Altho Cynthia Gooding was my first love in folk music, Judy Collins was and is a close second. I have her remarkable first few albums to thank for a lot of the songs I love to sing. I still remember seeing her during a recording session...can't remember how I was lucky enough to be in the small audience, took the day off work, it was somewhere in Hollywood. She was doing Pretty Polly, a hard song to do over and over, but because of external glitches of one kind or another she had to do several takes. She apologized to her audience but there was no need...every rendition was perfect, yet every one was different, every one powerful and affecting. It was a stunning display of poise, grace, talent and consumate professionalism.