No one sings a folk song more beautifully than Judy Collins, and few people sing more beautifully, period. She’s an authentic river of song, in truly golden voice in her seventies. She’ll be talking about a song in passing, and then launch into three or four lines, singing with breathtakingly casual grace and beauty. And then continue with her story “and so I told Leonard Cohen that yes, ‘Suzanne’ is a good song and I’ll be recording it tomorrow…”

In tribute to Cohen’s passing she did a medley of his “Bird on a Wire” with one of he own songs – Cohen had encouraged her as a songwriter, which was life-changing for her. When she sings a song in earnest, she’s truly arresting, imbuing each line with subtle style, implying stories behind stories.

This particular act follows on the release of Silver Skies Blue, an album of duets with Ari Hest, a 37-year-old singer / songwriter. The central part of the act is the two of them together. His songs fit Judy’s voice like a glove, and their voices sound very natural in harmony together. The song of his that stuck with me most is “Aberdeen”, about a young person’s burning ambition to leave the titular South Dakota small town.

The stories Judy tells are truly entertaining, varying from the touchingly personal to the hilariously bawdy. She is so enthusiastically invested in the music – her spectacular, undiminished talent always grants an amaziningly intense cabaret experience. Highly recommended.

For tickets, click here.

To learn about Jonathan Warman’s directing work, see jonathanwarman.com.