Carolyn Hester
| Carolyn Hester | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Carolyn Sue Hester |
| Born | January 28, 1937 |
| Origin | Waco, Texas, United States |
| Genres | Folk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1957–present |
| Labels | Columbia |
| Associated acts | Bob Dylan |
| Website | www.carolynhester.com |
Carolyn Sue Hester (born January 28, 1937) is an American folk singer and songwriter. She was a figure in the early 1960s folk music revival.
Carolyn Hester's first album was produced by Norman Petty in 1957. She made her second album for Tradition Records, run by the Clancy Brothers, in 1960. She became known for "The House of the Rising Sun" and "She Moved Through the Fair".
Hester was one of many young Greenwich Village singers who rode the crest of the 1960s folk music wave, helping launch Gerde's Folk City in 1960. She appeared on the cover of the May 30, 1964, issue of the Saturday Evening Post. According to Don Heckman of the Los Angeles Times, Hester was "one of the originals—one of the small but determined gang of ragtag, early-'60s folk singers who cruised the coffee shops and campuses, from Harvard Yard to Bleecker Street, convinced that their music could help change the world." Hester, dubbed "The Texas Songbird," was politically active, spearheading the controversial boycott of the television program Hootenanny when Pete Seeger was blacklisted from it.
After failing to convince Joan Baez to sign with Columbia Records, John H. Hammond signed Hester in 1960. However, Hammond had a different recollection of events. In his autobiography, John Hammond on Record, he maintained that he passed on Baez "because she was asking a great deal of money while still a relatively unknown artist." That same year Hester met Richard Fariña, and they married eighteen days later. They separated after less than two years.
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