There's quite the facination with the "live fast, die young" artist, but there's even more allure to the "tortured genius, unknown poet, dead too young artist" (though my attempt at defining the marketing aspect is dreadful!) Janis, Jimi, Jim Morrison -- there's your first example, Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley are in the second, sensitive camp (and I think part of Kurt Cobain's appeal is that he could stand in both). Add Judee Sill to the list: jail time, junkie time, Jesus time -- she did it all. 2 wonderful but woefully unknown albums, an accident that saw her slide back into illegal pain relief, and then the accidental OD. Her two albums are suffused with Catholic/gospel chords and metaphors, coupled with a laconic drawl and startingly inventive melodic meandering. Reissued and rediscovered on a small scale, she really is worth finding. I put her away for a while (there is a whiff of mothball that keeps her of her time), but a recent re-listening reminded me of our loss and her great gifts.
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