Virgo Rising

Making Music: Virgo Rising — The Once and Future Woman (1973)

By Sue Barrett

It all began as an idea to put the movement into music, a record produced and engineered, written and sung by women. –(Virgo Rising, liner notes)

For many people, the world today includes fashion challenges, bad hair days, an energy crisis, multiple music formats and performers named Hammond, Wainwright and Guthrie. And for many people, the world of 35 years ago contained the very same things!

Back in 1973, new album releases included Leonard Cohen’s Live Songs; Fanny’s Mothers Pride; Ramatam’s In April Came the Dawning of the Red Suns; Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Quiet Places; Hoyt Axton’s Less Than the Song; and the Carpenters’ Now & Then.

And among the number one songs on Billboard were ‘You’re So Vain’ (Carly Simon); ‘Bad, Bad Leroy Brown’ (Jim Croce); ‘Touch Me in the Morning’ (Diana Ross); ‘The Most Beautiful Girl’ (Charlie Rich); ‘The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia’ (Vicki Lawrence); and ‘Half-Breed’ (Cher).

Also in 1973:

• MOLLIE GREGORY owned and operated an independent media company;
• JOAN LOWE was a record producer/engineer;
• JANET SMITH was a songwriter and guitarist;
• NANCY RAVEN was a professional singer;
• KIT MILLER was a high school student;
• CHARLEY’S AUNTS was three song-writing sisters (Kate Butler, Rebecca Mills, Helen Tucker); and
• MALVINA REYNOLDS was an established singer/songwriter.

By the end of 1973, they had created Virgo Rising — The Once and Future Woman — one of the first albums produced, engineered and performed solely by women.

Virgo Rising was, according to its liner notes, “about the whole woman who has humor and depression, fear and strength; who gets mad, who comforts, who cares; for women who live so comfortably they can concentrate on their oppression, and for those who live poverty, concentrating on the commodity dinner or the squints of the welfare worker; for women who work at the office, for those who work unceasingly at home.”

Now Mollie Gregory, Joan Lowe, Janet Smith, Nancy Raven, Kit Miller, Kate Butler and Becky Mills look back on the making of Virgo Rising.

Joining them in telling the story are Nancy Schimmel (daughter of Malvina Reynolds); Karen Wilson (daughter of Helen Tucker); and Charley Adams (without whom Charley’s Aunts would have had a different name).

MOLLIE GREGORY (producer) : www.molliegregory.com

When and how did the idea for Virgo Rising come about?
I think the idea came up in conversation with Nancy Raven, Kate Butler, Kit Miller, and/or [Kit’s mother] Maya, who may have wished, one day, for “more music about women”. We were all crazy about Malvina’s songs, and the themes — the politics of women, rich and poor, and of the widening concerns about environment in 1970s — Black Power, Vietnam, Watergate, and the local political issues of haves and have nots, school integration, absorbed us. Kit sang and played guitar well, as did Kate. I got to know Kate in the late 1960s, early 1970s around League of Women Voters meetings, and all the political issues far beyond the League’s more conservative (yet radical) views and programs. Anyway, our united impulse became this: to put the women’s movement into music, and behind that, produce a record made, recorded, written and sung by women, songs to diaper babies by, make laws or run for office.

What were you doing at the time?
I believe I was living temporarily in Reno. I was writing and producing short films there, in California and Oregon. I had this notion that I could start a film production company and make a living doing it!

How did you put together the Virgo Rising team?
“The team” came together because we all knew each other, and each of us knew other women who would “sing a song” for the album.

What was the process for recording the songs?
Joan Lowe lived in Oregon — a good sound recordist. I used her to record sound on a couple of my documentaries, perhaps after Virgo Rising, maybe before. The album was not recorded in a studio, but on location in the west, no sophisticated facilities, no overdubbing; the singers had to be women, the songs written by women. And they ranged from professional to amateur, ages 17 [Kit Miller] to 72 [Malvina Reynolds]. There are no unreleased songs that I recall.

How did the title (Virgo Rising), sub-title (The Once and Future Woman) and spine sub-title (Songs of Sisterhood) come to be?
I think Kenneth Anger’s film, Scorpio Rising, was making the underground rounds. The title sounded “male” to me, but as a title it seemed striking. “Virgo” (the woman with the pitcher — zodiac sign) sounded female, and “rising” seemed strong. At the time, the tidal wave of the Women’s Movement had just hit. We were finding our individuality as women, our diversity, our strengths, and our ambitions…The original cover notes stated that the songs reflected our growing awareness of what is, and what can be…so we named the album Virgo Rising. You know, women on the move!

