Judith Allen Roderick (1942 – 1992) was an American blues singer and songwriter. She was born in Wyandotte, Michigan to Howard and Emily Roderick.
1964 - In 1964, Lee Silberstein saw a 19-year-old folk singer from Boulder, Colorado, perform at the Philly Folk Festival and offered to get her signed with Columbia. Bobby Scott was assigned to produce and Roderick released her first album, Ain't Nothin' But the Blues.
1965 - In 1965, Maynard Solomon signed Roderick to Vanguard Records and a second album, Woman Blue, was recorded, with accompaniment by two of her close friends, both guitarists, Dick Weissman and Artie Traum. Woman Blue was a well known folksong sung and recorded by several artists, usually titled I Know You Rider, and made even more popular by the Grateful Dead.[1] Roderick's Woman Blue (the original title) included lyrics not heard in the traditional song or in subsequent versions. Santa Cruz poet, Maude Meehan, described it well: ". . . with all those subtle glissandos, that smoldering soul sound, those growls and tender vibratos, so inimitable to Judy. There just isn't a voice I've ever heard with such versatility, and raw power and emotion, sass and sex, and hurt. She makes me laugh, she makes me cry."
1966 - In 1966, Woman Blue was released in the United Kingdom on the Fontana label and a promotional trip was arranged. Roderick performed at Broadside Folk Club, Strand Hotel, Jug O' Punch Folk Club, Newton Club, Anglia TV, on Grampia TV and in the Cambridge Folk Festival.
1972 - In 1972 Roderick signed with Atco, an Atlantic subsidiary, and produced Nevada Jukebox, with Bill Szymczyk, producer, and Bill Ashford, associate producer. Nevada Jukebox has recently been made available on CD by Collectors' Choice Music
1975 - In 1975, Roderick moved to Hamilton, Montana where her partner, clarinet and sax player Dexter Payne, had formed a swing band The Big Sky Mudflaps, and later played on two of their albums.
1976 - In 1976, Roderick played a solo gig at Harry Tuft's Denver Folklore Center and a new band, Judy Roderick & Friends , got rolling, with Don DeBacker, Brian Brown, Kibben, Jerry Mills and many more. In July, Payne left the Big Sky Mudflaps, and moved to Colorado. That fall, after her Martin guitar was destroyed, Max Krimmel built her a new guitar. The later Judy Roderick & Friends included Jaime Kibben, Jay Forrest, Michael Reese, Dan Curlin and sometimes Michael Roach. In 1977 the two returned to Montana and the Mudflaps.
1981 - In 1980 and 1981, Roderick and the "Flaps" were invited to perform at the Kool Jazz Festival, once in Rye, NY and next in Saratoga. In both years they were featured on the Today Show, in NYC
1982 - In 1982, Roderick and Payne created a new project, Judy Roderick & The Forbears, and with the help of Randy Rand, recorded four songs with an 11 piece line-up including Mac Rebennack aka Dr. John. The core of the group included Don DeBacker, "Washboard" Chaz Leary, later known from Playing for Change videos, and Tim Martin.
1983 - Roderick took the musicians East, playing the Philly Folk Festival, Bottom Line in New York and Jonathan Swifts in Boston. A night shared with Dr. John and his band at the Lone Star Cafe in NYC was a special event, as well as an evening with Mac Rebennack solo at Sandy Berman's Jazz Revival in Beverly, Mass. While in NY, Roderick & the Forbears spent two afternoons at JAC Studio with the engineer Malcolm Addey, completing "Judy Roderick & the Forbears," a limited independent release.
1992 - On January 22 1992, Judy Roderick died of a heart attack from complications due to diabetes.
1993 - In 1993 Woman Blue was remastered with additional liner notes by Payne and family photos, as well as previously unreleased tracks and made available on CD by Vanguard Records, now owned by the Welk Music Group.
2008 - The 1983 cassette was remastered and released on CD December 13, as When I'm Gone on Dexofon Records with the addition of one earlier solo track by Roderick: "Floods of South Dakota", also recorded by Rand.