Bonnie Dobson - Looking Back

Bonnie Dobson's name is synonymous with one original composition: Morning Dew, a song covered by the likes of the Grateful Dead, Lulu, Rod Stewart, Tim Rose, Robert Plant and countless others. It was written in 1961 when the Canadian born folk singer was appearing at the Ash Grove in Los Angeles. At that time, she made her home in Chicago and then New York, frequently appearing at Gerdes Folk City when Bob Dylan,Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Richie Havens, Simon and Garfunkel - to name but a few - were just beginning to put their singer-songwriting skills to the test. As a teenager at summer camps in Ontario and Quebec she had met Pete Seeger who, as with so many of her contemporaries, was to prove a major influence in her singing career. By 1963 she had already recorded four albums for Prestige International and had been favourably reviewed in, among others, both The New York Times and Time Magazine where she was cited as one of the 'Folk Girls' along with Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Carolyn Hester. In 1964 Bobby Scott signed her to Mercury Records.In the autumn of 1969, having recorded two more albums for RCA, Bonnie moved to London, England. In the following years she toured the British Isles, continental Europe, Cyprus, Oman and Belize. In London she recorded albums for Argo/Decca, Polydor and Ritz Records as well as innumerable sessions for the BBC (Radio and TV). During that period she also met and became friends with the musicians who accompany her on this compilation: Annie Baker Graham (vocals), Gerry Hale (vocals, violin, mandolin), Richard Lee and David Moses (bass), and Friedemann Witecka (guitar). Friedemann has since established a remarkable career with his own musical projects which have been internationally recognised for setting standards in terms of artistic delivery and audio engineering.In 2006 Friedemann began to restore Bonnie's large archive of unreleased tapes. In the process Bonnie and Friedemann discovered recordings of performances much too exquisite to be left on the shelf. The idea of a retrospective collection of songs with Bonnie Dobson, the singer, and by Bonnie Dobson, the songwriter, began to take shape. In its final stage the album contains recording sessions from 1971, 1983 and 1996.Some instrumental accompaniments were added during the remastering process in 2009. In 1989, following a successful concert in Chicago, Bonnie decided to give up performing and return to study at Birkbeck College in London. She only broke that resolve when, having been asked by Jarvis Cocker tosing at The Meltdown Festival in June 2007, she returned triumphantly to the stage of London's Queen Elizabeth Hall. Her live performances may have become rare but she still writes songs. Following an invitation to Germany by Friedemann, she recorded a new composition in 1996, Days Of Reckoning. Thissong may well be regarded as the contemporary follow-up to Morning Dew and proof of an artist, looking back over the past five decades, still involved and still creative.