Collie Ryan is a student of Theosophy who privately pressed three records in 1973. This project was funded by her friends at New Age Farms carrot and fresh juice company in Lompoc, California, and the records were distributed at shows at the Sun and Earth Health Food Store and Restaurant in Santa Barbara. The songs on these albums are mostly about the theosophist concepts of karma and reincarnation in its many aspects.
Colllie completely dropped off the grid shortly after these records were made and lives somewhere in West Texas working as an artist, painting mandalas on hubcaps.
The Rainbow Records is a 3CD box set of the Collie's three albums by Yoga Records and Riverman Music. It features new cover art, three photo cards, and excellent liner notes by Collie's friend Tommie Zook.
Yoga Records, in association with Riverman Music, is proud to present this 3CD box set -- the first-ever CD reissue of these breathtaking obscure folk gems by Texas Collie Ryan. Collie Ryan privately-pressed three albums in 1973, The Giving Tree, Indian Harvest, and Takin Your Turn Round The Corner Of Day. These records were funded in part by Collies friends at the New Age Farms carrot and fresh juice company in Lompoc, California, and shortly after their recording, Collie devoted her life to nature and moved completely off the grid. Collies mesmerizing sound remained largely a secret until "Cricket," one of the tracks from Indian Harvest, surfaced on Numero Groups stellar Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies From The Canyon compilation in 2006. Collies cosmic music is almost solely based around her high, bird-like voice and nylon guitar picking, and her lyrics reflect her lifelong study of theosophy and naturalist living. Even today, Collie lives largely outside of what would be considered "regular" society, residing in a converted 1930s school bus in the middle of a Texas desert and painting mandalas on hub cabs, while continuing to produce her very special and personal music. This 3CD box set, entitled The Rainbow Records, features a new painting by Collie, fantastic liner notes by partner-in-crime Tommie Zook, and never-before-seen photographs. The tracks have been completely remastered from the original master tapes in a 24-bit remaster, and are housed in a paper sleeve and slipcase. A sun-kissed bevy of quirky, circular, acoustic guitar-picked metaphysical song cycles, topped by Collies unfailingly sweet, clear trill. Surely, Ryan belongs alongside such queens of the folk pantheon as Vashti Bunyan, Linda Perhacs, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joni Mitchell, Sibelle Baier, Ruthann Friedman, etc. This is a haunting collection that simply should not be missed. - Rainbow.
A devoted Theosophist and naturalist, singer and guitarist Collie Ryan released three private press LPs in the early 1970s before (mostly) dropping off the grid to spend her days painting hubcaps in the desert. Released with the help of some friends who ran a juice company and sold only at shows and shops in and around Southern California, Takin' Your Turn 'Round the Corner of Day, Indian Harvest, and The Giving Tree were slight in stature, and yet showcased the beautiful depth of Ryan's honey-soaked voice and intuitive, singular finger-picking style. Though those three LPs fell into one of time's many cracks, her inclusion on the Numero Group's great 2006 compilation Ladies from the Canyon brought her sound to a whole new audience. Now, following up on the LP-only best of collection released a while back, comes The Rainbow Records, a three disc set that presents her albums in their entirety for the first time since original release. A gifted vocalist and passionate lyricist, Ryan's music sits easily with the acid folk set, yet the simplicity and conviction of her work makes for music that sounds surprisingly timeless today.
All released in 1973, Ryan's three albums were culled from hundreds of songs that she tended to write as a result of intense philosophical discussions. And while it covers three distinct releases, The Rainbow Records flows beautifully, effortlessly conveying the clarity of Ryan's artistic vision while providing a window into her spiritual dialogues. There's a gorgeous shimmer to tracks like The Giving Tree's "I'd Ask You to Wait" and "Lark Flies," both showcasing the ways in which her soaring voice weaves over and under the nylon strings of her guitar. More urgent songs tend to dot Indian Harvest, as we travel deeper into Ryan's world, with both the title track and songs like "Brother Sun - Sister Moon" displaying a marked emotional complexity. Highlighting some of her strongest material, Takin' Your Turn 'Round the Corner of the Day closes out the set, shining a light on the soaring "High Gulls Flying" and "Chalice of Light," in which her voice almost seems to descend from the clouds. Better still is "Such a Soft and Sudden Calling," a track that introduces the gentle crash of waves to the mix, providing a natural accompaniment to the ethereal reverb of Ryan's voice. Solid end to end, fans of outsider folkies like Linda Perhacs and Sibylle Baier would do well to make some room for Collie Ryan's The Rainbow Records on their playlists.
-Michael Crumsho (November 5, 2009)
LINER NOTES:
Collie Ryan: A Magical Mystery
My husband at the time found Collie on Mount Shasta and brought her to the Colorado River where several of us were staying. We had left Yucca Valley where hundreds of hippies from all over the United States came together. How we all came to be there at that time is still a mystery. It was the High Desert’s Haight-Ashbury.
We were camping at a spot on the Arizona side called the “Indians Own Campsite”. Collie sang only Donovan’s songs at the time and had not written any herself. She also painted beautiful pictures of Buddhas and Hindu Goddesses on our canvas walls. Larry Creech asked her to write some “occult” songs, occult meaning “hidden”. She agreed and created the first of over 700 mystical songs she wrote during and since that magical time.