I have no memory of how we arrived at the “once and future woman” or “songs of sisterhood”. It sounds like something Catherine Finnegan, librarian at Foresta [Institute], and a good friend, would have contributed.

How much did it cost to produce Virgo Rising?
It was low budget. We certainly didn’t have major funding — but Maya [Miller], who may have come up with the idea, or expressed a wish for “more music”, must have contributed some starting funds. None of us knew what it cost to produce and distribute a record! Certainly I did not. We were doing it for the joy of it! The problem, as I found out later, was distribution; without company backing, the usual outlets were closed to us. I recall being furious that I could not interest stores to sell even a few copies; I could not get even small distributors to consider it.

What other memories do you have of making Virgo Rising?
The exhilaration of making it! Of collecting the songs, finding the singers, and the recording sessions — jubilant! Watching Kate, Helen, and Rebecca as they sang out ‘Sister!’ Or Nancy’s beautiful voice in ‘Welfare Blues’, Kit’s calm strength…Charley’s Aunts were exuberant together; we laughed a lot. I had no experience to make musical suggestions to anyone but I recall making a few during a recording session; can’t imagine what I could have said. However, I would have known at that early stage that for any creative work (a film, a script or book) the result must be enthusiastic. If the creators — the singers, musicians, in this case — bring enthusiasm to their work, listeners pay attention and join in. Virgo Rising vibrated with enthusiasm. And, the collection had a message worth hearing.

How do you view Virgo Rising’s place in history?
For women, the songs truly represent a period in history that was vital and releasing, qualities the album, like a piece of amber, protects, preserves.

What have you been doing since Virgo Rising?
I wrote and produced documentaries and experimental films until around 1979 when I wrote a book about my experiences of survival as a filmmaker — Making Films Your Business. It was more fun, more satisfying writing a book compared to producing films, standing in snow banks or under a blazing sun trying to get a shot. Remember, in the 1970s there were no real outlets for short films except in schools. PBS might show a short or documentary once in a while, but cable, video and DVD did not exist. It was hard uphill work to get a documentary seen by audiences. I kept on writing books, first novels, then non-fiction, such as Women Who Run the Show. I am currently working on another non-fiction book, and I consult with other writers on their work.

JOAN LOWE (production consultant/recordist)

What were you doing when Virgo Rising was created?
I was freelancing as an engineer with a special interest in women’s music and production, but also doing other commercial assignments.

How did you become involved with Virgo Rising?
Mollie Gregory invited me to consider volunteering.

What was the process for recording the album?
Virgo Rising was a real trip! Old-style analog recording equipment hauled all over to record the many artists on the album. Most sites were definitely not optimum for recording and some were live. The great variety of musicians, performance and experience in recording created challenges. We recorded in all sorts of locations. We recorded Charley’s Aunts in their parents’ living room in San Rafael with the raccoons they fed nightly out on the deck looking in and probably wondering what this noise was all about.

Where was the album mastered?
I believe we mastered at Kendun in Burbank, California, but it’s possible that it was done elsewhere. I was using Kendun at the time for all mastering over which I had control.

What other memories do you have about making Virgo Rising?
My best memories are of the enthusiasm and enjoyment in being part of the project and the wonderful warmth and camaraderie among the group, no matter what their part was.

To what extent were all-female produced/recorded/performed albums available then?
I can’t be sure about how many other woman-produced albums were out there at that time, but none like this. Some independent women were learning they could self-produce and that they did not have to wait for some record company to sign them on. There certainly were not many out there then.

How do you view Virgo Rising and its place in history?
I see the album as a definite marker in breaking through barriers to women and their ability to make music in the same way as had been traditional — being discovered by an A&R person for some label. Women learned they could manage the whole scene from studio to actual product. This had always been a mysterious and inaccessible world kept tightly bound by the industry moguls. It was also a unique gathering of a variety of women artists combining their music in a statement of their own. It opened doors of thought to others who were enlightened to think they could participate and have their own music heard.

What have you been doing since Virgo Rising?
I continued to freelance for various clients of all sorts. I specialized in live and acoustic work with some film and commercial production. Pacific Cascade Records was established to promote individual work and then evolved to produce early childhood educational albums with instructions to assist teachers to expand simple learning achievements through music and activity.

I found that it was very rewarding to help open up new horizons for those making and/or writing music and those who are more production-oriented. The music business is hard, requiring dedication far beyond what one might expect. The person who thinks it’s just a lot fun to get out there and tour from gig to gig, don’t realize the extraordinary commitment it requires.

JANET SMITH – www.BellaRomaMusic.com

What were you doing when Virgo Rising was created?
I was living in San Francisco, being a housewife and mother and working on writing a book about a mermaid named Ondine who lived in the NightSea. I also played guitar on commercials occasionally.

