September 15.2000
Cris crossover
D earjoni Mitchell:
lease don’t be startled by what I’m about
to tell you. Sit down and take some deep
You don’t know what you got
breaths— maybe strum some chords— but
’til it’s gone
I need to get this off my chest. As many
times as I’ve gotten choked up listening to
by K aty D avidson
“Both Sides Now,” as many times as I’ve tried
to hit all the notes on Blue, as many times as
the bat. “T hat’s what’s on my plate right now.”
I’ve read your interviews and identified with
Tret Fure was her partner and musical com
every wise word you’ve ever professed, I have
panion of 20 years. As a duo, they were the
to let you know: You’re no longer my No. 1.
Sonny and Cher of women’s music—“a daily
Cris Williamson has introduced me to new
experience,” as Williamson put it. She likened
horizons.
the breakup to the death of her father; she’s
Then again, I got to talk with her on the
grieving the same way: by writing songs.
phone for 30 blissfully enlightened minutes,
"As hard as heartbreak is, it forces you to
and I’ve never come within true earshot of you.
grow,” she said. “Loss is the only thing that
Two months ago, all I’d heard about
reminds you of gifts.”
Williamson was she was one of those old,
Currently touring around the nation,
folksy, Michigan-festival mainstays. I knew her
Williamson is on her first solo jaunt in 15
as one of the founders of “womyn’s music,” a
years, playing songs spurred by the separation,
foremother to the influx of folkies after her—
songs that poured out of her wounds. “Is this
you know, kind of like you, hut with granola-
the tradeoff for art?” she asked.
dyke flavor.
It’s weird, but it seems like every time
But that’s just what 1 heard.
Williamson speaks, she’s reciting poetry. Every
After doing a hit of research, 1 learned
phrase works in several dimensions, every
the first record she ever released, The Chang'
pause is perfectly dramatic. She’s a professional
er arid the Changed, is considered a classic in
musician but also a practicing philosopher,
folk circles because of its soaring vocals and
rolling out words of wisdom she learned from
poignant, universal lyrics. She wrote and
just plain living.
recorded it in 1975 after her father died. She
And getting her to talk is certainly not a
was in her 20s. It went on to become
chore. She’s opinionated, confident and
one of the best-selling indepen
well-read, so she has something to
dent releases ever.
say on every subject. W hen I
It 's weird,
Needless to say, this
asked her what role sexual
intrigued me.
orientation plays in her
but it seems like
I learned that she co
songwriting, she replied:
every time Williamson speaks, “My goal is to shed light
founded the first women-
only record label, Olivia
on the human condi
she's reciting poetry.
Records, and that her
tion, not the gay condi
Every phrase works
pioneering eventually
tion. But being a lesbian
led to the form ation of a
and a woman has influ
brains. She said the most effective tunes are
in
several
dimensions,
new musical genre,
enced me, of course.”
the ones that haunt us, the ones we can’t get
women’s music. By the end
The theme of univer
out of our heads.
every pause is
of the 1970s, women song
sality seems to run through
“The Beatles changed my life,” she said.
perfectly
dramatic.
writers— lesbians in particu
her veins. She said the great
“Wherever they went, we went. They brought
lar— were writing, recording and
est music is timeless music,
the mind and the body together—then the soul.”
releasing their own music, largely
melodic music, music that weathers
She reminisced about listening to Sgt. Pep -
the ages and remains as relevant as the day it
because of W illiam son’s efforts.
per’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with her college
was written. This is what she strives for as a
band, the Crystal Palace Guard. It was the first
This intrigued me some more.
recording she had ever heard in stereo. “It trav
songstress.
However, I learned the most wonderful
eled right through your head!” she said.
“People’s musical tastes swing like a pendu
things about Williamson during our phone con
Despite her appreciation for melody,
lum,” she said. “The middle is where most of
versation— how she links life and music, how
Williamson said her own songwriting style is
the classics are. I think I’m in the middle; I
she grieves, how she feels about the Beatles.
lyric-intensive. “I’m a very lyrical person— I’m
hope I’m part of what lasts.”
Now Joni, I recognize your ability to write
a wordsmith,” she said. “I’m a scholar. T hat’s
She cited Bob Dylan, the Band, Carol
empathetically and all, hut believe me when I
really my first love.”
King,
Janis
Joplin,
George
Gershwin,
the
tell you Williamson’s greatest trait is to relate
She groaned, however, when I asked her to
Beatles, and you, Joni, as other “middle”
well with other humans, to establish a connec
name her favorite songs of her own, comparing
artists. According to Williamson, the link
tion by comparing experiences. She does it
the process to picking a favorite child. She
they
share
is
their
ability
to
write
simply,
tirelessly through both music and conversation.
relented, however, and named “Colorado Dust-
have a good sense of melody and use their
“I broke up with Tret,” she told me right off
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ball Days” and “Pieces of Pangea.” She said she
still closes every show with “Waterfall,” from
The Changer and the Changed.
W hen Williamson isn’t touring, she lives
outside Eugene and is a tireless activist. She
lives a model life as an assertive yet empathetic
human. She is a wonder woman. “My life isn’t
more interesting than anyone else’s, maybe just
more visible,” she told me.
I’m sorry, Joni, but Cris Williamson has won
my heart.
Please forgive me,
Katy J [ 7 ]
C ris W illiamson plays at the Aladdin The -
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8 p.m. Sept. 22. For tickets call the box office,
(503) 233-1994, or Ticketmaster.
J E W E L A. ROBINSON
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