Judy Collins has been singing, composing songs, playing piano and guitar, writing books and making records since 1961. She has 55 albums to her credit, as well as several memoirs, a novel and a documentary about Antonia Brico, the classical piano teacher who taught her when she was a girl. Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1974.
Collins is currently on her Farewell Tour, but she said calling it a farewell tour might be a bit shortsighted.
“I decided to have a tour that’s not stopping,” she said with a laugh. “It’s going to go on for as long as it can. I have a lot of territory to cover. I’ve toured in the U.S., Canada, Australia, England and many other places, so there are a lot of places I’d like to revisit. My manager, Katherine DePaul, and the promoters, are still contacting places that haven’t signed up yet, so we’ll see how it goes.
“The audiences are enthusiastic, and I’m having a wonderful time going to places I haven’t been before,” she continued. “Last night I sang my song, ‘Secret Gardens of the Heart,’ in Kirkland [Washington]. I haven’t sung it in decades. I was born in Seattle and the song says, ‘my grandmother’s house is still there, but it isn’t the same.’ I was born in Seattle, and I’ll go to see the house if we get to play there.”
Collins is enjoying every second of the tour, by her reckoning.
“I’m an old hand at this,” she said. “I have a wonderful manager and an agent to take care of things and make sure everything is smooth. I’ve been doing this about 67 years, except for a couple of years when I had health issues. I feel like it’s just me and Willie [Nelson], still on the road. I know I’m not as old as Willie, but I’m getting there.
“All the driving we’ve done in Washington state so far has been incredible,” she added. “You’re driving through amazing forests, with pine trees everywhere. When I’m on the road I see a lot of nature, and the trees are unbelievable. So I enjoy many aspects of the tour. I’m in a car, sitting in the back seat, as I did when I was four, and looking out at the passing scenery.”
When Collins touches down for her date at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley this Sunday, she’ll be accompanied by pedal steel guitar player Thad DeBrock, and pianists Will Kjeer and Russell Walden.
“I sing and play guitar and piano,” Collins said. “Russ and Will switch off on piano. Russ and I have worked together for almost 40 years. I wrote all the songs, and Russ is familiar with most of them. Will is beginning to get familiar with most of them, too, so I’m very lucky.
“The opening act is a duo of two sisters from Norway called Oakland Rain,” Collins added. “Kind of an odd coincidence, since we’re playing in the Bay Area. I have no idea why they chose that name.”
As she closes in on 88 years, Collins says she has to pay attention to her personal health to keep her voice supple.
“I exercise and walk a lot and eat right and sleep right,” she said. “I take a day off every two days, either to travel or to rest. I try to stay creative on the road. I keep writing constantly. I’m working on a new book of poetry, and I sell a book of poems I’ve written, Sometimes It’s Heaven, on my tours. I recite some of them between songs.
“I also bounce around a lot on stage,” she continued. “I tell jokes and anecdotes and stories. I’m very talkative and love to make people laugh. I think that’s important.”
After the Farewell Tour finally winds down, Collins has no plans to retire or stop being creative.
“I have a book I want to write, a memoir I want to finish and four great-grandchildren that I want to spend more time with,” she said. “So there’s family, a few films I’m working on and I want to do a movie about Antonia Brico, the piano teacher I had when I was young. I did a documentary about her, A Portrait of the Woman, but I’d like to do a biographic film about her life. She was so fabulously interesting.
“I have a Broadway show I’ve been writing for a couple of years, too, but I can’t really talk about it. I also have a couple of duet albums coming out and my second children’s album, so I’m a busy girl. I have a sign on a mirror in my bedroom that says: ‘Do it now!’” Collins concluded. “I’m not one to procrastinate.”
Judy Collins plays Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 3pm. Oakland Rain will open. More info at judycollins.com.
