Carolyn Hester, A Village Folk Legend of the 60s

By Roger Paradiso

Carolyn Hester was in the Village when the folkies took over the clubs and streets. And, she put a young harmonica player named Bob Dylan into her band. She doesn’t get much press for this but she introduced Dylan to John Hammond as she made her first recording for Columbia Records. Dylan then did a demo, Columbia signed him and the rest is history.

How did this all start?

“My mother wanted me to come back home to Texas, but I had already run away to become a folk singer,” said Hester. “She got me to a Clovis, New Mexico recording studio to make a demo. As I walked into the studio to meet the producer, Mr. Petty, I noticed a young man sitting there. We were introduced. His name was Buddy Holly.”

In the summer of 1957 Petty told Hester’s mother that he had a successful artist in Holly and thought he could get her daughter on a label, too. Hester had already been in New York since the fall of 1955 when she arrived with a friend who wanted to be a ballet dancer. They found an apartment on West 86th Street. Hester enrolled in the American Theater Wing on West 48th Street in the Broadway district because her mother wanted her to have some structure. The budding singer was not into show business and withdrew after her first year at the school. Instead, she wanted to focused on her childhood love of music and found a singing coach.

Hester said, “I started to hang around the Village and carry my guitar to small gigs. All these clubs had poetry readings and then slowly, we folk singers took over with our guitars. This would be around 1956 to 1960. I was hanging out in Washington Square Park like everyone else because the park was full of people playing folk music.” At that time, she lived on 12th Street near Greenwich Avenue not too far from the clubs and the park.

“I was invited to sing in nearby clubs because I had albums out. I really liked Gerde’s Folk City. I ended up doing my first album on Coral Records because Norman Petty sold my tapes to them and that was the start of my recording career,” Hester recalled. “In 1960, the Clancy Brothers had a big following in the Village, and they had a record label, Tradition Records. They recorded me next which became my second album in 1960.”

The Village was now a hot spot for young folk singers. There were so many clubs like Gerde’s Folk City, The Gaslight and The Village Gate. University radio stations became outlets. New York University and Columbia University both played folk songs all day long. Soon many colleges around the country had their own radio shows with hosts like Oscar Brand who played folk music including Hester’s Scarlett Ribbons and the eponymous Tradition album. It made sense to ride this surge of popularity by bringing live music to campuses around the country.

Back home in the Village, talent scouts and TV shows like Steve Allen’s Tonight Show and Joe Franklin’s talk show were putting folk singers on the air. “John Hammond from Columbia Records wanted to record folk singers. He had already added Pete Seeger to his roster.” Hester said, “Charlie Rothchild from Hammond’s office called me to report to Columbia Records in July of 1960. I took the bus up with my guitar and they put me in the studio and asked me to play a song. I remember Al Grossman was there, too. When I finished my song Hammond jumped up and said, ‘Sold!’ ”

“They wanted me to record for their label. I had already been recording with Bruce Langhorne so I asked Hammond if I could add Bill Lee, who had recorded with Odetta. Around this time I met Bob Dylan who came to Gerde’s to see me. He approached me with all kinds of questions about Buddy Holly. I added him to the band to play harmonica, an instrument my dad had played on my very first album. I introduced Dylan to Hammond who signed him after my session with him on Sept. 18, 1961.”

The whole period from 1956 to 1961 was exciting for Hester. With her third album, also self-titled, Hester recorded at Columbia and became a star in the Village. She was one of the early break-out folk singers of the period, culminating in being featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.

When the folk music boom was cooling off, Hester kept performing. She married music composer David Blume in New York in 1969. Blume was well known for writing the 1966 hit song Turn Down Day by the Cyrkle. Together, they ran a folk music club for nearly 35 years in Los Angeles. Their two daughters, Amy and Karla Blume, have been touring with Hester since Blume’s passing in 2006. Hester has used her famous soprano voice to sing and support causes like voter registration. She performed at Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary Concert in 1992. Colloquially referred to as the Texas Songbird, Hester’s career was honored by the World Folk Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2003.

Hester and daughters will perform at the Peoples Voice Café on May 30 at the Judson Church assembly hall. You can get tickets online at peoplesvoicecafe.org