Holly Near (born June 6, 1949 in Ukiah, California) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, teacher, and activist. (More from Wikipedia)
Probably the best known of the women’s music artists is Holly Near, although she is even more familiar as a left-wing political activist. Holly Near grew up as a “red diaper baby” of committed leftist parents in Northern California and auditioned for Columbia Records when she was just 10 years old. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, Holly Near appeared in several films, including Slaughterhouse Five and The Todd Killings, as well as television shows like All in the Family, The Mod Squad and The Partridge Family.
By the way, there might be a few out there who remember a song by the controversial punk rock band the Angry Samoans called “The Todd Killings”; if I remember right, they performed the song on New Wave Theatre one night.
After touring with Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden in their “Indochina Peace Campaign” in 1971 and 1972, Holly Near began writing songs and performing in the Los Angeles area. Unable to land a record company deal, she released her debut album in 1973, Hang in There on her own label, Redwood Records (which she started a few years before Olivia Records came along). She often toured with Olivia Records artists and performed on some of their albums, including The Changer and the Changed; but her early albums were released on Redwood.
In 1983, Holly Near teamed up with Ronnie Gilbert, formerly with the legendary folk group the Weavers, for the first of several albums. The duo also collaborated with another former Weaver, Pete Seeger plus Arlo Guthrie in a group called HARP, named after the initials in their first names.
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Women’s music performances became natural additions to gay and lesbian gatherings of all types and sizes; before long, Woodstock-style women’s music festivals began to take place as well. The most prominent is the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival – “womyn” is an alternate spelling of “women” without having to say “men” – and this one is still being held annually since its founding in 1976, although it is evidently more of a women-only, clothing-optional camping event now.
Women’s music artists for the most part are not particularly political or polemic – with the exception of Holly Near, and even she is normally not focused on gay/lesbian issues – so non–lesbian-identified performers have dropped by from time to time.
(January 2014)
