Judy Collins to Release First-Ever Album of Original Songs at 82 with ‘Spellbound’

In her nearly 60-year career, Judy Collins has never released an album of all-original material, until Spellbound, out Feb. 25. Her 29th album is a collection of original songs written entirely by Collins, including the first single “When I Was A Girl In Colorado.”

An introspective album for Collins, one that reflects on her earlier years, Spellbound introduces 12 modern folk songs recently written by the 82-year-old artist, and features a bonus track of her 1990 Fires of Eden single “The Blizzard.”

All of Spellbound was a result of Collins being compelled to write during the pandemic. “My job was to sit down at the piano and write a poem that day or try to finish the ones that were sitting there,” said Collins in an interview. “If anything spoke to me as a song, write it. It’s the only thing I was doing.”

Dedicating the album to folk influences Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie in her liner notes, Spellbound finds Collins mirroring their personal storytelling in song. Spellbound crosses Collins’ life during the 1960s folk scene in Greenwich Village in New York on “So Alive,” and her “hell-raising” years and social activism in “Thomas Merton,” also an ode to the author, monk, and anti-war activist. 

The album title references a formative time in Judy’s life when her pure love of the outdoors—she even considered becoming a park ranger at one point—and captures the pivotal childhood memories on “When I Was a Girl in Colorado.” 

It’s easy to picture Collins in her formative years exploring the wilderness on “When I was a Girl in Colorado.” Like a picture book, Collin paints a delicate folk tale in the lyrics, Rivers danced on canyon walls / paintbrush nodded in the springtime / I could hear the bluebirds calls.

Always revered for her interpretation of other artists’ songs—recording songs by Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and Randy Newman—Collins, who released her debut Wildflowers in 1967, released some original material throughout her career but never a full album.

Working on Spellbound, Collins pulled in a collective of musicians, including co-producer Alan Silverman and singer and guitarist Ari Hest, in addition to multi-instrumentalist Thad DeBrock (Duncan Sheik, Nelly, Jonas Brothers), bassist Zev Katz (Marc Anthony, Elton John, Billy Joel), and drummer Doug Yowell (Suzanne Vega, Joe Jackson). 

Collins, who released five albums in the past five years, also launched a podcast, Since You’ve Asked, in 2021, featuring interviews with producer Clive Davis, investigative reporter Christiane Amanpour, and actor Jeff Daniels.

For Collins now, it’s never too late to check off something new. “I always knew I was going to be a late bloomer,” she says of Spellbound.

“They say after the plague came the renaissance,” adds Judy. “Now felt like the perfect time to make this record because, after all that’s happened in the world, we need something beautiful and inspirational to lift us up.” 

Spellbound Track List:

1. Spellbound
2. Grand Canyon
3. So Alive
4. Hell on Wheels
5. Shipwrecked Mariner
6. When I Was A Girl In Colorado
7. Thomas Merton
8. Wild with Mist
9. Gilded Rooms
10. Prairie Dreams
11. City of Awakening
12. Arizona

Photo: Shervin Lainez