CD Description
Although Karen Dalton's studio recordings consist of only apair of albums--1969's IT'S SO HARD TO TELL WHO'S GOING TO LOVE YOU THE BEST and 1971's IN MY OWN TIME--the shadowy, peripatetic folk singer first made her name on the folk club circuit in the late 1950s. This lengthy 1962 set at the Atticcoffeehouse in Boulder, Colorado, finally seeing release 45years later (over a decade after Dalton's death), is a major archival find. COTTON EYED JOE is a folkie's revelation, achance for younger generations to hear for themselves what those who were around at the time have always claimed to be one of the great lost musicians of the folk era. What's clear from these 21 tracks is that Dalton was not the most technically gifted singer (though her Billie Holiday-influenced phrasing does have lashings of personality) and her 12-stringguitar and banjo playing rarely rises above average. Still,Dalton has presence, a magnetic personality that leaps fromthe speakers, even on these rough-edged recordings. The four tracks on the DVD, the only known video footage of Dalton,were recorded in 1969 and 1970 and are nearly as essential as the music.