Write a song that would musically induce God into giving us all a break.

June 23, 2023 5:43 AM

Happy Pride Month! Troubled, incarcerated, discovered, acclaimed, forgotten, beloved, rediscovered. The life of early 70s musician Judee Sill [Wikipedia] is a complicated rollercoaster, expertly summarized by the BBC in The Lost Genius of Judee Sill [28m, audio, 2014, recommended]. The Guardian's 2022 profile coincided with the premiere of a new documentary [trailer], and the filmmakers did a great interview afterward [19m, w/ Shawn Colvin]. It's rare to have footage like this, but here is Judee at USC in 1973 [12m]

Crayon Angel: A Tribute To The Music Of Judee Sill is a 2009 album, here a single hour-long YouTube video, but there are track links in the video description.

posted by hippybear (6 comments total)

i first heard of her through this
posted by graywyvern at 5:59 AM on June 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

I love Judee Sill! So excited for this post, thank you for it. I first came to her through Aimee Mann's Lockdown Listening. My Man on Love is probably my favorite track of hers.
posted by nightcoast at 7:01 AM on June 23, 2023 [2 favorites]

She's like a page erased from history. I (big 70s music nerd) had been completely unaware of her except that she was mentioned in passing in Geffen's bio.
posted by ovvl at 7:33 AM on June 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

Ooh yay Judee! A couple related projects:

Case/Lang/Viers (Neko, KD, Laura) has this beautiful song called Song for Judee that I listen to all the time

You loved the Sons of the Pioneers
And the Hollywood cowboy stars
You were just trying to put a hand
To where we are

And a friend of mine (Lorenzo Wolff) produced a record of Judee's songs in 2021 called Down Where the Valleys are Low that is so so good. That's a bandcamp link but it's on streaming services as well. Here's a sample, a gorgeous cover of The Kiss feat. (another friend) Emily Holden
posted by wemayfreeze at 9:37 AM on June 24, 2023 [1 favorite]

I hope it's still possible to stream the documentary--we watched it when it was on DOCNYC and it was amazing to hear and see so much of her personality.

I heard Jesus Was Crossmaker on KCRW in the early aughts and was so hooked that I ripped an mp3 of it from the stream until I could find a proper copy. I still kind of can't believe how much I paid back then for the Rhino hand made CDs reissues of her two albums.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 9:44 AM on June 24, 2023

My wife adores Judee — thank you!
posted by lokta at 5:10 AM on June 27, 2023