Karen Dalton - It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best. CD. (Koch - KOCCD7918) Karen Dalton, who appears to have come from a rural area of Oklahoma and then moved to New York in 1960, is one of the most mysterious and obscure figures in American folk music. So obscure that no-one really knows the full details of her death: she allegedly died of AIDS-related illness in 1993, but there's no mention of it anywhere. What we do know is she posessed a voice that can only be described as that of a white 'Hillbillie Holiday' if one can imagine such a thing, a rural, twangy, Okie timbre that polarised audiences, and scuppered any chances of commercial success on the level of a Dylan or even a Fred Neil: however, as she was more reclusive then even Neil himself, rarely even thinking about public performance, one suspects this is how she would have wanted it. She also only recorded two albums in her lifetime: this is the first, released in 1969 (allegedly she was TRICKED into recording it) by which time she had been on the Greenwich Village cicuit for some ten years!! Never a composer, these are highly stylised and personal renditions of traditional material, Neil, Jelly Roll Morton, Leadbelly, Tim Hardin and Julie London that, once familiar, can be some of the most rewarding listening experiences one could ever have. Extremely recommended.

Karen Dalton - In My Own Time. CD. (Light In The Attic - LITA022CD) Recorded over a six month period in 1970/71 at Bearsville, ‘In My Own Time’ was Dalton’s only fully planned and realized studio album. The material was carefully selected and crafted for her by producer/musician Harvey Brooks, the Renaissance man of rock-jazz who played bass on Dylan’s "Highway 61 Revisited" and Miles’ "Bitches Brew". It features ten songs that reflected Dalton’s incredible ability to break just about anybody’s heart - from her spectral evocation of Joe Tate’s "One Night of Love" to the dark tragedy of the traditional "Katie Cruel". Known as a great interpreter of choice material, Dalton could master both country and soul genres with hauntingly pining covers of George Jones’ "Take Me" and Holland-Dozier-Holland’s "How Sweet It Is".Beautiful embossed gold leaf print digi package with 32 page booklet.

Karen Dalton - In My Own Time. LP. (Light In The Attic - LITA022LP) 180 gram vinyl version of Karen's album recorded over a six month period in 1970/71 at Bearsville, ‘In My Own Time’ was Dalton’s only fully planned and realized studio album. The material was carefully selected and crafted for her by producer/musician Harvey Brooks, the Renaissance man of rock-jazz who played bass on Dylan’s "Highway 61 Revisited" and Miles’ "Bitches Brew". It features ten songs that reflected Dalton’s incredible ability to break just about anybody’s heart - from her spectral evocation of Joe Tate’s "One Night of Love" to the dark tragedy of the traditional "Katie Cruel". Known as a great interpreter of choice material, Dalton could master both country and soul genres with hauntingly pining covers of George Jones’ "Take Me" and Holland-Dozier-Holland’s "How Sweet It Is".

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