The Ondine project was a metaphorical story about a mermaid who lived in the NightSea and wanted to see what was on the land but had no way to get around out there. I conceived of a meeting with a Unicorn who came to the edge of the NightSea and offered to show her around.

Tell us about the songs that you perform on Virgo Rising?
This was the era of “women’s lib” and so, with ‘Freedom Ladies’ March’, I was poking a little fun at how we might have to change our habits and expectations a little. I think ‘Mama’s Peaches’ was related to that era as well.

At the time, I used to accompany Malvina Reynolds on guitar at local gigs. ‘Talking Want Ad’ is a talking blues I put together to handle the occasional announcement from her in the middle of a show, that “Janet Smith will now entertain you”. She would then walk off stage and leave me there alone, so I thought up this little ditty to sing on such occasions. Malvina told me that she really liked it and I know she laughed out loud when she first heard it. Eventually she started requesting it, probably as a comedy relief in her shows.

What have you been doing since Virgo Rising?
Joan Lowe, who recorded much of Malvina’s work, invited me to record an album of children’s songs on her Pacific Cascade label, which turned out nicely. It’s called I’m a Delightful Child, named after one of the songs, and my five and a half year old son sang on it.

Since then I have developed my own music publishing company, Bella Roma Music and worked with Professor Anne Kilmer of UC Berkeley on the significance of her findings about music in ancient near eastern texts. On the Bella Roma Music website, I sell her album, Sounds from Silence, and my own CD Seven Modes for an Ancient Lyre, which originated as a demo tape for her lectures on the subject.

I also learned a lot about the music industry when helping a friend, Anne Bredon, recover her connection to the song, ‘Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You’, recorded first by Joan Baez and then by Led Zeppelin and others. An entire book of Anne’s other songs The Gate at the End of the World is available on the Bella Roma site as well. All of the songs are really just as timeless and simple as ‘Babe’. Her ‘Moon Daughter’ and ‘The World Has Too Many Mountains’ are my favorites.

Doc Watson recorded my song, ‘She’s Gone Away’, while ‘Talking Want Ad’ on Peggy Seeger’s Penelope Isn’t Waiting Anymore, came out on Rounder Records years ago. Rosalie Sorrels has done a beautiful job recording ‘A Little Muscle’, on her Red House CD. ‘A Little Muscle’ talks about driving Malvina home after a gig and hearing how her efforts seemed hopeless when she felt tired, but how the occasional connection with an inspired young person gave her some strength to go on.

I also handle the publishing for ‘Grandma Slid Sown the Mountain’, by Rich Wilbur, which was recorded originally by The New Riders of the Purple Sage. It appears in a Walt Disney Touchstone movie Big Business with Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin and has also been recorded twice by Cathy Fink in her collections of children’s music tapes and videos.

Before I recorded Virgo Rising, I had done a solo album on Takoma records, Janet Smith —Vol I — The Unicorn, with guitarist Bob Wilson playing on half of the tracks. It has since been bought by Fantasy records, then Concord, and the title song, ‘The Unicorn’ is now downloadable from eMusic. Women’s Guitar Workshop by Kicking Mule had some guitar tunes, and I’ve done a lot of music transcribing, manuscript and tablature, including the first four years of Acoustic Guitar magazine.

At the moment I’m working with the material of Steve Mann, who recorded three beautiful albums in the 1960s. My experience in the music industry has enabled me to put up a web site for him, www.SteveMannGtr.com, to gradually re-establish connections with his friends and fans, and help reissue his work slowly, this time paying him royalties. Now there is also the www.myspace.com/SteveMannEurope site that is really beautiful, run by Birgit Hoffman in Germany. We have just issued an earlier album, Steve Mann, Live at the Ash Grove, on CD.

NANCY RAVEN – www.lizardsrockmusic.com

What were you doing when Virgo Rising was created?
I was teaching high school in North San Diego County and working at Washoe Pines Camp in the summer. I was living in Escondido, raising three kids as a single mom. The camp was great…’cause the kids could be there with me.

How did you become involved with Virgo Rising?
I think the woman who ran the camp was friends with Mollie, and had helped her produce some other works.

Tell us about the songs that you perform on Virgo Rising – your song ‘Welfare Blues’ and Ruthie Gorton’s song ‘Crazy Ruthie’?
Maya Miller, the camp owner, was a good friend of mine, and had done a lot of work with Welfare Rights early on. The stories she told about the work she had done inspired me to write ‘Welfare Blues’ [written in 1971 for the film, Welfare: Exploding the Myths]. Ruthie Gorton’s song had always been a favorite of mine, since I was the black sheep of my family. I sang it a lot, and I guess someone thought to put it on the album.

