Folk music royalty Judy Collins pleases Pittsburgh audience

PITTSBURGH - With a purposeful stride and her usual flair, Judy Collins made a grand entrance Thursday on the Byham Theater stage, getting things rolling with a few quips.

She introduced herself as the American Idol of 1956, then said "Here's a song I bet you remember ... I hope I do."

Collins then set loose her ethereal, still-packs-a-punch voice on "Both Sides Now," her 1967 Joni Mitchell-penned Top-10 smash. You could almost feel the tingle of excitement from an audience mainly of Baby Boomers who remained riveted as Collins flowed next to "Diamonds & Rust," far more faithful to the Joan Baez original than Judas Priest's metallic remake.

Collins stood center stage, in a sparkly black top off-setting her trim white hairdo, flanked by piano player Russell Walden, and pedal steel/electric guitarist Thad DeBrock. The trio kept the sound tasteful and elegant, leaving the emphasis on Collins' full soprano voice and wry storytelling.

Creative interpretations of traditional and contemporary folk standards remain her calling card, as Collins tucked into her 90-minute set a verse of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," Jimmy Webb's "Highwayman" and stirring covers of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" and "Mr. Tambourine Man," for which she briefly took her hands from her acoustic guitar and did a "c'mon, c'mon" fingers flexing gesture that convinced the crowd to sing along.

Collins recalled not being impressed by Dylan when she first saw him as a vagabond artist covering Guthrie songs in 1959 Denver. He was Robert Zimmerman then. A few years later in New York, Collins saw him perform again, now billed as Dylan, though she still wasn't impressed. That changed when Collins learned Dylan had written a new folk standard "Blowin' in The Wind." Collins told Pittsburgh fans she was present at a party where Dylan wrote "Mr. Tambourine Man," recalling the terrycloth robe she had been wearing while seated on the floor watching him sing.

She's sure had a front-row seat for music history as Collins reminded concertgoers by pleasurably singing her 1966 single "Suzanne," and casually dropping the fact the song brought fame to its author, Leonard Cohen.

Collins thanked Pittsburgh's distinguished poet Samuel Hazo, founder of the city's International Poetry Forum, for his encouragement dating back a half-century. She asked Hazo to stand and be recognized, which the 94-year-old, McAnulty Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Duquesne University did from his aisle seat near the back of the Byham.

From her 2022 Grammy-nominated "Spellbound," her first album of all original material, Collins sweetly sang "When I Was a Girl in Colorado."

Collins made light of her accidental tumble at Pittsburgh International Airport last September that forced her to postpone the show's original date. She blamed the airport's marble floor and an unwieldy long scarf.

She made sure to revisit the exact spot of her fall before heading to the Byham this time.

"I said a blessing," Collins said, adding she was careful not to lower herself to her knees.

At age 83, Collins' perseverance is inspiring.

No, she didn't sing every note with a flawless sheen Thursday. A few flutters here and there, mostly early on. And she had a couple of senior moments, which many of us now can relate to, as when she blanked for four or so seconds remembering a punchline involving Rod Stewart. A seasoned pro knows how to rebound quickly, as Collins demonstrated when joking if she hadn't remembered Stewart's name right then and there, she would have called everyone up in the middle of the night to tell them when it finally came to her.

Collins' concert ended strongly, as she took command of the piano to sing "Thomas Merton," one of her new songs about the Catholic monk and anti-war activist found dead at a Thailand cottage in 1968 from what investigators ruled was heart failure caused by electrical shock from a floor fan. No autopsy was performed, and Collins' emotionally rendered song takes the side of a 2018 book, "The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton: An Investigation," that believes Merton was murdered.

Piano player Walden returned to the stage and plucked four notes that spawned a ripple of excitement through the audience. Fans recognized the intro to "Send in The Clowns," which Collins sang with dreamy and cinematic aplomb. With a no-cameras or video mandate announced ahead of time, the audience stayed undistracted and sat spellbound by her spot-on take of the Stephen Sondheim-written ballad that garnered Collins "Song of the Year” honors at the 1975 Grammy Awards.

Collins ended fittingly with "Amazing Grace," again emboldening the audience to sing along with her.

Folk music royalty, Collins delivered a show well worth the wait.

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Folk music royalty Judy Collins pleases Pittsburgh audience