Photo by Photo by Donna A. Korones.

Margie Adam did her first performance at an open mike at Kate Millet’s women’s music festival in 1973. (The same Kate Millet who wrote Sexual Politics. This was one of the first, if not the first women’s music festival. There was an early one in Boston too.) She went on to release her first album Songwriter and toured extensively over the years. Her life took a different turn recently when she earned her PhD and opened a counseling practice in the San Francisco area. Her website shows no performances past 2008. While that’s a sad thing for us fans, it’s good that she’s found a rewarding path. And besides, Dr. Adam sounds pretty cool.

Meg Christian was a founding member of Olivia Records. Her first recording I Know You Know was their first full-length album, released in 1974. I still have a dusty well-worn copy of it tucked away. She toured all over and released nine recordings (including compilations). She stopped live women’s music performances in 1984 but recently did a few Olivia cruises. Devoted to a spiritual life, she lived on an ashram in upstate New York for several years. I don’t know if she’s still there.

Ginni Clemmens was well known in Chicago as a teacher at the Old Town School of Folk Music and as a performer of folk and blues, hanging out with the likes of John Prine and Steve Goodman. In 1980 she helped to produce and release a ground breaking compilation, Gay and Straight Together, a collection of original music featuring Kristin Lems (one of the founders of the National Women’s Music Festival), Trish Alexander, Dev Singh and others.  One of my favorite tunes of hers was an Ida Cox cover “Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues.” She released four albums. In later years, she lived on Maui. I was preparing a tour to Hawaii when we started conversing and she very graciously offered to show me “her island” even though we’d never met. Sadly, she was in an auto accident right after that and we lost her in February of 2003.

Alix Dobkin’s ground breaking Lavender Jane Loves Women was the first out-lesbian recording done with only women. She went on to release several albums and tour all over the world. Therese Edell jokingly called her the Head Lesbian and really, she wasn’t too far off the mark. The FBI called her a trouble maker; Hot Wire readers voted her All Time Favorite Performer. She paved the way for so many of us and for that, I will be forever grateful. Her book My Red Blood, released in 2009, is a fabulous collection of stories documenting her childhood and her time in 60’s era folk music when people like Tom Paxton and Bob Dylan were a part of her social and musical circle. She currently lives in upstate NY and loves being a grandma.

Therese Edell’s concert was the first women’s music show I ever attended back in the 70’s. Even with my lousy memory I can still recall details from that event. Her rich alto voice and well-crafted songs always made me sigh. She only released two albums. Of the earliest one, she once joked to me that it was only available from under her bed. The second, From Women’s Faces, is one that many of you might know. It had classics like “Moonflower” (written by Annie Dinerman) and “Emma” plus one of my favorites, the funny “Mama Let Your Children Go.” She went on to be the Voice of Michigan, everyone’s favorite emcee, at that festival. She passed away on March 14 of this year.

Maxine Feldman was a folksinger who called herself a big loud Jewish butch lesbian. In 1969, one month before Stonewall, she penned one of the first out lesbian songs, “Angry Atthis.” Not long after that she put it on a 45 produced by comic Robin Tyler. Maxine wrote “Amazon” in 1976, a lesbian anthem that many know as one that opens the Michigan Women’s Music Festival every year. It’s on her one album, Closet Sale, released in 1979. Maxine often appeared at the festival where her booming “Welcome Women!” and funny stories as emcee were well-loved. In the late 80’s health problems caused her to stop performing. Distressed about finances and unable to get adequate health care, she reached a low point in the 90’s but with the help of friends, got back on her feet. It was during this time that I had the great pleasure to visit with her in her little apartment in Boston, sharing food and laughing about the old times. She passed away in Albuquerque on August 17, 2007.

Tret Fure’s been making music for over 40 years and no, she didn’t start in the womb although she was a mere 16 years old. She’s gone on to put out nine albums on Olivia’s Second Wave and on her own label plus three albums with Cris Williamson. She writes a love song better than anyone I know. Tret maintains a pretty heavy touring schedule as well as teaching guitar and more in Madison, Wisconsin. She’s also got her own clothing line Tomboy Girl. I don’t know when she has time for everything. I’m convinced that she’s given up sleeping.

