Judy Collins appeared at Book People in Austin, Texas the evening of September 14, 1998 to start her book tour for her new book, Singing Lessons. With the voice of an angel, Ms. Collins sang and told her story of survival and recovery from her son, Clark, committing suicide. At that time, she found no book that seemed to help her in coping with his death. As a memoir, she wrote this book to help herself and others find their way through difficult times such as she had experienced.

She recounted her childhood and how she became interested in folk music. Numerous times during her intriguing narration she would burst forth into beautiful song to embellish her story. Hearing her melodious a capella voice made your own heart strings resonate with warmth. For anyone that has followed and admired her career, being up close with her in this relaxed, casual atmosphere provided at Book People was a real treat.

While she was going through the emotional ordeal of her son's death, she had been scheduled to go on a concert tour. Understandably, she wanted to initially withdraw from this obligation. With the encouragement of friends, she found it helpful in completing her tour. She recounted how appreciative she was of Willie Nelson during her time of need. He had experienced a similar thing with his son. He called her and spoke to her for an hour to spread words of encouragement and understanding. Ms. Collins expressed her feelings that to appreciate the better times, it was probably necessary that one experience and deal with the more difficult aspects of life.

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This page created 9-15-1998

© Copyright 1998 Paul Johnston