By Bill Lloyd –

Judee Sill’s debut album on Asylum records is still a wonder. This album slayed me once again. Literate songs that never stray too far into lighter fare.nothing too offhand. Weighty topics..religion, abandonment, redemption. Her voice makes it feel honest, confessional, wise and searching all at once. Her accent sounds Midwest, but she grew up a California native.

Interesting vowel movements, as readily identifiable as Van Morrison or George Jones. Totally her. Musically, she was as sophisticated a songwriter as Jimmy Webb, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon or Brian Wilson (harmonically). Like Brian, her vocal when double-tracked, was spot on and flawless. Folk meets baroque meets gospel on her piano songs. a healthy palette of influences.

This album was produced by the great Henry Levy with the exception of “Jesus Was A Crossmaker,” produced by Graham Nash who (with Crosby) was an early fan. I heard her song “Lady-O” by The Turtles before I ever heard her own records. Mark Volman of the Turtles told me some stories about her being signed to the Turtles publishing. They made a wonderful recording of that song.

Sills wowed the competition but, unlike most of her famous Asylum stablemates, she never broke through commercially. Her critical standing was strong and, all these years later, she’s probably better known than she was in her lifetime. There’s a documentary that came out of few years back, but I’ve not seen it yet.

I grabbed this album to hear this morning because I saw, or rather heard, a BBC doc on YouTube on her that was really good.

Her backstory is a wild one. There’s an article published in Rolling Stone from a few years ago that provides a touching narrative of why her life and career may have played out as it did.

The wonderful thing about recorded music is that it gets recorded and it’s there and stamped. For songwriters like Sill who do it all, their personalities along with their musical vision is frozen in time and they live forever. For generations to come. Jumping into a record this deep first thing in the day is like getting to know her.

Bill Lloyd is a Nashville-based-Grammy-nominated songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, often remembered as half of the late ‘80’s RCA country-rock duo, Foster and Lloyd. Since then,Lloyd has recorded a string of critically acclaimed solo records that blend his melodic power pop sensibility with finely tuned songcraft. You’ll find his full bio and music at www.billlloydmusic.net