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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZHESTER, Carolyn(b c'38, Texas) Folksinger. To NYC '56 to study theatre, having appeared on TV at 13 in Texas; toured with New Lost City Ramblers and made an obscure first LP before the urban folk boom was well under way. She married Richard Farina; made her second LP for Tradition '61 prod. by Tom Clancy, and her third for Columbia '62, on which Bob Dylan played harmonica. Her second Columbia album was This Life I'm Living and there was another on Dot, That's My Song. She and Farina were popular in the UK, among the first of the new folkies to appear there (at the Edinburgh Folk Festival and on TV); they separated '62. Her debut at NYC's Town Hall resulted in live recordings; she formed a folk-rock band, the Carolyn Hester Coalition, which also recorded, but her folk roots were perhaps stronger than her need for commercial success (she had been among those protesting against ABC-TV's decision to ban Pete Seeger from Hootenanny). In the '70s she continued gigging at colleges and festivals, made an LP for RCA and was on the board of directors of the annual Kerrville (Texas) Folk Festival, where she still appeared in the mid-'80s. Ian Anderson of Folk Roots always thought that she had a bluesy Texas edge and better attack than her contemporaries (Joan Baez, Judy Collins etc). She sang at the Royal Albert Hall '93 with Nanci Griffith; The Tradition Album was reissued on the Road Goes on Forever UK label '96; four new tracks were made to fill it out and it was hard to spot the join: she was just as good as ever, e.g. on Jean Ritchie's 'One I Love'. Her first Columbia album was reissued '95 and Bear Family issued all her Columbia and Dot tracks in a two-CD set (Dear Companion) including failed studio out-takes against her wishes, too much zeal from Bear Family. Texas Songbird on Road Goes on Forever combines two LPs from the '80s. |