Kay Gardner was a classically trained flute player and composer who performed with Alix Dobkin on her first recording and then went on to release many of her own albums including her first, Mooncircles, in 1975. Deeply committed to exploring aspects of music and healing, she wrote a book, conducted workshops and lectured on that topic at Cambridge, Yale, the Omega Institute and many other places all over the world.  She was well known at the Michigan Women’s Music Festival, performing there as well as helping to establish the Acoustic Stage.  She was warm, friendly and always supportive of other performers, including me.  We lost her on August 28, 2002, not long after returning from the festival. Many still feel her presence there.

Photo by Irene Young.

Deidre McCalla has released five albums on Olivia and her own label including the latest, Playing for Keeps. She’s one of my favorite songwriters. Deidre still performs, recently doing a set at the National Women’s Music Festival. She’s toured less in the last few years, staying at home in Atlanta, while her son finishes high school. (He was homeschooled in earlier years so Deidre took him on the road.) He graduates in May 2012. She looks forward to getting back on the road. (Please tell me you’re coming to Ottawa!) Until then Deidre teaches guitar and works with a local vocal improv group

Musica Femina is a name that some of you may not know but I’ve always been a fan. A flute and guitar duo, they performed classical works of their own and by other women composers. Their concerts were educational but much more interesting that your average college class. They’d do a wonderful piece by a little-known composer and then tell us about her life. Kristen Aspen and Janna MacAuslan were also a part of other groups. Kristen was an early member of The Fabulous Dyketones as well as the acoustic quartet Izquierda. They both performed in Trio Pan Dulce, a group that played tangos, flamenco, French Café music and Latin American Folk music. Today, Janna has a sound company and Kristen is the development director for a non-profit. They live in Portland, Oregon.

Holly Near is an activist/singer/songwriter who started the first indie record company in 1972. She tried getting signed to a major label but was informed, among other things, that she needed that “hint of submission” in her voice. She’s released 26 albums and performed all over the world. Her portrait hangs in Cincinnati’s Freedom Center alongside Paul Robeson, Marion Anderson, Pete Seeger and many more – exactly where she belongs. From her anti-war beginnings to standing up for the rights of Chilean workers, she’s had her hand in many movements. Recently she’s been performing with Emma’s Revolution. I saw their show at the Michigan festival not long ago and wow, their tight harmonies and powerful songs were a force to be reckoned with. Holly recently took some time off but is now back on stage. Upcoming performances include pianist John Bucchino and vocalist Linda Tillery. Damn, would I like to attend one of those shows.

Mary Watkins has played and written music most of her life. I first heard her on Olivia’s Lesbian Concentrate album. Mary didn’t tour that much but I remember hearing her perform with Kay Gardner at Michigan. They even recorded an album together, Dancing Souls, that was all improv (composed on the spot). Her website doesn’t list all of her recordings so I’m not sure how many she released on her own – maybe three in the early years. Her latest CDs are Prayer for Peace (2005) and Recorded Music of the African Diaspora that features one of her orchestral works. She has numerous compositions  available on sheet music including chamber music, orchestral pieces and opera. She lives in the bay area of California where she teaches, composes and performs.

Cris Williamson is one of the best known performers in women’s music. Also there at the beginning of Olivia – in fact, it was her suggestion that they start the label – her first recording was Changer and the Changed, another well-worn LP in my collection (and soundtrack for my coming out). She released Gift Horse just last year. She’s sold over a million recordings. A million. Her “Song of the Soul” is in that medley I mention above; almost everyone at my shows sings along. For the last few years she’s taught songwriting. I’m so happy that we still get to hear her clear expressive voice.

This could’ve been much longer. That’s why I’m writing a book about early women’s music. Right now I’m just doing the research. I hope to have the book out in a couple of years. Meanwhile, I’ll keep checking my pulse. I don’t intend to kick off anytime soon. I’ve got too much writing to do.

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Want more? Check out part two.

I got most of these photos from Google Images and they don’t include credits. If you know who took these photos please tell me and I’ll add their credit.

Thanks to JD Doyle’s great queer music site. If there’s anything you want to know about GLBT music, it’s there.

It was February so I arrived in Honolulu feeling a tad overdressed in heavy jeans and long sleeved shirt. A smiling woman greeted me warmly with “Aloha,” gave me a quick hug and drove me to my housing. My gracious host had a wonderful mountainside home. Just outside my window the sun shone on a thick bougainvillea bursting with red blooms. A small pool was just beyond and in the distance, a bright blue bay with the jagged black Diamond Head rising up on one side.

