The Difficult, Adventurous, Happy Life Of Rosalie Sorrels

Rosalie Sorrels died this week, at her daughter Holly's house in Reno, Nevada, with her daughter Shelley and son Kevin at her side. She was 83 years old, and had crammed a lot of living into those years. The New York Times quoted an old piece of mine in its obituary: "She traveled around the country while raising five children. She drinks strong men under the table and is the first one up in the morning, bright and cheery and planning one of her famous dinners. And she can make the noisiest barroom crowd shut up and listen when she sings."

I was surprised to see that quote — she counted more-famous writers among her fans and friends. Hunter S. Thompson and Ken Kesey were particularly close — Thompson wrote the liner notes to her 1972 LP, declaring, "Some of Rosalie's songs are so close to the bone that I get nervous listening to them." Studs Terkel wrote notes to another, and inmagazine, Nat Hentoff called her "an uncommonly personal and probing singer and composer" and promised, "She's not well known yet, but she will be." A film clip from the Woodstock festival that year, below, shows her singing in a field, backed by Jerry Garcia and David Bromberg. The next year, Hentoff included her in a list of his favorite albums.