Judy Henske - Biography
By J Poet
Legend has it that when Marty Balin went looking for a singer to fill out the lineup of the Jefferson Airplane, he told people he wanted someone who could sing like Judy Henske. It’s easy to understand why. Henske is a larger than life personality with a booming voice that can rattle your bones. She’s at home singing folk songs, belting the blues, crooning standards from the ‘40s, or pouring her heart into a three-chord rocker. She was the most powerful female vocalist of the folk era with charisma to spare and, at six feet tall; she dominated any stage he occupied.
In the 60s, Henske was everywhere. She landed in San Diego after being expelled from a Catholic college and started singing folk songs at the Zen Coffee House and Motorcycle Repair Shop. When Dave Guard left The Kingston Trio, he tapped Henske for lead vocal chores in The Whiskeyhill Singers. Their one album, Dave Guard & The Whiskeyhill Singers (1962 Capital, 2001 Collector’s Choice) shows Henske already in control of her show stopping voice.
After the Whiskeyhill Singers called it quits, Henske moved to New York City and sang jazz and blues in coffee houses and jazz clubs like the Village Gate with a band that once included Herbie Hancock and Clark Terry. She was the first folksinger to record and tour with drums and electric instruments, so she may even have been the first folk rocker. She was “discovered” by Elektra president Jac Holzman and made Judy Henske (1963 Elektra) a live set that presented her eclectic mix of blues, folk, trad jazz and off the wall between song patter and High Flying Bird (1964 Elektra), possibly the first folk rock album. The electric band was no match for Henske’s powerful vocals and the album is one of her best blending country, rock, folk, and late night saloon ballads.
She moved to Mercury for Little Bit of Sunshine...Little Bit of Rain (1965 Mercury) and The Death Defying Judy Henske: The First Concert Album (1965 Reprise, 2001 Collector’s Choice), which wasn’t really a live album. Henske worked with producer Jack Nitzsche and the label gave them a huge budget, most of which went into mood enhancing drugs and quality booze. It’s another high point in her catalogue.
In 1969 Henske recorded Farewell Aldebran (Reprise) with then husband Jerry Yester, a record that has a devoted hippie following. It’s now considered one of the great lost psychedelic masterpieces. In 1971, she was a member of Rosebud. They made Rosebud (1971 Reprise, 2004 Collector’s Choice) before breaking up and album many regard as the template for the Buckingham/Nicks version of Fleetwood Mac. In a prefiguring of the Big Mac’s troubles, Henske broke up with Yester during the recording and married the band’s keyboard player Craig Doerge.
When Rosebud imploded, Henske vanished, although she remained a successful songwriter, having tunes covered by Andy Williams, Crosby Stills & Nash, Three Dog Night, Bette Midler and French superstar Johnny Hallyday, who had a number one hit with “Salvation.” She also raised her daughter and wrote a weekly column for an LA area newspaper.
Movie reviewer Pauline Kael, crime writer Andrew Vachss and her husband Craig Doerge finally got her back on stage. Vachss made her the favorite singer of his character Burke and mentioned her in a dozen of his crime novels. Vachss got fan mail from all over the world asking if Henske was a real person, and if so, where could they find her music. In 1999 Henske reappeared with Loose In The World (1999 Fair Star), another eclectic collection of ominous pop, weary blues and German cabaret songs written and produced with husband Craig Doerge. She followed it with She Sang California (2004 Fair Star) which includes standards like ”Ace in the Hole”, songs about aging and broken dreams, “She Sang California,”) folk songs like her own “The Ballad of Seymour Cray,” the inventor of the supercomputer who grew up in Henske’s hometown of Chippewa Falls, WS., and folk songs, including “Easy Rider” and “Duncan and Brady” a track she’s done several times before. The players include Lee Sklar, Norton Buffalo, Greg Liens and Russ Kunkel. Big Judy: How Far This Music Goes (1962-2004) (2004 Rhino handmade) a two disc, 41 track anthology collects tracks from every aspect of her career from pre-Whiskeyhill recordings to her most recent indie albums.
