Karen Dalton Cotton Eyed Joe: The Loop Tapes Live In Boulder CD - Import

Although Karen Dalton's studio recordings consist of only a pair of albums--1969's IT'S SO HARD TO TELL WHO'S GOING TO LOVE YOU THE BEST and 1971's IN MY OWN TIME--the shadowy, peripatetic folk singer first made her name on the folk club circuit in the late 1950s. This lengthy 1962 set at the Attic coffeehouse in Boulder, Colorado, finally seeing release 45 years later (over a decade after Dalton's death), is a major archival find. COTTON EYED JOE is a folkie's revelation, a chance for younger generations to hear for themselves what those who were around at the time have always claimed to be one of the great lost musicians of the folk era. What's clear from these 21 tracks is that Dalton was not the most technically gifted singer (though her Billie Holiday-influenced phrasing does have lashings of personality) and her 12-string guitar and banjo playing rarely rises above average. Still, Dalton has presence, a magnetic personality that leaps from the speakers, even on these rough-edged recordings. The four tracks on the DVD, the only known video footage of Dalton, were recorded in 1969 and 1970 and are nearly as essential as the music.

Audio Remasterer: Peter Mew.Spin (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[S]he imbues every note with a forlorn strength, proving her masterly command of both the material and the audience."
The Wire (p.57) - "COTTON EYED JOE is the singer raw and unalloyed....The best thing about COTTON EYED JOE is that the performances are so vital, so red blooded..."
No Depression (p.63) - "[H]er version of the bues standard 'It Hurts Me Too' takes the song somewhere Elmore James never imagined."
Q (Magazine) (p.133) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "With all the rustles and cracks of an old live recording, the performance is full of 'On The Road' beatnik atmosphere..."