Judy Collins Talks July 4th PBS Concert Special & Reflects on Her Amazing Career

Perhaps nobody proves the old adage of age is but a number to be true more than Judy Collins. At 87, the award-winning singer songwriter remains as busy as ever. She’ll join fellow decorated performers Michael Feinstein, Ryan Speedo Green, Kelli O’Hara, and the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band for America Made in Virginia: 250 Years Together. This patriotic live event airing July 4 on PBS will also feature narration by Tony and Golden Globe nominee and Emmy-winning actor Richard Thomas with a special welcome from Ken Burns. The two-hour special is produced in partnership with VA250 from Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area

For Collins, who has entertained audiences for more than six decades, the evening also marks a kick-off of sorts for her “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes Farewell Tour. The folk music icon, famed for songs such as “Both Sides Now” and “Send in the Clowns,” hits the road for 50 stops through spring of 2027. Artists Roseanne Cash, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Amanda Shires will also lend their talents on select dates. 

Collins has continued to produce music, even in recent years adding to her prolific 55 recordings. She enjoyed her first-ever number one on the Billboard Chart in 2019 at 80 thanks to “Winter Stories,” a collaborative album with Norwegian singer-songwriter Jonas Fjeld and the bluegrass band Chatham County Line.  “Spellbound,” her first album of all original and self-penned songs, was nominated for a Grammy in 2023.  

Here the legendary entertainer opens up about how it feels being part of the semiquincentennial celebration. Collins also reflects on some of her memorable TV appearances and reveals secrets to career longevity. 

Judy, obviously this is a big year for America, 250 years. There is this big special to mark the milestone. You are a part of it. We know how music brings everybody together and for so many decades you’ve been a part of its history. What does it mean for you to be a part of this? 

Judy Collins: Oh, well, of course it’s so special and so historic…We know where we came from. We are not sure where we’re going, but we’re doing our best. I just saw [Arnold] Schwarzenegger someplace. I think it was Morning Joe. He was talking about the country that he didn’t come from, but he became a part of. And I was in a movie with Schwarzenegger once. called Junior. It was a very funny movie, and I had a very good time in it. And he was a lovely man and he was very generous and very easy to get along with. But he was talking about how all over the country it’s not where you came from. It’s where you are now and how you feel about people around the world.

I think that’s very much what this 250th anniversary is all about. We’ve learned a lot more. I saw a movie recently about one of the founders who was in France for a while during the period when we were trying to become a country. So it’s interesting to be able to look at where people were, what they were doing, and how they could be so energetic and so absolutely determined to get this country going. And of course, we have a lot of pizazz and a lot of energy and a lot of optimism as Americans. We try to do the best that we can all the time. So, I think this is another time in our history where we have to do the best we can.

What about what can you expect about your performance? 

Well, there’ll be a couple of songs that I wrote, including “Beyond the Sky,” which we’ve orchestrated. So that’ll be wonderful. I’ll try to sing some of the things that have been with me all the time. Certainly I’ll sing a song of Pete Seeger’s, which I think is important. I mean, who wouldn’t appreciate singing “Where Have all The Flowers Gone?”

Love it. And this ties into the kick-off of your tour. Why did you choose now to do this as a farewell tour?

I didn’t really choose this. Time and circumstances. I’m always touring. So it’s not that this is a new thing, but it’s got a lot of new moments in it. One of them is an interesting moment for me. I have had on my stage under the piano for about, I don’t know how many, certainly 30 years I’ve had two dozen red roses in a vase and they just sit there. A couple of months ago when I realized that this is also part of the new world that we’re in and part of our 250th anniversary, at the end of the show, I began picking … First of all, I usually end with “Amazing Grace” and it’s a song which has stayed with me for a long time. My own version of it helped it to become revitalized and back into our musical performances of all kinds. So I sing “Amazing Grace.” 

Then I take the microphone and I start singing, “Where Have all the Flowers Gone.” I get all the flowers out of the vase, and I go to the edge of the stage, and I begin handing them out without thorns. We get all the thorns taken off and then I hand them out to everybody. Everybody is standing up singing “where have all the flowers gone” while they’re gathering the flowers into their lives and taking them home, of course. It’s very interesting because I have never done this before this year. So it marked a new year and a special time. So it all sort of came together in a very nice way.

You’re visiting some familiar venues, but also along the way you have some guests, Rosanne Cash and Mary Chapin Carpenter, Amanda Shires. How is it having them involved? 

Well, it’s always good to have people you love on the stage with you. We always have a good time, and we will sing together at the end of the show, which will probably be “Amazing Grace” and maybe they’ll also do “Where Have all the Flowers Gone.”  I was over at the New York Historical Society in New York City last night actually. I told the story of John Newton (writer of “Amazing Grace”) because it’s such an important story of a man who changed his life and changed the world really in the 1700s and also wrote this song. So in a way, you can find that history comes to your aid whenever you need it.

Also, did I read that your tour they’re going to be documenting it for a documentary?