The songs came in batches. She was sort of like “The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs”. They were usually written after deep discussions of philosophy between her and Larry, who was a student of Theosophy and an Associate of The United Lodge of Theosophists. The topics were of the Universal Brotherhood of Man, the Oneness of Life, the Journey of the Soul, and other universal concepts. We had become like Gypsies, wanderers, seekers of Truth.
It was happening in many places in the States. I guess that’s why they called us “Flower Children”. We were like families of wild flowers springing up in different areas. No one really knows how or why, but I think it was an awakening, or a pouring down upon us of Soul Light.
We moved to the California side of the river and set up a better camp with a butane stove and refrigerator, and built a shelter from wood and things we found in the desert. Lots of friends and hippies from Los Angeles and Yucca Valley came and Collie sang around the fire every night. In the mornings the deer mice would dance for us jumping high in the air and we would feed them cornmeal pancakes.
We finally left the river after a year or so and went our separate ways. Larry, Katherine and I started a Carrot Juice Factory in Lompoc California called “New Age Farms”. We wanted to do something to help the Hopi Indians. We had visited them and Collie had done a concert for them. Our association with them and reading books about the plight of the American Indians inspired many of the Indian songs in the album “Indian Harvest”. We had started “The Colorado River Gold Mining Company” and produced three albums for Collie.
The juice factory, New Age Farms was like a Fellini movie. We hired all the beautiful girls that were living in Lompoc while their boyfriends were in Lompoc Prison.
Collie was living in Watsonville with her family and she came down to do concerts at The Sun and Earth Health Food Store and Restaurant in Isla Vista. That’s where we sold some of the albums.
We sold the juice factory and bought a place in Yucca Valley. Collie moved in with us to continue working on her paintings and music. There were many wonderful musicians there. Young and old came together. It was something good for the community. Donovan was living in Joshua Tree at the time and he sang at the concert too.
Collie left and moved to Big Bend Texas, but never stopped writing songs and we visited each other many times.
There are so many amazing songs. They came as one, with the melody, words and guitar all together. She didn’t write the words and then add the music. Many of them contain ideas from the Bagavad Gita and the Vedas of India. We continued studying Ancient Religions.
It was a time of awakening to the Brotherhood of Man and the Pilgrimage of Soul. I guess you could leave out the Theosophical aspect and call it philosophy but that wouldn’t really explain it truthfully.
Collie has maintained the “River Life”. She totally dropped out so to speak and has lived directly with nature all these years, surviving by selling her hubcap paintings. This has enabled her to keep the songs alive and write new ones.
The River Camp has come to an end after 35 years and is being turned into a golf course. Will another spot in nature open up for her as a home base? What will be the future of my friend, this amazing lady, an artist, a poet, and a Songbird unparalleled?
Tommie Lee Zook, 2009
Named after Rainbow Recording in Santa Barbara, the studio where Collie Ryan recorded her three LPs in 1973. This beautiful set of CDs reproduces the originals in unprecidented fidelity -- 24-bit transfered from perfectly preserved master tapes by JD Emmanuel and (necessarily & respectfully, and perfectly) remixed by Jae-Soo Yi of Riverman Music. Includes paper sleeves replicating the original covers, slipcase with new artwork by Ms. Ryan, three photo cards, and liner notes by Collie's friend Tommie Zook, who saved Collie's tapes and provides a rare & compelling look at the desert people who inspired this music. Over two hours of genuinely essential folk psych for all fans of Perhacs et al. Available now from Other Music, Amoeba, Fuestron, Forced Exposure, and other fine stores. Also available for discounted download at Other Music Digital.
"Three cds may be a lot to take in all at once, but such visionary singers come around so rarely that it's a truly a transcendent experience to be completely absorbed in her blissful cosmology." -- Aquarius Records
Tracklist
Disc 1 - The Giving Tree
1. We're Gettin' By
2. The Giving Tree
3. The Children's Song
4. On Out Over The North Star
5. Life Is A Merry-Go-Round
6. I'd Ask You To Wait
7. Summer Cat
8. Build Me A City
9. If All Your Life Was Spoken For
10. Bye Bye Star
11. Walkin'
12. Ride A Dark Horse
13. Give Away Your Love
14. I'm Lookin' All The Day
15. Lark Flies
Disc 2 - Indian Harvest
1. Prairie Day Lady
2. Indian Harvest
3. Old Man
4. Turquoise
5. Brother Sun-Sister Moon
6. Cricket
7. Walk Upon The Land
8. Ecology Song
9. Watching The Grain Growing
10. Maiden Of Green
11. Owl Of Winter Fortnight
12. Warrior And Star Maiden
13. It's Gonna Rain
Disc 3 - Takin' Your Turn 'Round the Corner of Day
1. Nothin' But Changes
2. High Gulls Flying
3. Chalice Of Light
4. Gypsy Travel Song
5. Such A Soft And Sudden Calling
6. The Well And The Lady
7. Who In The Doorway
8. Starbright (Song Of Silence)
9. 1975 Losin' It All Bues
10. Bridge Of Stone
11. Talkin' 'Bout You
12. Hole In The Bucket
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