Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies From the Canyon

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 14, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Numero
• ASIN: B000ELJAI8
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #259,868 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. A Special Path - Becky Severson

2. Cricket - Collie Ryan

3. Sunlight Shadow - Linda Rich

4. Engram - Caroline Peyton

5. And I A Fiarytale Lady - Carla Sciaky

6. Window - Judy Kelly

7. Eternal Life - Shira Small

8. Maybe In Another Year - Jennie Pearl

9. Dedication - Mary Perrin

10. With All Hands - Priscilla Quinby

11. Rain - Marj Snyder

12. Song For Life - Barbara Sipple

13. Wildman - Ginny Reilly

14. Sister Morphine - Ellen Warshaw

Editorial Reviews

By 1970 the folk revival was all but over. Gone were the days of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" and "If I Had A Hammer." Richard Farina was dead. Dylan plugged in. The sound that began in the hills and caught fire on the lower east side of Manhattan was now being reborn in the canyons of California. The fruits of folk’s second renaissance are collected here. Wedged beneath the infrastructure of the music business, playing in coffee houses and at church picnics. Deeper than recent crit-revisionist darlings Linda Perhacs, Judee Sill, or Vashti Bunyan, Ladies From The Canyon takes a solid look at folk’s private and obscure underbelly.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget the haters below, August 14, 2006

By 

Debra Perry - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies From the Canyon (Audio CD)

As with all the Numero Group releases, this collection is a pock marks and all look at a weird but cool sub genre that is just now coming into light. Fans of Linda Perhacs, Joni's dark work (Last Time I Saw Richard, Blue), or Ruth Ann Friedman should take note. If you're expecting PP&M or other revival sounding folk, move on. My favorite track is "Eternal Life" by Shira Small, which sounds like nothing else ever made on this planet. Bizarre and beautiful, youthful yet not young sounding.

Private folk is another untapped musical genre that the Numero Group have resurrected, let's hope there are others waiting to be found as well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Songs of searching souls, August 19, 2009

By 

William Timothy Lukeman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies From the Canyon (Audio CD)

I'm with previous reviewer Debra Perry -- this is a wonderful collection of little-known singer/songwriters, most certainly off the beaten track, but well worth discovering. Yes, Joni Mitchell is an obvious inspiration for some of them, but that's to be expected from this particular time. And really, Caroline Peyton is the only one who sounds conspicuously Joni-like, at least to my ears.

What's captivating about so many of these tracks is how personal they are, expressions of unique lives informed by the fading (but still potent) culture of the 1960s. I don't think it's an accident that some of these singers are Christian ... although it's more of a hippie Jesus than the fundamentalist variety of the present day. So much had happened to America, so many people were weary to the soul, disillusioned, wondering where to go next -- although you don't have to be Christian yourself to enjoy the universal aspect of their search.

And so we get these often contemplative, inward-looking songs. Still, there's plenty of exultation & wonder to be found here as well, since the inward search is often expressed in outward terms, as in Shira Small's "Eternal Life," or Collie Ryan's delightful "Cricket." The sensitive, innocent girl-child & the grown, sensual woman meet in many of these songs, in an unforced & natural way that would be impossible now.

Not for every taste, of course -- but a beautiful, wistful window into a brief period of time, a different way of living, that offers many rewards to the receptive listener. Highly recommended!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I liked it, August 13, 2006

By 

Beth "bethiejw2" (Mesa, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies From the Canyon (Audio CD)

This collection from the Numerogroup, features a bunch of unknown female folk singers from the 60's, most of which were only recognized locally. It is put together lovingly with pictures and descriptions of each artist featured. Except for Window and Mary Perrin, the other works here aren't released on cd elsewhere. While there are a few duds in the mix overall there is a naive charm to it. This cd led me to the works of Chuck and Mary Perrin and for that I'm grateful enough. Just the other day I found a Marj Snyder record in a thrift store and I was happy. I would have past by it otherwise. I would love to see a companion piece full of unknown male Tim Buckley/Fred Neil wannabes.