We’ve been working with a wonderful film outfit, and they’ve been taking cameras to almost everything that I’ve been doing that was important enough to be in part of a film. So we’re in there. We’re working hard.

At this stage of the game, how is it touring for you? I mean, you mentioned being so full of energy, you’re still going strong. What’s your secret?

Well, I think my secret is my DNA and the fact that I came from many, many ancestors who were in the Civil War, who ventured out of Ireland and moved into the New World, who lived in all parts of the world. I would like to do a complete history and eventually I will. But I have a lot of respect for my ancestors. They’re really what brought me together and encouraged me to be energetic and forceful and take care of myself. I have to. I exercise, I eat well. I have a whole routine that I’ve done for many years. And so I learned all the good things certainly from my parents, and I think that’s how we learn.

And you’re also finding new inspiration. I think back just not long ago, you had your first number one album at age 80. So that’s just some incredible feat. I mean, when you look back at those accomplishments, I’m sure that keeps you motivated and your brain sharp.

You find creativity. I keep going, and I keep finding wonderful new artists, and I’m able to write. I didn’t start writing songs until I met Leonard Cohen in 1966, that’s when the songwriting began. And I’m still writing songs. I’ve got a bunch that I want to work on and bring into the shows, but I live a life that is involved with other people, and I have as much time spent on my social life as is spent on my touring. It’s about half and half. So if I’m not on the road, I’m out for dinner with friends, and I’m seeing people, new people that I haven’t met before and people that I’ve known for decades. And that helps me, always.

Do you still have a bucket list collaborator or somebody in music today that you would want to do a collaboration with?

I have a big album coming up now. Part of it is finished. So it’s an album of duets, and it will be finishing up in the next couple of months. And there are a lot of things on it where I’m working with other people that I adore. So that’s exciting to be able to do that at this point, a whole new duets album. I was working with Ari Hest the other night, and we just had a wonderful time and we’ll do another…One of his new songs that I’m just crazy about is one that I’m going to record with him in the next few months. That’s always something to look forward to.

We talked about Junior earlier. When you look back, what’s the most fun you’ve had on a set for an acting role or when you appear as yourself on these shows or movies?

Well, Junior was really a fantastic experience. We were in California in the wine country. We were in what used to be an old winery, and it was turned into a chateau. So we all got together and Arnold and his wife were there and his kids were there and other artists who were in the movie were there with their kids. And so we had a good time. We were there for about a week and that’s a real treat to be able to be on vacation and also working.

Was there one appearance that you’ve done that you will always remember? I mean I love The Muppets Show.  

The Muppets are very much a part of my life, and four-year-old’s just go nuts when they know that I’ve sung a duet with Mr. Snuffleupagus…I was on The Muppets for many, many shows. I did 16 different scenes over a period of four visits with them…I got to know Jim Henson very early on and he called me and invited me to come to England. So I’ve had that history with the Muppets and they were the biggest deal there ever was in children’s shows. I mean, Jim Henson really wrote the story about what you do that’s different and that’s wonderful. And he was a wonderful man and you would go to work with the Muppets and you’d suddenly find 15 different friends that you’d never met before. I mean, I was just knocked out by the Muppets. They gave me so much joy and so many people, so much joy. So that’s something I’m incredibly proud of.

And you got people talking about Girls by a simple cameo with your performance. I’m sure that brought a newer audience thinking about your music and listening to your music. How do you reflect on that moment and the response that you got from it?

With Girls, we were in the place that I’ve sung at in New York (the Café Carlyle), and they set it up so that she came to the venue. Yeah. I was singing,  and she came in with her parents and they were talking and arguing. I had to sort of interfere with their conversation, and they got upset with each other, and they left the Carlyle…I think it was an important choice on their part to ask me to be on that show, and I’m hoping to do more. 

Is there a show you want to do? What do you like watching these days where you’re like, “Man, I wish my music was on this.” Or maybe it’s another show you want to make a cameo. 

Yeah, I’d like to go back and be part of BritBox and part of Foyle’s War. I’d like them to keep on doing that show and at some point I’d love to be a guest performer on the show.

There was a photo that I saw recently where it was Cass Elliot, Joni Mitchell, yourself and Joan Baez back in 1969. When you look back at that time compared to the music scene today, what are your thoughts? I mean, I feel like there’s a sense of still optimism from you when it comes to music and creating. 

The thing that I feel strongly about is being creative in some way. It’s very important to have creativity of some kind in your life, whether it’s cooking or sewing or ice skating or making up stories, writing books. I think if something in your life is creative, then your whole life becomes, in a way, the center stage for whatever that is. Now, I know people that are writers, that are artists of all kinds, people who paint, people who do woodwork, people who use their hands to create something beautiful, and it always makes a difference in our lives when we can be involved with other people, when we can be creative and figure out where the next thing is coming from, the next book. I mean, I know a lot of writers, and I am a writer myself. I’ve published a number of books over the course of time. I have a friend who says that writing is very creative, but it’s like laying pipe. In other words, you have to sit down and spend four hours and then you get up and have lunch.

America Made in Virginia: 250 Years Together, July 4, 8/7c, PBS