What was the process for recording those songs?
Boy…you’re talking ancient history here. Joan Lowe, my cousin, was hired to do the recording, since she had recorded a lot of albums for me when I started doing children’s music. I think she hauled all of her now ancient equipment down from Oregon to Nevada where we recorded (at the camp).

What other memories do you have about the making of Virgo Rising?
I can just remember having a lot of fun with it…working with Mollie was great, and having a then young Kit [Miller] singing the new words to an old folk song. Just the excitement of doing the music, and knowing all the other women who were going to be on it too.

How do you view Virgo Rising and its place in history?
I guess I didn’t realize its importance until years later when I saw in Ms. magazine or some other publication that it was the first of its kind in women’s music. That made me feel really proud.

What have you been doing since Virgo Rising?
I have done primarily children’s folk music. I continued to teach high school until my daughter became seriously ill, and I quit teaching to take care of her. This entailed a move to Berkeley where there were more possibilities for her lifestyle, It was then I really took on more recordings of folk music from around the world for children, hoping to teach kids about other countries through their music. After Jenny died, I toured extensively up and down the west coast singing in over 500 schools and libraries. I ended up with ten CDs. Now, at 79, I am still singing in libraries and schools, but not as often. I also drive Meals on Wheels, and do other volunteer work, and love living in Monterey.

KIT MILLER

What were you doing when Virgo Rising was created?
When Virgo Rising was recorded I was 17. I grew up in Washoe Valley, Nevada, where my song was recorded. But I had just been away, traveling on a school bus and camping out with an alternative high school all year.

How did you become involved with Virgo Rising?
It was summer and we were all in Nevada where our summer camp was happening. Mollie Gregory had been in Northern Nevada, helping my mother Maya, and Nancy Gomes make anti-poverty films. There was a lot of new thinking about women’s rights questions, which dovetailed with poverty issues and also came out of the civil rights, environmental and anti-war movements. Maya and Mollie and some people had the idea to make a women’s album.

Tell us about the song that you perform on Virgo Rising — ‘There was a Young Woman Who Swallowed a Lie’?
I played guitar, so they asked me to do the song. It was a take-off on a well-known folk song, ‘There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly’. In the original the old lady croaks after swallowing a horse (“she’s dead of course”).

The ‘Young Woman’ is a laundry list of the bill of goods sold to women, ideas that were accepted as normal, but that formed the foundation of a sexist society. The song has a happy ending – She ran to her sister, it wasn’t too late/To be liberated, regurgitate/She threw up the Spock and she threw up the ring, etc.

I don’t know where we got ‘There was a Young Woman Who Swallowed a Lie’…I knew the original version, which I had probably learned as a kid from Nancy Raven. Someone showed me the new feminist words, I played it a few times, and we recorded it there at the Foresta Building in Washoe Valley. I don’t remember the equipment — some kind of reel to reel I think. I don’t think I ever sang that song again. It was kind of a (really long) novelty song. I didn’t like it that much, but it was a pretty good list of inequities.

What memories do you have about the making of Virgo Rising?
My role in Virgo Rising was minimal. I was the youngest singer on the album [17]. Malvina Reynolds was the oldest [72]. So we had this cross-generational idea. But we were never all together — we recorded in different places.

The good songs on Virgo Rising were the originals by Nancy Raven, Charley’s Aunts, Janet Smith, Malvina Reynolds. These women had long careers as singers and songwriters. They were older than me and had gone through the sexism of the 1950s and 1960s. The songs reflected their experiences and the revelations women were having then about themselves and our society. Now some of the songs sound clichéd, but back then these were new ideas to most people, and they hadn’t been stated much in music.

How do you view Virgo Rising and its place in history?
Virgo Rising was one of the first women’s albums — all produced and performed by women, and all the songs were about women’s rights. It was a great collaborative effort. It was part of a can-do spirit that had grabbed our communities — we could make our own record! (directed by Mollie.) It was an independent production. It had no commercial success. I don’t know how or if they marketed it. But the music industry was very closed then. It was the early 1970s. Women’s record companies like Olivia and Redwood didn’t really exist until a few years later.

What have you been doing since Virgo Rising?
After Virgo Rising I went to college, worked as a fundraiser for women’s organizations and in the Central America peace movement. I was a news photographer, and I’ve worked in Brazil and other parts of Latin America. I have a husband and two daughters. I’ve lived in Nevada and California. Now I live in Palo Alto, California and teach English to foreign journalists and Mexican immigrant women. I still spend time in Washoe Valley, Nevada, where my mother Maya lived (she died in 2006), and I’m still good friends with Nancy Raven.

