I first heard of Karla Bonoff at a Linda Ronstadt concert. Linda LOVED Karla's songs and plugged them big time. She was right. I went out and bought "Restless Nights"....I was hooked. Karla is one of the greatest singers ever....her cover of "The Water is Wide" is the best I've ever heard.
What I didn't know about Kenny was everything. I admit to be be stupid about Bryndle and only knew Karla from a few things in the past. Then I went to her concert in Templeton two weeks after Kenny died. Since then I've learned a lot. This video of them performing together just screams at me about how hard that concert a week ago had to be for her. The first since Kenny died. But she performed like the total pro she is and left the audience awed.
Yes, Absolutely exquisite - along with his instrumental counter-part, they seemed tenderly and rarely attuned. Great guitarist with them adds powerful balance.
It's sad to hear this. Beautiful. I had the original LP. But it reminds me far too much of those years,when we listened to all these artists who had their roots in the singer/songwriter tradition starting a few years earlier. How we listened to music, how casual our lives were. How friendly and intimate people seemed then, even in LA where this came from, where I first came out into the adult world. We were such a different country, with a lot less fear. Karla, Linda, Andrew, Jackson....where did it go?
You can put a bandaid over a deep wound. But it will still need to be looked after. These people were responding to the angst of their time in a way created by Bob Dylan, and others. The digital age gives us more than we can deal with, so we must pick our cause. She is a best example of of the one person singer/songwriter, She hung out in Laurel Canyon with Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Stephen Stills, Mama Cass, Glenn Frey, Loggins, Andrew gold and Kenny Edwards. What a giant group of people who let their whole selves be consumed by the nasty record industry. They all had resigned themselves to getting Screwed by the publishers.
Karla is a very big presence and a very bright light in the folk/pop firmament. She embodies grace and timeless beauty in her stage presence and her music. This song has always played on my heart's strings, and it makes me remember with bittersweet joy my years with my late partner at our peaceful cabin in the woods.
Karla is a wonderful singer/songwriter/musician that this man never tires of listening to--and her talent and singing is as wonderful as it ever was!!! Peace and Joy and Love to All, BobbyK
I couldn't believe how beautiful this song was when I first heard it upon buying the vinyl record in 1977. It still sounds the same and I feel the same when I hear it.
You know Carole King's "Tapestry"? Everyone does. IMHO, Karla's eponymous album from 1977 is every bit the equal of "Tapestry" in quality of lyrics, beauty of melody, and great hooks. I really have never understood why Karla didn't become a very big sensation. She deserved more than having her songs covered by other great artists.
+Robert Cohen I agree. I love Tapestry; however, this is one of my all time favorite albums. And I'd put Cheryl Wheeler's Different Strip album in the same grouping.
A guess is maybe to some degree she wanted it that way. Look at Laura Nyro. People are just now discovering her. Very similar. When Laura rocked the Music Center in LA people showed up. Her following tended to be NYLA coastal entertainment people and hippies. The rest of people did not know she was writing all those songs.
I was wondering if all the twennyteens female artists were lacking something. They all sound alike, doing lackluster tunes. Now going back to some of the trippy hippies' 1970s stuff I can hear I was right! Better songs, better performers & better bands (not synthesized backup with obnoxious thump-thump "drumming" from machines)! I'm hoping the newer bands like the Black Keys, the White Stripes, the Northern Mississippi All Stars & Sturgill Simpson can show the kids & grandkids how it's done!
My band played in Europe for 3 months in the 80s. During that last month every time I heard this song I would tear up. It's a favorite, and one of the first songs I recorded on my 4 track when I got home. Again, this is a knocked-out performance. I guess some people just hate beauty.
The Beatles double white is my all time favorite album, then comes Karla and this amazing view of the human condition. I have treasured it since to came out in the 70's.
I bought Karla's album when it came out all those years ago, I about wore it out. She has a certain fragile quality to her music that I love. This is a great performance, thank you for sharing it.
Nina Gerber for some reason is kept in the shadows during this concert despite being the jell that makes the group excel. Karla is incredible but she was lucky to find Nina.
She sounds a lot like Linda Ronstadt but with not as strong of a voice. Her first album meant a lot to me in a bad time in my life. She got me thru it. :)
-wow- loved seeing this being performed, I had every one of her albums and then cd's - many many nights her voice and music played on my stereo - blaring out or I'd lay on the floor with a headset late in the night if I couldn't sleep- - It's so wonderful reading these lovely posts from fellow fans.. Thank you Karla - a brave thing to perform- what a incredible talent you have - never stop! So glad I stumbled on this tonight! A big treat!