I could’ve spent my whole visit in satisfying repose next to that pool, reading a deliciously good book. However, when my host offered to take me on a quick tour around the island I replied hell yeah. She took me to her favorite beaches of brilliant white sand and turquoise water, then hiking in a cool rain forest laced with delicate vines. I’ll bet my friends would feel extra sorry for me now.

The concert that night was a blast. I started with my song “Drive All Night” then briefly stopped in the middle.  “I guess you can’t drive all night here,” I teased. Someone in the back yelled out, “Yeah but we can drive around and around.” Somehow that didn’t sound as romantic. After moving through a selection of ballads and up-tempo songs, I finished the show to a standing ovation.

The next day I told my concert producer that I wanted real Hawaiian food and asked if I could go to a place that wasn’t featured in tourist brochures. She and a couple of friends took me to a downtown diner with battered chairs, wobbly-legged tables and harried but efficient waitresses dressed in tee-shirts and jeans. After explaining to me the different foods we ordered a sampler of dishes. I enjoyed most of it except poi, a purplish pudding-like dish made from taro root. One of my companions likened it to library paste and since I was a paste-eating child I thought I’d love it. Maturity has changed my taste. Or maybe it’s only good to me if I’m sitting in a tiny little chair.

My time on Oahu only lasted a couple of days before I had to fly to Maui. Had to fly to Maui. (Imagine the back of my hand lightly touching my forehead while a tortured sigh escapes my lips.) Again I was met at the airport by a friendly woman and whisked away to housing.

Just before I got up on stage at my university show I noticed a smiling older woman wearing a large colorful rayon scarf. Alive with pink and purple flowers in batik, I told her it was gorgeous. She smiled, took it off and said, “I designed it. Here, you wear it.” It looked great with my otherwise plain outfit of a brown skirt and cream colored top. I was overdressed again, though, taking off my dark stockings and boots halfway through the concert but still wearing the scarf. Afterwards I removed it and handed it to her. She waved me off and said, “You keep it.” I gave her a CD in return, hardly payment for the beautiful wrap.

I stayed with two wonderful women in a borrowed apartment. Like many people who live on the island, they were escapees from the mainland. One was an artist who did these magnificent creations with coconuts, making them into whimsical cartoon-like fish. My favorite was a “cow-fish” complete with black and white spots, pink udders and glasses perched on its nose below comically bulging eyes; he came with an adoption certificate from the Fallen Coconut Adoption Agency.

One day we stopped at a small market, buying a pineapple, some starfruit and a small green banana (a special kind you can only get there). We drove out to a beach jagged with black volcanic rock, the ocean splashing up several feet high through blowholes. Sitting above the rocks, the warm breezes blowing my hair back, sweet pineapple juice running down my chin as I bit into the luscious fruit, I couldn’t think of any where else I’d rather be.

A month before my trip I contacted Maui resident Ginni Clemmens. I knew her music from the folk and women’s music circuit and even though I’d only met her once, my friend Toni suggested I talk with her. Ginni said she’d love to show me around her island. Days before I left on my trip, though, she was killed in an auto accident. The day we were supposed to go sightseeing was the day of her memorial service. I joined a gathering of her friends on her favorite beach. They were so welcoming and it was such a moving ceremony, with readings, dance and music, including traditional Hawaiian slack key guitar and sing alongs. Ginni loved for people to sing at her concerts so of course we sang.

As the peaceful sun sank on a blue-green ocean, we put our leis into a boat. Friends paddled the vessel into the waves, tossing the colorful blossoms in as we said our goodbye to Ginni. Music lasted late into the night as we sat around campfires remembering the songs she loved. One of the guests was Spanky, from the 60’s group Spanky and our Gang, who went on to replace Cass Elliot in the Mamas and the Papas. When the guitarist started “Monday, Monday” she beamed, “I know this one!” and delighted us all with her part as we sang the rest. I could swear I heard Ginni’s harmony.

Too soon, I was sitting on a plane headed for northern California. I arrived in San Francisco to a misty cold evening but I had beautiful memories, a gorgeous new scarf to keep me warm and a sudden craving for paste.