Priscilla Herdman

In contrast to many of her contemporaries in folk music, Priscilla Herdman is largely an interpretive singer in the tradition of Joan Baez and Judy Collins, rather than a singer/songwriter. She has described herself as "a songfinder and interpreter of other people's music," adding, "Part of my storyfinding job is to find songs which so much deserve to be heard." Those songs are then heard sung in a three-octave voice that has dazzled critics. "Herdman's gifted with a rich, almost opulent timbre...impeccable enunciation and seemingly effortless deliveries...," said a reviewer in The Philadelphia Inquirer; "Priscilla Herdman [is] one of the clearest and most compelling voices of contemporary folk music," noted Stephen Holden in The New York Times; and The Chicago Sun Times wrote, "Herdman has a remarkable voice: clear shiny sparkling...." Herdman was born in Eastchester, NY, on February 11, 1948, the daughter of Raymond C. Herdman and Ellen (Saunders) Herdman. She recorded her debut album, The Water Lily, in 1976, and released it in 1977. (It has since been reissued on Rounder Records' Philo imprint.) The album had a distinctly Australian influence, containing musical settings of seven poems by Australian poet Henry Lawson (1867-1922) among its 11 selections, as well as a cover of Eric Bogle's "The Band Played 'Waltzing Matilda'," an antiwar song concerning the massacre of Australian soldiers at Gallipoli during World War I. Herdman released her second album, Forgotten Dreams, on Flying Fish in 1980. In addition to familiar songs like the Depression-era standard "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" and covers of songs by well-known songwriters Randy Newman, Tom Waits, and James Taylor, Herdman also sang compositions by folksingers Bogle, Lui Collins, and Stan Rogers. In 1982,...