Last year Disappear Fear released a CD that I feel has just
not received enough exposure. Now, first off, I don't want anyone to be
confused about Sonia and her many releases. She and her sister Cindy began as
Disappear Fear around 1988 and for the first ten years they were billed that
way. Then Cindy wanted to step away from performing and for a few years the
releases were just by Sonia. Starting around 2005 Cindy would at times guest in
the studio, but just as often there was a backing band, and the CDs were then by Sonia & Disappear Fear. But this latest
CD is special. As it harkens back to the beginning, with both Sonia and Cindy
harmonizing and doing very special material, this one is billed just as by
Disappear Fear.
Gee, that was a longer explanation than I intended, but
then, Sonia's story is one I want newcomers to know. Okay, what is special
about this latest CD? It honors Phil Ochs, an American folk hero, whose
political songs became a background of the unrest in the 1960's. Sadly, he died
in 1976, but his songs just kept being the voice of protest and have remained
timely, with one of his most known ones being "I Ain't Marching."
The music of Phil Ochs has spoken to Sonia since high
school, and she has already included two of his songs on earlier albums,
"Is There Anybody Here" and "No More Songs." On "Get
Your Phil" he gets the full tribute.
On a personal note, I've known Sonia for at least ten years
and am blessed to count her as an "artist friend" who is also a
"friend." I did an extensive "career interview" with her in
2010, and she humored me by allowing me to dig deep into her music history.
Also a year ago I got another blessing, I was in Albany for a music fesitval
and my hosts (from the Quest of Life show, on WRPI) took me to their station to
record an interview. I walked in and was very surprised to meet Sonny Ochs,
Phil's sister, who was doing her radio show Mostly Folk, and sitting on her
console was a copy of "Get Your Phil," so Sonny and I hit it off
immediately. I was surprised how much I remembered from my days of following
folk music in the 60's, and I remembered that my favorite song of Phil's was
"Changes," (in that case, by Ian & Sylvia).
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