NANCY SCHIMMEL (daughter of Malvina Reynolds) – www.sisterschoice.com

What was Malvina doing when Virgo Rising was created?
She was living on Parker Street in Berkeley, California. That year she recorded her second children’s album, Funny Bugs, Giggleworms and Other Good Friends, with Nancy Raven. And I suppose she was watching Watergate, like everybody else.

In 1973, she also wrote the song, ‘Not the Shadow of a Man’, which was published in the May 1973 issue of San Francisco Women’s Newsletter.

To what extent did Malvina become involved in special projects like Virgo Rising?
The only other time she was on albums with other songwriters that I know about are recordings of performances at festivals.

How did Malvina view the songs that she wrote?
She wrote hundreds of songs, some personal, some political, some ephemeral, for a demonstration or campaign. She usually replied to people asking her to choose favorites by saying that was like asking a mother to name her favorite child. Or sometimes she said “The last one I wrote.” I know that feeling.

How did she feel about the process of recording her songs?
It was very tiring for her, and she worried about the expense.

Can you tell us about the songs that Malvina performs on Virgo Rising?
‘No Hole in My Head’ — She wrote this while I was in library school (1965) learning how to deal with censorship issues, but I don’t think there’s a connection.

‘No Room’ — I think this is her first song about abortion/population control, written in 1971 (another, ‘Rosie Jane’ was written in 1973). From the lyric site: The editors introduced this composition when Malvina published it in Sing Out! with the following words: “If you have not read Alice in Wonderland, some of the allusions in this song may escape you. ‘Alice’ is a good experience, so perhaps it’s worthwhile for you to read it if you haven’t, if only for the purpose of understanding ‘No Room.’ There may be some differences among singing people about the matter of population control, but, says Malvina, the right of a woman to control her own body, which is really the intent of this song, should not be questioned.”

‘We Don’t Need the Men’ — It was inspired, as the song says, by a 1956 article in Coronet magazine, and written that year. She changed “when we need to move the piano” to “when we’ve got a lot of dirty dishes” after she saw women moving pianos at women’s concerts in the seventies.

How are things going with the biography of Malvina (who died in 1978)?
Slowly. Interesting work, though.

Writing Malvina blog -http://web.mac.com/nancyschimmel

KATE BUTLER of Charley’s Aunts

What were you doing when Virgo Rising was created?
I was living in Las Vegas and I believe, at that time, that I was working as a paid fund raiser and publicity director for the Girl Scouts of Frontier Council (local council). I was also active as a volunteer for various community organizations, particularly those that benefited women and the environment.

How did you become involved with Virgo Rising?
I became involved through my friendship with Mollie Gregory and Maya Miller, who funded the production of the record. She wanted a singing group for the record, and asked me if I thought my sisters [Becky and Helen] and I would be interested. And we were.

Was Charley’s Aunts created just for Virgo Rising?
Yes, Charley’s Aunts was created just for the record, but because of our association with the record, Charley’s Aunts also performed together for at least four, maybe more, occasions. We became “Charley’s Aunts” because of a play of the same name and because we had a nephew (our brother Doug’s son) named Charley.

What was the process for recording those songs?
I vaguely remember a gathering of some of the singers, Mollie and Maya at Maya’s ranch in Washoe Valley, Nevada. I think its purpose was to introduce ourselves to each other. Once Helen, Becky and I were involved, we spent many hours practicing separately in our own homes and together in the San Francisco Bay area. (I lived in Las Vegas at the time, and Becky and Helen, in Berkeley and San Rafael, respectively). We were recorded by Joan Lowe at my Mother’s (Kay Adams) home in San Rafael. I believe the recording took two or three days. Mollie oversaw these recording sessions. Later, at Mollie’s request, I wrote out and copyrighted the arrangements for ‘Housewives Lament’ and ‘Union Maid’; I believe that Helen and Becky did the same for their songs.

What other memories do you have about the making of Virgo Rising?
Those days were such fun for me. Being at Mom’s home and working on this project with my own sisters was special. The project brought the three of us together at a time when we were living apart with our own families and involved in different activities. We were close as children growing up, but Virgo Rising gave us a new, a more mature closeness as adults that we wouldn’t have had without the project. And Mom got involved too. It was like four sisters working together on something we all believed in and loved.

Working with Mollie and Maya was great. Both were leaders in their respective fields with creative minds and a wonderful sense of humor. Being with them was always enjoyable.

How do you view Virgo Rising and its place in history?
I didn’t realize at the time of the recording that Virgo Rising had an impact on the women’s movement. Later, when I was part of a five-member women’s band (Ribbons and Straw) and we were performing at UNLV (the University of Nevada at Las Vegas), I met some other women who were also performing at the same concert. When I was identified as a singer on Virgo Rising, these women told me they considered Virgo Rising an important part of the beginning of the gay movement.

