened a time capsule that’s been left undisturbed for years. It’s so unique and the lyrics are so lovely. Talkin’ Like You is my favorite.

“I don’t stand in the need of company / with everything I see talkin’ like you”

Comment by mellosouls 3 days ago

Pitchfork review from last year:

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/connie-converse-how-sad...

Comment by comrade1234 16 hours ago

Lots of stories like this. My favorite is Judee Sill - disappeared, died of an OD pretty much penniless. Music ahead of its time with layered recordings, rediscovered decades later...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judee_Sill

Comment by Blackthorn 12 hours ago

My favorite is, fortunately, a lot less depressing. Sinead Lohan, right on the cusp of making it big, touring with some of the biggest names in folk at the time. Realized she didn't like the music industry so she stopped and retired right then and there. I have no doubt she'd be a legendary folk name if she continued. Whatever It Takes is my favorite song by her.

Comment by chipotle_coyote 9 hours ago

I have her album “No Mermaid” and wondered what happened to her. It’s a great album.

Comment by Loughla 9 hours ago

Oh man. I always wondered what happened to her. She absolutely would've been huge if she had kept with it. And it probably would've destroyed her spirit.

Comment by jhbadger 10 hours ago

Collie Ryan is mine. She did three albums in the 1970s and then basically disappeared. I became aware of her through the use of her (amazing) song "It's Gonna Rain" which was featured on the soundtrack of Computer Chess (2013), a very weird (but good) film that seems to be about a computer chess tournament in the 1980s but gets weirder.

https://www.spinmagazine.com/2013/07/collie-ryan-its-gonna-r...

Comment by speak_on 9 hours ago

Oh wow, Crickets is an incredible track. Never heard of her before.

Comment by nobodyandproud 16 hours ago

[flagged]

Comment by dimes 16 hours ago

The private equity company that scooped up her music rights, most likely.

Comment by rhblake 15 hours ago

As far as I know, the rights are still owned by her family. The albums were issued by an independent label operated by one of the persons who tracked down her music. The recent reissue of "How Sad, How Lovely" is on Jack White's Third Man Records (also independent).

Comment by 7 hours ago

Comment by 6 hours ago