Pitchfork

Seattle's Light in the Attic Records, home of the Black Angels, the Os Mutantes resissues, and the Jamaica to Toronto compilation, has just announced its newest release: a remastered edition of Karen Dalton's 1971 lost classic In My Own Time, due out November 7 on CD and vinyl.

"Karen whosits?" you say.

Circa 1960, Dalton was a regular performer at the pass-the-hat clubs in New York's Greenwich Village, where she'd gig with the likes of Dino Valenti, Fred Neil, and Bob Dylan. She was often compared to Billie Holiday (and hated it). But, perhaps because she interpreted other people's songs ("When a Man Loves a Woman", "Katie Cruel") and (dare we say it?) was a Native American woman, she's been largely forgotten by the public.

However, one look at In My Own Time's liner notes will set you straight. The ten tracks were originally recorded by Harvey Brooks (who played with Dylan on Highway 61 Revisited), and masterminded by Michael Lang (who, like, totally signed a young Billy Joel and co-founded Woodstock). Dalton, who sings and plays the twelve-string guitar and banjo, was backed by dudes from the Gaslight and the Cock and Bull (two Greenwich Village clubs), and also Robbie Robertson's the Band.

Lenny Kaye, Patti Smith Group guitarist, wrote the album's introduction. His essay is joined by testimonials from Nick Cave (who, along with the rest of the Band Seeds, considers Dalton a hero) and Devendra Banhart, who purposefully recorded Cripple Crow at Bearsville-- the same studio where Dalton created In My Own Time.

"Pretty much, when I tell the story of how I got into Vashti Bunyan," said Banhart in an interview with Pitchfork about Dalton, "where I was living out in France and didn't have anywhere to stay, I always say that the two things that really kept me alive-- that became my pillow, and my food, and my blanket, and my bed, my friend-- that was listening to Bunyan's Just Another Diamond Day LP and Karen Dalton's 'Ribbon Bow'." When Banhart returned to New York, he paid 50 bucks for the In My Own Time LP, which probably also meant living on beans and really, really cheap whiskey for at least a week afterwards.