What have you been doing since Virgo Rising?
Since Virgo Rising, I have been involved in women’s movement politics, primarily as the Nevada head of the effort to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. The ERA passed in the Nevada Legislature but failed in the Nevada Senate.

I have also been active musically with the all-women band, Ribbons and Straw. Our band published two records of our own — the first on tape only, and the second on both tape and CD format. I also published a CD entitled Lullabies for Lyndsey, which is the name of my second granddaughter. The singers and instrumentalists for the CD were both family and members of the Ribbons and Straw band. All volunteered their time and talents to the project. My mother, in her late 90s, sang a lullaby taught to her by her grandmother. It was the first time she had been recorded in a professional studio.

I have recently committed Virgo Rising to CD format. I did this for my sister Becky shortly after the deaths of both my mother and my sister Helen. More people asked for the CD, so with Mollie’s permission and Becky’s assistance in editing the first copy, we have made a few more Virgo Risings.

I was honored to be asked to participate in Virgo Rising and work alongside the other women artists. I believe that it has been important to the women’s movement, and especially, to my own life.

BECKY MILLS of Charley’s Aunts

What were you doing when Virgo Rising was created?
I was working as the President of Advocates for Women, a women’s economic development center, in the San Francisco Bay area. AFW worked mainly in the area of employment. We were the primary recruitment and training agency for women interested in management and blue collar positions. We played a major role in opening the building trades to women — ironworkers, carpenters, electricians, telephone installers and lineworkers, and the like. We also conducted workshops helping women re-consider their skills and talents and re-enter the workforce in all sorts of positions. I was living in Berkeley with my husband and small daughter.

How did you become involved with Virgo Rising?
My sister Kate told me about it. It was a very exciting idea. Kate, Helen, and I had sung at a couple of women’s conferences. Kate and I especially were involved in the women’s movement.

Can you tell us about the songs that Charley’s Aunts perform on Virgo Rising?
‘Housewives’ Lament’ — We (I think it was Kate) found ‘Housewives’ Lament’ in a folk song book.

‘Union Maid’ was an old favorite. I had been involved, along with my friend Fanchon Lewis, in a strike at the University of California by the building trades (the University was proposing to establish new positions which would not be building trades positions, in order to lower wage costs — although the persons in the positions would still be performing building trade work). The Administrative Workers’ Union members walked out in support. Fanchon and I wrote the new verses after a meeting of the employees on strike.

‘Cut and Dried’ was written by our sister Helen some years before, and we had enjoyed singing it.

‘Sister!’ was written by Fanchon some years earlier and I had written music for it and sung it for Fanchon’s fortieth birthday.

What was the process for recording those songs?
I remember recording over a two-day period at the home of my parents, with Joan Lowe. We probably rehearsed beforehand as well. My mother took care of my young daughter while we worked.

What other memories do you have about Virgo Rising?
We had a lot of fun. It was a special time for us as sisters, and we enjoyed very much working with Joan. In those years it was unusual for a sound engineer to be a woman and we were impressed. I remember hearing other cuts — by Janet Smith, Malvina Reynolds, and others — and being very impressed as well. I remember having to learn how to pronounce “p” without popping it — we had to re-record several times before we all got it.

How do you view Virgo Rising and its place in history?
I remember visiting a friend in Chicago and going to a party at Susan Davis’ home (one of the women’s movement leaders at the time) and hearing Virgo Rising playing — she had of course put it on since I was coming, but still, it was the one and only women’s movement album that I knew of. As for its place in history, I really don’t know. It was a first.

What have you been doing since Virgo Rising?
I was with AFW ’til 1976. Then worked as a fundraiser/trainer consultant. I joined the National Park Service in 1978 as Western Regional Chief of Youth Employment Programs and then became Equal Opportunity Officer until 1995 when I moved to Great Basin National Park in Nevada as Superintendent. I retired in 2002, moved back to Berkeley and now volunteer with conservation organizations and as a grandmother.

I raised two wonderful daughters who are now 39 and 34. Together with their dad (we separated in 1976) and his new son’s Mom, (and later my new partner Dave) we lived close by each other and developed a “blended family”. I now have six grandchildren, including steps (ages 1 to 16).

I play and sing for fun occasionally — one of my daughters is a professional musician and music teacher.

Our sister Helen died in 2005 — we miss her. I see Kate as often as I can.

