Lately I’ve been amazed by John Lennon. The beautiful, romantic, tradgedy that is his life; and more so, the way it seemed to so greatly reflect the humanity around him.
We are a society constantly searching for a hero. But something in our nature often makes us screw things up. From Jesus Christ to Kurt Cobain, humans have exhaulted the all mighty of their times, but eventually stoned them to pieces. And when it’s all over everyone says “damn..how could I let that happen?”
But sometimes we just ignore the obscenely gifted altogether. It’s like the opposite of Beatle-mania, someone who should be a hero is never even registered by the masses. And as a result, is stoned by annonimity.
Karen Dalton should have been a national treasure. She should be a household name, but unfortunately she is not. She’s so underground she makes Nico look like Britney Spears.
I think this quote by musician Steve Ritchey said it best, “Karen Dalton’s voice sounds like the moment before you start to cry”.
Dalton was a strikingly beautiful girl, by way of Oklahoma, who became a fixture of the late fifties/early sixties Greenwich Village music scene. This was back when “the Village” was a magnetic sanctuary for artistic bohemians looking to live cheaply and start a cultral revolution.
Karen eventually found herself in the circle of beat standouts like Allen Ginsburg, Bob Dylan and Fred Neil. She is often referred to as the “white” Billie Holiday because well, she was white and kind of sounded like Billie Holiday. But that’s not really an accurate comparison.
I believe a better comparison for Karen Dalton is Nick Drake. The way the lyrics fall out of her mouth, the way she sounds in every song as a bird slowly dying from a broken heart; you could imagine her to be the saddest, most brutally beatiful thing to ever come out of the world. But there is that little wink of hope just like Nick had in his songs, that let’s you know in the end things might be cool.
Karen was known for playing the twelve string Gibson guitar and the long neck banjo. She released two albums during her time, It’s Hard To Tell Who’s Going To Love You The Best (1969; re-released in 1996), and In My Own Time (1971). The former album is said to be the better, more representative album of the two.
Karen predominantly sang cover songs, because she generally lacked the confidence to write original material (she was apparently tricked into recording one of her albums by a friend). However her versions are so good, many are considered the standard. She also performed live rarely with the exception of small coffee shops and dive bars in The Village.
As I mentioned earlier, Karen Dalton was strikingly beautiful. I can’t speak for her appearence in person, I can only estimate based on what I hear in her voice. Her voice reflects inner beauty. It sounds as beautiful as you could imagine your dream women to be. Beautiful like Winnie Cooper, beautiful like the first girl you kissed at camp. Amazing, poetic, quiet, dreamy, romantic, you know her well.
A voice so beautiful it should have changed the world, but instead it made only a tiny roar. Karen Dalton never recorded another album after 1971.
To this day Karen Dalton remains one of the most mysterious artists in folk history. Very little is known of her later years. She suffered through problems with drug and alcohol addiction all her life and possibly died from AIDS related symptoms in 1993, but few know for sure.
Unlike John Lennon, Karen Dalton wasn’t assassinated, but her story seems nearly as romantic and tragic. Perhaps it’s the mystery and astounding lack of information surrounding her life, or maybe it’s the haunting texture of her voice.
Karen Dalton draws you into every song with your mouth wide open, wondering how humanity let someone so precious wither away without knowing how special she really was.
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July 17th, 2006 at 11:21 am
Her songs give off such a unique vibe. She’s a gem.
July 25th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
“Karen Dalton’s voice sounds like the moment before you start to cry” - that’s an amazing way to describe her voice