Today, on July 12th, the great Judy Dyble passed away after courageous fight with cancer. She was 71, yet age and time were the concepts which the English singer perceived from a different, deeply personal, poetical and philosophical perspective, seeing it all as an opportunity to fill the world with wondrous images and sounds, which is why fame didn’t mean anything to her. Judy always found it surprising that she became part of folk-rock narrative.
“I don’t have a huge amount of confidence, so I’m always pleased and delighted, when people say, ‘Oh yes, you were in that band, and you did this and you did that.’ And I think, ‘Gosh, they remember!'” – said Dyble during our longest conversation How can’t they, though, given she was the original vocalist with FAIRPORT CONVENTION, the voice of GILES, GILES AND FRIPP, and a half of TRADER HORNE? Still, these legendary collectives figured prominently on the veteran’s résumé, Judy’s latter-day reinvention of herself mattered much more to those who knew the lady. Having emerged from self-imposed obscurity at the onset of 2000’s – she walked away from music three decades earlier to focus on family – Dyble created an enviable, enchanting body of work as a solo artist, and also lent her voice to a variety of interesting projects.
More so, she started playing concerts, her latest album being a live one, "Weaving Of A Silver Magic" – a brilliant document of Judy’s ability to perform before the audience, something she hadn’t seemed to come to grips with for years. “If I’m just being normal me, I’m fairly introvert,” – she remarked. – “But if I’m being Judy Dyble, then I can be quite extrovert, especially if I’m nattering on Facebook or something like that.” And natter Dyble did, making any kitchen-sink detail feel lyrical, especially when she was talking about greyhounds: old dogs Judy used to adopt and care for before they faded away. It’s these creatures that she wanted fans who will be downloading her new tracks from Bandcamp for free – out-takes from the forthcoming album the singer recorded with BIG BIG TRAIN’s David Longdon – to help by donating to a charity the singer chose.
Judy and myself were in touch quite regularly, and I’ll miss our exchanges. She was precious and noble. Sleep well, sweet lady.