KAREN WILSON (daughter of Helen Tucker)

Can you tell us about Helen and what she was doing when Virgo Rising was created?
Mom was an activist through music and word, writing both music and poetry. I think she felt music and singing were certainly pleasurable, politic vehicles, and personal expression. She was a passionate, genuine person. She heartily supported and argued for equal rights for African Americans (we said “blacks” then) and women, even going door to door campaigning for the civil rights movement with my (then small) brother in tow. She was tough and fair and my favorite description of her that someone once said was she was “small but mighty”, which fits her perfectly.

When Virgo Rising was created, Mom was living in San Rafael, California, a single (divorced) mother of four, or more depending on which teenage friend of my brothers needed a place to stay or “crash” as they would say. She had graduated with her teaching credential from Sonoma State University a couple of years prior and was teaching at Davidson Middle School in San Rafael. Her oldest three children were in high school (whew!).

She would play guitar and sing at every family gathering with Becky, Kate and nephew Charley, and various other family members — both songs she and my Aunts wrote and well-known family favorite folk songs. She would sometimes perform at local clubs or cafes in the bay area (more often in Marin County), always with other musician friends of hers in duets or larger bands. She sang or played guitar with folk groups, Latin, jazz and folk performers, other acoustic guitarists, a friend of my brother’s who played flute, Bola Sete in his earlier days, and other mixed-genre friends. Many times she had practice-sessions in our home if the group wasn’t too large. She also wrote and performed a beautiful folk song about Martin Luther King’s death called ‘I Have a Dream’ which she performed at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco — this is one of my favorites. Much later in her life, she had a CD composed of her singing her songs and a few others, which she gave as a gift to many in her family. Most of the songs were recorded much earlier in her life as she developed emphysema and had difficulty singing after that.

Mom had a love of folk music in general. She shared this love with her children as the house was full of the music of Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, the Limelighters, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, international folk singers, many others I can’t recall. It certainly spoke to her and she sang back. Music was as much a part of her being as was taking a breath. She celebrated, mourned, reflected, lamented, dreamed and loved through and with music.

Can you tell us about Helen’s song ‘Cut and Dried’?
‘Cut and Dried’ was probably written out of the end of her marriage. She married at 22 and had expectations of a partnership in love and family. She divorced in 1967, after 12 years of marriage, and this was not common at the time. In fact, she was considered a bit of a shady character and a black sheep by neighbors after this. She may have needed to reconcile her feelings, expectations, societal expectations whether right or wrong, and her sense of who she was.

Do you have any memories about the making of Virgo Rising?
My memories of Virgo Rising include the great enthusiasm shared by Mom and my aunts, and my grandparents, about the recording. Vaguely, I remember some recording sessions at my grandparent’s house in San Rafael. Microphone stands, chairs, cables and reel to reel recording equipment occupied the living room and behind them a spectacular view of the San Francisco Bay. We kids, having heard these songs many times before performed by Mom and our aunts, were less interested in the cause and more the unusual occurrence of the making of an album. Alas we were not always quiet or lost interest so went off to play, watch TV or swim (as children do). I remember hearing the names of the other artists but did not know the connection to the women’s movement at that time. Fortunately, growing up in my mother’s house, we just expected that women had equal rights.

Do know how Helen viewed Virgo Rising and its place in history?
She was enthusiastic and serious about it during the planning and recording. And she was very proud of participating and having been recorded when the finished product arrived. She did not share her hopes or its significance to her, with me. I now wish that I knew this. I do know that she was a strong advocate for equal rights for women and had to confront subtle inequality or blatant prejudice against her gender in her life and career from time to time, but I am not aware of how or if the creation of Virgo Rising impacted her response.

What did Helen do after Virgo Rising?
She continued to perform with bands locally off and on, she started casually recording songs at home and at friends’ homes, and recorded some of her performances at venues. I think the recording of Virgo Rising opened the door to her doing her own recording on a reel, then later, cassette tapes. These were mostly for personal use by her and her friends. I don’t think she was featured on any other albums after Virgo Rising. I have some of her tapes of her singing with friends that she had saved. She also sang in small clubs with a friend, John Spencer, in Seattle where he lived. They dreamed of having a little waterfront cafe with open mic for local folk singers and other musicians. It would have been called, Persephone’s.

Charley Adams (nephew of Kate Butler, Rebecca Mills, Helen Tucker)

How are you related to Kate, Becky and Helen?
Kate, Becky and Helen are my aunts on my Father’s side. We used to have the big family party at our house at Christmas and everyone would show up with their instruments and voices, and have a great time playing and singing. I have very fond memories of hearing the harmonies from my aunts at the Christmas parties.

