Tribute to Rosalie Sorrels
Donation protected
We are so proud that our "Tribute to the Travelin' Lady: Rosalie Sorrels" is finished! The 4-CD set contains 44 tunes recorded by well-known national and Idaho artists; most songs are renditions of Rosalie's original songs and a few are written for Rosalie and dedicated to her for the Tribute.
Our Rosalie has passed on, but we are proud that her music -and her legacy- will live on. During production and recording for our Tribute, Rosalie listened and sang along to every recording that appears on our Tribute, and treasured every song.
The beautiful artwork by renowned Idaho artist Ward Hooper, along with the amazing, intricate graphics by designer Jim Hadley accompanying this vast array of works will assure that our Tribute to the Travelin’ Lady will be elegantly worthy of the finest musical collections.
Many, many thanks to those of you who have made a gift to the project. If you haven't yet donated, you can give at any level and we will be most grateful.
But donate $50 or more, and you essentially "order" a copy of the Tribute. You will receive a thank you and a request for your mailing address so that we can send the CD set to you.
And if you can spare a little more, that will help pay some of the bills for the project.
It is our most fervent wish is that our Tribute will give honor to the life and legacy of the Travelin’ Lady, and will assure her treasured songs and stories will reach you, her friends, family and fans, along with an even greater audience for years to come.
With Much Love,
Rocci & Team Rosalie
New York Times
NBC Sunday TODAY
Idaho Statesman
Post Register
Idaho Public Television
Boise State Public Radio
About the Tribute:
Featured artists include Loudon Wainwright III, Tom Russell, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Peter Rowan, Guy Clark, Terry Garthwaite, Nina Gerber, Robin and Linda Williams, Nanci Griffith, Barbara Higbie, Muzzie Braun, Laurie Lewis, Eilen Jewell, John Nemeth, Pinto Bennett, Mollie O'Brien and Rich Moore, Jimmy LaFave, Bill Coffey, Ben Burdick and Amy Rose, Belinda Bowler, John Gorka, Emily Braden, Steve Fulton, and many more -- among them, eight Grammy winners and nine Grammy nominees.
About Rosalie:
Rosalie Sorrels was one of the most notable and vibrant voices in American folk music for over 50 years. Folk singer and storyteller Gamble Rogers referred to her as “the hillbilly Edith Piaf,” and the Boston Globe called her “one of America’s genuine folk treasures.”
Rosalie was born in Idaho and lived many years 30 miles outside Boise in the cabin her father built. She began her career as a folklorist in the 1950s at the University of Utah and accumulated an encyclopedic knowledge of music that includes English ballads, Mormon songs, and the work of contemporary songwriters. Her interpretation of these songs and stories, along with her own impressive body of original work, helped create and preserve the oral folk tradition.
Always an independent spirit, Rosalie left her husband in Utah in the mid 1960s and went on the road with her five children to begin a career as a musician. Her appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1966 was a decisive turning point in her life. Her homes in Salt Lake City and Boise were sources of food, shelter and friendship for any creative person who came through town. Oscar Zeta Acosta, Hunter Thompson and Studs Terkel wrote liner notes for her albums. Robert Creeley wrote a poem about her. Noted composer and filmmaker David Amram played French horn and flute on one of her early albums. Terkel included her in his books American Dreams Lost and Found and May the Circle Be Unbroken. The late great folk icon Bruce “Utah” Phillips was her close friend for over 55 years and collaborated with her on many projects, including The Long Memory, an album of union songs and stories of the working class.
In recognition of her role as a creator of and collaborator in the American culture of the second half of the twentieth century, the University of California at Santa Cruz established a Rosalie Sorrels Archive as part of its Beat Generation Archives. She received the Idaho Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1986, the University of Idaho awarded her an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree in 2000, and the next year The Boise Peace Quilt Project presented her with a peace quilt and added her name to the distinguished list of workers for peace and justice to whom it had presented quilts.
Despite a bout with cancer and a cerebral aneurysm that nearly killed her, Rosalie recorded 24 albums and wrote three books. Way Out in Idaho, published in honor of the Idaho centenary, was a monumental collection of songs, stories, pictures and recipes gathered during the three years she traveled her home state and listened to its people. Her 2004 album My Last Go Round was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. This musical journey through her career featured such friends as Jean Ritchie, Christine Lavin and Loudon Wainwright III.
Although the self-described “travelin’ lady” officially retired from touring, she returned to the studio in 2007 to make an album to benefit her friend Utah Phillips. Phillips died in May 2008, but his songs were given a new life on the Grammy-nominated Strangers in Another Country: The Songs of Bruce “Utah” Phillips. Known as one of Phillips’ foremost interpreters, Rosalie remembered songs even he had forgotten.
