Judy Henske: Wade in the Water (1963)

One afternoon somewhere in the early Nineties a terrestrial TV channel played the 1963 movie Hootenanny Hoot, a lousy film cashing in on the folk music phase but full of cameo performances by the likes of Johnny Cash, The Gateway Trio, George Hamilton IV and . . .

Some forgettable others.

I walked out of the room at one point to make a cup of tea but was pulled back by the most remarkable voice which I took to be a black woman blues belter. The song was the old gospel spiritual Wade in the Water.

However the person singing was young and white, Judy Henske who would subsequently be in the vanguard of folk-rock, baroque folk and sassy on-stage patter peppered with humour.

Her life was interesting, her career a bit haphazard (you can read about it here) and she died in 2022 age 85.

But back to her exceptional version of Wade in the Water.

She brings the power of soul and blues (and a bit of sassy Peggy Lee) to the gospel spirit and only years later I would I hear it as the forerunner of Janis Joplin's raw style.

Before you look at the clip, just play the track.

It's the sort of voice which interrupts you making a cup of tea.

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For more oddities, one-offs or songs with an interesting backstory check the massive back-catalogue at From the Vaults.