Judy Collins

FOLK STORYTELLER, LEGEND

What music are you currently grooving to?

I like to listen to Jimmy Webb, Adele, some classical, usually Bach cello suites played by [Pablo] Casals.

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album?

Bringing It All Back Home, Dylan. I think it’s the perfect LP. I was there at a party at Al Grossman’s home in Woodstock when I first heard Dylan working out Mr Tambourine Man. It was late at night, and I heard singing, so I left my room and sat on the stairs by myself listening to him write the song. What a magical moment!

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?

It was called The Gypsy Rover, I bought it in 1955, at Wells Music in Denver. It was from The Black Knight, movie. The song was transformative, it started my love of folk music.

Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be?

Andrea Bocelli. He’s a remarkable talent and I would love to hear our voices together.

What do you sing in the shower?

Usually something by William Butler Yeats, like The Golden Apples Of The Sun (AKA The Song Of Wandering Aengus). I don’t perform it live any more, so the shower is a perfect venue.

What is your favourite Saturday night record?

Rubber Soul, The Beatles. I’ve loved this album since the moment I heard In My Life, it changed me as much as meeting Leonard Cohen or hearing Joni Mitchell songs.

And your Sunday morning record?

Jimmy Webb’s El Mirage album… if I fall in love with a song, it sticks with me for years. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is one of those songs that lives in my heart.

Judy Collins tours the UK from September. See judycollins.com for info.

Rhoda Dakar

STILL RUDER THAN YOU

What music are you currently grooving to?

Gentleman’s Dub Club – you can put it on and just enjoy without it being in your face, as it were – and an Amapiano mix, which is dance music, but distilled through a South African lens – young people music!

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album?

Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World. I literally played it to death. And it has the only prog track that I can stomach on it, The Width Of A Shervin Lainez, Dean Chalkley Circle. It’s quite bass heavy, I think that’s part of the appeal.

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?

Millie’s My Boy Lollipop. My cousin Janice took me to buy it in Desmond’s Hip City in Brixton. It was no later than, like, ’66. I still own it. Janice liked Millie as well – her parents used to live in Lagos and she actually saw Millie play live in Nigeria.

Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be?

I admired people and I may have copied stuff they did but I never wanted to be them. I used to do impressions of Desmond Dekker and Shirley Bassey, singing Israelites and Big Spender, at family parties, I suppose that’s nearest to it.

What do you sing in the shower?

I don’t. Do what you need to do and get out.

What is your favourite Saturday night record?

Somebody Else’s Guy by Jocelyn Brown. I’ll put on a rare groove mix and then dance to it vigorously in my front room for an hour, just as exercise.

And your Sunday morning record?

When I used to hang out with Steve Jones and Paul Cook, on Sunday mornings I’d play these records they had that I could never afford – skinhead reggae, The Harder They Come album, some Tighten Up volumes… anything with a Delroy Wilson vocal is very Sunday morning.

Rhoda Dakar’s Version Girl is out on May 26 on Sunday Best Recordings.

Durand Jones

LOUISIANA SOUL

What music are you currently grooving to?

Stevie Wonder’s Hotter Than July, over and over. It’s such an extensive, genre-bending album. Soulful and rock’n’roll grooves, dance, country, reggaeton, beautiful ballads… and Happy Birthday! That record shows me how extensive I can be too.

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album?

Right now, Dionne Warwick’s Just Being Myself. She’d just left Bacharach and David and was trying things that felt true to her soul. It’s got beautiful ballads – if I had to listen to one song every day, it would be You Are The Heart Of Me. I also relate to the title track. And I can dance to You’re Gonna Need Me.

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?

Jay-Z’s The Blueprint, at Walmart in Gonzalez, Louisiana. I begged my dad to buy it for me ’cos I loved that tune (starts singing) “I love girls, girls, girls, girls…” I was only six or seven.

This is weird to say ’cos I’m a dude, but Whitney Houston circa the late- ’80s to the mid-’90s. Her voice could do whatever she wanted it to do. Saxophone-wise, either Cannonball [Adderley] or Sonny Stitt.

Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be?

“We’d drive to gigs, smoking blunts, listening to Herbie Hancock.”

DURAND JONES

What do you sing in the shower?

Right now, Lately by Stevie Wonder.

What is your favourite Saturday night record?

I Thought It Was You by Herbie Hancock. When I was living in New Orleans, me and my good friend Miles would drive to gigs, smoking blunts, listening to that one. The perfect way to start the night.

And your Sunday morning record?

Nearer My God To Thee by Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers – the live version. It’s before his soulful crooner stage, he’s still getting gritty and he drives and pushes it so hard. The girls are just going crazy for Sam! He just takes it there.

Durand Jones’s Wait Til I Get Over is out on May 5 on Dead Oceans.