“Rosalie Sorrels, who must know a million songs, can sing each one as if it's her life story.” — ROLLING STONE
-by David Proctor, with excerpts from Red House Records
Our Rosalie has passed on, but we are proud that her music -and her legacy- will live on. During production and recording for our Tribute, Rosalie listened and sang along to every recording that appears on our Tribute, and treasured every song.
The beautiful artwork by renowned Idaho artist Ward Hooper, along with the amazing, intricate graphics by designer Jim Hadley accompanying this vast array of works will assure that our Tribute to the Travelin’ Lady will be elegantly worthy of the finest musical collections.
Many, many thanks to those of you who have made a gift to the project. If you haven't yet donated, you can give at any level and we will be most grateful.
But donate $50 or more, and you essentially "order" a copy of the Tribute. You will receive a thank you and a request for your mailing address so that we can send the CD set to you.
And if you can spare a little more, that will help pay some of the bills for the project.
It is our most fervent wish is that our Tribute will give honor to the life and legacy of the Travelin’ Lady, and will assure her treasured songs and stories will reach you, her friends, family and fans, along with an even greater audience for years to come.
With Much Love,
Rocci & Team Rosalie
New York Times
NBC Sunday TODAY
Idaho Statesman
Post Register
Idaho Public Television
Boise State Public Radio
About the Tribute:
Featured artists include Loudon Wainwright III, Tom Russell, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Peter Rowan, Guy Clark, Terry Garthwaite, Nina Gerber, Robin and Linda Williams, Nanci Griffith, Barbara Higbie, Muzzie Braun, Laurie Lewis, Eilen Jewell, John Nemeth, Pinto Bennett, Mollie O'Brien and Rich Moore, Jimmy LaFave, Bill Coffey, Ben Burdick and Amy Rose, Belinda Bowler, John Gorka, Emily Braden, Steve Fulton, and many more -- among them, eight Grammy winners and nine Grammy nominees.
About Rosalie:
Rosalie Sorrels was one of the most notable and vibrant voices in American folk music for over 50 years. Folk singer and storyteller Gamble Rogers referred to her as “the hillbilly Edith Piaf,” and the Boston Globe called her “one of America’s genuine folk treasures.”
Rosalie was born in Idaho and lived many years 30 miles outside Boise in the cabin her father built. She began her career as a folklorist in the 1950s at the University of Utah and accumulated an encyclopedic knowledge of music that includes English ballads, Mormon songs, and the work of contemporary songwriters. Her interpretation of these songs and stories, along with her own impressive body of original work, helped create and preserve the oral folk tradition.
Always an independent spirit, Rosalie left her husband in Utah in the mid 1960s and went on the road with her five children to begin a career as a musician. Her appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1966 was a decisive turning point in her life. Her homes in Salt Lake City and Boise were sources of food, shelter and friendship for any creative person who came through town. Oscar Zeta Acosta, Hunter Thompson and Studs Terkel wrote liner notes for her albums. Robert Creeley wrote a poem about her. Noted composer and filmmaker David Amram played French horn and flute on one of her early albums. Terkel included her in his books American Dreams Lost and Found and May the Circle Be Unbroken. The late great folk icon Bruce “Utah” Phillips was her close friend for over 55 years and collaborated with her on many projects, including The Long Memory, an album of union songs and stories of the working class.
In recognition of her role as a creator of and collaborator in the American culture of the second half of the twentieth century, the University of California at Santa Cruz established a Rosalie Sorrels Archive as part of its Beat Generation Archives. She received the Idaho Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1986, the University of Idaho awarded her an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree in 2000, and the next year The Boise Peace Quilt Project presented her with a peace quilt and added her name to the distinguished list of workers for peace and justice to whom it had presented quilts.
Despite a bout with cancer and a cerebral aneurysm that nearly killed her, Rosalie recorded 24 albums and wrote three books. Way Out in Idaho, published in honor of the Idaho centenary, was a monumental collection of songs, stories, pictures and recipes gathered during the three years she traveled her home state and listened to its people. Her 2004 album My Last Go Round was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. This musical journey through her career featured such friends as Jean Ritchie, Christine Lavin and Loudon Wainwright III.
Although the self-described “travelin’ lady” officially retired from touring, she returned to the studio in 2007 to make an album to benefit her friend Utah Phillips. Phillips died in May 2008, but his songs were given a new life on the Grammy-nominated Strangers in Another Country: The Songs of Bruce “Utah” Phillips. Known as one of Phillips’ foremost interpreters, Rosalie remembered songs even he had forgotten.
“Rosalie Sorrels, who must know a million songs, can sing each one as if it's her life story.” — ROLLING STONE
-by David Proctor, with excerpts from Red House Records
Organizer and beneficiary
Kathe Alters
Organizer
Boise, ID
Rocci Johnson
Beneficiary
