I don't know where this record came from. It's been sitting here for a quarter of a century, occasionally played, but never yielding up more than a handful of its history.
What I know about Judy Mayhan herself is not much, either. She is reported, variously, to have recorded a collection of traditional Irish folk songs in the Sixties, to have done an LP for US Decca shortly before it mutated into MCA in the early Seventies, and to have been a friend of erstwhile Monkee Peter Tork. More recently, Kate Wolf, on her Poet's Heart album, dedicated the song "See Here, She Said" to Judy Mayhan.
Then there is the music, and it tells a story of its own. Mayhan's voice is resonant, with the vaguest hint of instability at full volume, as though she had learned the hard way what happens when you let everything pour out at once. Latter-day Doobie Brother Michael McDonald seems to exhibit the same effect. But where McDonald, given a choice, goes for bluesy, Mayhan opts for ethereal. And it may have been that ethereal quality that drew the attention of Atlantic chairman Ahmet Ertegun, who took it upon himself to produce "Dream Goin' By", which somehow came out resembling a George Harrison sequel to John Lennon's "Across the Universe".
No hint of Beatlitude, with the occasional exception of McCartneyesque longing, appears in the other eight songs, produced by Marlin Greene and Eddie Hinton with the Muscle Shoals studio crew. The originals are wistful yet grounded in reality; you could imagine Otis Redding coming off the dock of the bay to sing them. The covers are respectful.
Perhaps I'll never know for sure why this record is here on my shelf. I can barely recognize anything of my 1970 self these days. But I'm sure I had my reasons, and in retrospect, I think they were good ones.
Further exploration: The West Coast operation Shayomi Productions has started work on the official Judy Mayhan Web site, with biographical information and how to order Judy's music (including Moments) on CD. Judy herself has been in less-than-great health in recent years, and I have to believe it does her some good to know that there continues to be interest in her music, not only around her Northern California home, but around the world and the Web.
The American Music site of Stefan Wirz offers a Judy Mayhan discography.
Track listing:
- Walk Right In (Judy Mayhan)
- I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew (Tom T. Hall)
- Old Man at the Fair (Jimmy Webb)
- Shinin' (Judy Mayhan)
- Everlovin' Ways (Judy Mayhan)
- Dream Goin' By (Judy Mayhan)
- Begin Again (Judy Mayhan)
- You Are My Sunshine (Jimmy Davis)
- I Shall Be Released (Bob Dylan)
For "Dream Goin' By":
Personnel:
Judy Mayhan, piano, vocals
Mike Pinera, lead guitar
Lowell George, rhythm guitar, flute
Warren Klein, sitar
William Charlton, bass
Richard Hayward, drums
Aumashananda, Aum drum
Moffet, background vocals
Arif Mardin, string arrangement
Produced by Ahmet Ertegun
Recorded at Gold Star Studios, Hollywood, California
Engineer: Stan Ross
For all other selections:
Personnel:
Judy Mayhan, piano, vocals
Andrew Love & Ed Logan, saxes, flutes
Wayne Jackson, trumpet, French horn
Eddie Hinton, lead, rhythm guitars, string arrangements
Jimmy Johnson, rhythm guitar
Duane Allman, slide guitar
Al Lester, country fiddle
Barry Beckett, keyboards
David Hood, bass
Roger Hawkins, drums
Southern Comfort, vocal backgrounds
Marlin Greene, string arrangement on "Shinin'"
Produced by Marlin Greene & Eddie Hinton
Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Engineers: Marlin Greene & Eddie Hinton