How did Charley’s Aunts come to take your name?
They asked me one day if I would mind them using my name for their group. I was pretty young and didn’t really get the tie in with the play until my Dad explained it to me. I thought it was pretty cool that they wanted to use my name, and I felt a great deal of pride about it. I still brag to anyone who will listen that my aunts had a group and made a record, and that they named the group after me.

Do you have any memories about the making of Virgo Rising?
The only memories I have about the making of the album are Kate, Helen and Becky asking to use my name, and what they were planning to do. Then when the album was done I got a copy which I played pretty frequently, to the point that when I hear one of the songs on the radio like last night, I still remember the words and can sing along. Friends ask how I know the words to these songs they have never heard…I still have the original album in my collection.

How do you view Virgo Rising and its place in history?
I was pretty young when they put the album out and didn’t really grasp the whole idea of what it was about. I understood there was a women’s rights movement idea but didn’t really realize how much it mattered to everyone. I grew up in an environment where everyone got treated with respect and until I got older I just thought that was the way the world was and that everyone felt the same way. I listen now to the songs and realize they were really making a statement with the album and pushing for equality across the board which I believe really made a difference to a lot of people. My aunts aren’t the kind of people to sit back and complain, they get involved and work to make a difference for the better.

Have you had any music industry involvement since Virgo Rising?
The only music industry involvement since Virgo Rising for me is purchasing music and attending concerts. I play and sing with family and friends, (and of course in the shower where everyone can be a star!) but nothing close to the level of Virgo Rising. I play for my girls at bed time much like my father did for me and my brothers and sisters. They are now singing along with a lot of the old songs and that is what it’s all about !!!! ))

Kate sent me a CD of the Virgo Rising album awhile back. I played it and started tearing up when I heard Kate, Helen and Becky singing harmony again. Their voices worked together so well, and they all three had such talent. I am proud to be their nephew, and to have had a part in the name of their group. Growing up I always felt special because they had used my name for the group. As I grew up I used to enjoy teasing them about the women’s liberation movement (mostly chauvinistic jabs just to get a rise) but I also grew more proud of them when I realized the energy and efforts they made to create a better world.

And now back to Virgo Rising producer, MOLLIE GREGORY…

“It is wonderful to have a memory that shines like light and music. Making Virgo Rising was pure pleasure. I have always remembered the joyous sensation of experiencing music, our goals as women, and the politics of life, fused!”

Album info

Virgo Rising: The Once and Future Woman (Thunderbird Records, Reno, Nevada, USA, 1973)
Produced by: Mollie Gregory
Production consultant and recordist: Joan Lowe
Cover art: Josephine Cameron
Layout designer: Marie Simirenko
Photos: Barbara Renan, Eleanor M Lawrence, Katharine Mordock Adams

Side A
Freedom Ladies’ March
Words and music by Janet Smith
Played and sung by Janet Smith

No Hole in My Head
Words and music by Malvina Reynolds
Played and sung by Malvina Reynolds

Housewives’ Lament
Old American Folk Song
Played and sung by Charley’s Aunts

Talking Want Ad
Words and music by Janet Smith
Played and sung by Janet Smith

Crazy Ruthie
Words and music by Ruthie Gorton
Played and sung by Nancy Raven

New Country Rock
Themes composed by Janet Smith, based on Stefan Grossman’s ‘Old Country Rock’, originally by William Moore
Played by Janet Smith

Union Maid
Words by Woody Guthrie; tune: ‘Redwing’
Additional lyrics by Fanchon Lewis and Rebecca Mills
Played and sung by Charley’s Aunts

Side B
Mama’s Peaches
Words and music by Janet Smith
Played and sung by Janet Smith

No Room
Words and music by Malvina Reynolds
Sung by Malvina Reynolds

There was a Young Woman who Swallowed a Lie
Words by Meredith Tax, to the traditional tune of ‘There was an Old Woman who Swallowed a Fly’
Played and sung by Kit Miller

Cut and Dried
Words and music by Helen Tucker
Played and sung by Charley’s Aunts

We Don’t Need the Men
Words and music by Malvina Reynolds
Played and sung by Malvina Reynolds

Welfare Blues
Words and music by Nancy Raven
Played and sung by Nancy Raven

Sister!
Words by Fanchon Lewis; Music by Rebecca Mills
Played and sung by Charley’s Aunts

SUE BARRETT is an Australian music writer, with a special interest in women in music. Sue’s article celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Malvina Reynolds (‘Malvina Reynolds — Too Many Helpless Ones I Can’t Defend’) appeared in the October 2000 issue of Rhythms magazine. Her article, ‘Revelation in the Studio: Women Producers and Engineers’ (which features Joan Lowe and seven other female producers/engineers), can be found at www.femmusic.com/interviews%202001/theproducers.htm

© 2008