Orriel Smith has led one of the more extraordinary careers of any vocalist since her emergence at the end of the 1950s. By training and inclination, she was an operatic singer, surrounded by the music from her earliest memories and imitating the coloratura arias that she heard — among the earliest pieces that she mastered, while still a child, was The Bell Song from Lakmé. Her studies, plus the travels of her mother (an established singer), carried her to Italy and the Milan Conservatory, where she took up studying piano and violin, and the La Scala Ballet Company School. Her mother’s work at Paramount Pictures later took her to Hollywood, where Smith began an acting career on television. It was after hearing Jean Ritchie perform at the Arrowbear Music Camp that she became enamored of Appalachian folk songs, and took up the guitar so that she could accompany herself in this newly discovered repertory. As a model for her own work, she turned to Joan Baez, who was then a new and emerging star on the folk scene — by her own account, she learned to play the guitar by slowing Baez’s records to 16 rpm and painstakingly capturing every note on her own guitar, tuned down for the purpose.
Smith later moved to New York to study singing and began spending time at the folk clubs that abounded in the early ’60s, and was soon singing in them. Her extraordinary range attracted the attention of a manager who, after a meeting in his office, got her booked onto The Tonight Show. This, in turn, led to her being signed to Columbia Records, where she recorded the album A Voice in the Wind in 1963 with producer Bobby Scott. By 1964, she’d appeared on Hootenanny and other television folk venues and was getting major club bookings, albeit mostly as an opening act, around the country. Smith later joined the Jimmy Joyce Singers, who were a fixture on various CBS network variety programs. Since then, Smith has performed solo and worked in film and television, and she also wrote “Lifetime Woman,” a song recorded by David Frizzell. She has also been a member of the Ray Conniff Singers and worked with Dolly Parton. She is still recording at the outset of the 21st century, most notably her highly “stylized” operatic showcase for children, Cluckoratura. (by Bruce Eder)
Orriel Smith was one of numerous young women folksingers with high, pure voices who had the opportunity to record in the early ’60s in the wake of Joan Baez’s rise to stardom. Although it was issued on a major label, Columbia, A Voice in the Wind nonetheless remains quite obscure. Both the repertoire of traditional folk ballads and delivery may well recall early Baez to many listeners, as well as some other singers of the period like Carolyn Hester, though Smith may have a yet higher voice and slightly more operatic manner. Even for a folk album of the period, the production is sparse and dominated by her own acoustic guitar, Walter Raim helping with the accompaniment (as he did for another, more memorable folk LP recorded around the same time, Judy Collins 3). “When I Was Single,” “Geordie,” “Black Is the Color,” and Ewan MacColl’s classic “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” are among the more familiar songs included on this recording, produced by “A Taste of Honey” co-writer Bobby Scott. (by Richie Unterberger)
Orriel Smith in her own words:
My first album was 1963. The Producer assigned to my project was Bobby Scott, who wrote “A Taste of Honey”. There I was with my classical voice and folksy guitar facing a great jazz composer. Gulp. What on earth would he decide for me to sing? Turns out he was quite a lover of Irish and English music and was delighted to recall some of his favorites through me. Those were the days! When you could walk in to Columbia Records A&R man’s office and have a live in-person audition.My first album was 1963. The Producer assigned to my project was Bobby Scott, who wrote “A Taste of Honey”. There I was with my classical voice and folksy guitar facing a great jazz composer. Gulp. What on earth would he decide for me to sing? Turns out he was quite a lover of Irish and English music and was delighted to recall some of his favorites through me. Those were the days! When you could walk in to Columbia Records A&R man’s office and have a live in-person audition.
Personnel:
Orriel Smith (vocals, guitar)
Tracklist:
01. The Deceived Girl (Raim) 4,21
02. Down By The Glenside (Kearnay/Ryan) 2.52
03. When I Was Single (Traditional) 1.46
04. Over The Hills (Raim) 2.34
05. Been On This Train (Raim) 2.32
06. White Curtains (Resnick) 2.29
07. Black Is The Color (Traditional) 2.50
08. Chilly Winds (Traditional) 2.37
09. Take My Mother Home (Johnson) 4.02
10. Geordie (Owen) 2.59
11. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (MacColl) 3.53
12. Red Rosy Bush (‘Traditional) 2.31
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