At 82 years young, Judy Collins used poetry that she had written and collected over the years to create an album of original songs named Spellbound. She used the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic to write and perfect the music.
“Spellbound” broke new ground because it was the first album Judy Collins produced in her six-decade career that contained all original songs. This is a remarkable achievement for someone who had made her name mostly by singing and playing cover songs from recording artists she admired.
The first song on “Spellbound” is titled “When I Was a Girl in Colorado.” I’ve changed it to “A Boy in Colorado.” In words and music, the song paints a picture of the artist moving with her family to Denver, Colorado, from Seattle, Washington, as a young girl in 1949.
The song’s lyrics hearken back to the natural beauty of “rivers dancing on canyon walls,” “blooming paintbrush flowers,” and “bluebirds in the pine trees.” These images reflect Judy’s deep love for the wilderness, which at one point in her early life almost led her to become a park ranger.
Here’s my cover. Drop me a line if you feel moved to.
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