FolkBlog

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.

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