Believe it or not, it’s the 30th anniversary of Sophie B. Hawkins’s platinum-selling debut album Tongues and Tails — the one I personally played over and over and over again — which included the hit single “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover.”
Her new single “Love Yourself” came out on October 6 and like her earlier favorites — including the record-breaking longest-running single in Billboard Adult Contemporary chart history, the number-one hit “As I Lay Me Down” — features her captivating vocals and her signature true-to-life storytelling.
Hawkins writes all of her songs, is a multi-instrumentalist, and has been fully involved in every aspect of the production of her records herself. The last three decades have included performances with some of the best-known names in the business, including Judy Collins, who joins her onstage at the Libbey Bowl in Ojai on Sunday.
Collins has been revered since the 1960s for her imaginative interpretations of traditional and contemporary folk standards as well as her own poetic original compositions. With 55 albums to her credit, and iconic hits like her rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” from her landmark 1967 album, Wildflowers, as well as her dreamy version of “Send in the Clowns,” a ballad written by Stephen Sondheim for the Broadway musical A Little Night Music, which won “Song of the Year” at the 1975 Grammy Awards, Collins had never done an album of originals until recently. Earlier this year, she released her first album of original songs, Spellbound, at age 82.
In addition to the ticketed event on Sunday, October 16, with these two iconic singers, Santa Barbara’s own Spencer the Gardener performs beforehand at a Free Ojai Day Community Concert at the Libbey Bowl (210 S. Signal St.) from 5-6 p.m.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit bit.ly/3RJ3Xa3.
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