Judy Henske - The Elektra Albums (2017)

UK collection. The big-voiced Ms Henske's two albums for Elektra Judy Henske from 1963 and High Flying Bird from the following year, released together on one CD. She had to be loud as she learned her trade warming up audiences, un-amplified, for Lenny Bruce in Sunset Strip coffee houses - her beat-keeping stamp occasionally destroying the stage. Eschewing "little girl" folk songs for the lure of whorehouse blues and murder ballads, Henske's renditions are totally her own while her charismatic spoken introductions are a perfect foil for the gutsy vocals which follow. She runs the entire gamut of emotions; often very funny but also tender, raunchy, yearning and sensual. This reissue captures a time when Judy Henske was a force of untamed nature in the safe folk world, maybe too big for the era then unfolding outside. Sleeve notes are by Kris Needs, based on an interview with the now 80 year-old Judy.