Judy Henske

While Judy Henske was most widely recognized as a figure on the 1960s folk music scene, categorizing her strictly as a folk artist is inaccurate and limiting. Henske cut plenty of folk-oriented material (most notably on 1963's High Flying Bird), much of it very good, but her full-bodied, passionate voice and delivery were quite versatile. She was a gifted interpreter of standards, blues, show tunes, novelty material, and pop numbers (1963's Judy Henske and 1965's The Death Defying Judy Henske: The First Concert Album both found her covering as many stylistic bases as possible). 1969's Farewell Aldebaran, a cult favorite recorded with Jerry Yester, was a singular mix of folk, psychedelia, and sophisticated pop. Henske's eclecticism and outsized personality worked against her commercially, as she was hard to pigeonhole in a specific genre, though her body of work consistently demonstrated she was a remarkable talent.