Ellen was featured today in Lauren Boisvert’s American Songwriter roundup of “incredible female folk singers who were often overlooked” from the 1960s Greenwich Village era! The writeup includes streaming audio of Ellen’s song “Tomorrow is a Long Time.” The article also discusses Connie Converse and Karen Dalton, making a fine trio of musicians. Read it here.
Month: April 2025
This handbill from Ellen’s archives advertises two fine folksingers in concert—but although they shared a page, they didn’t share a stage. In 1964, Ellen was a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, where she directed the college’s Folklore Archive. She also performed frequently in local concert halls, including weekend gigs at a venue called The Retort. Dylan’s 1964 tour brought him to Detroit’s Masonic Scottish Rite Cathedral on October 17.
While he was there, he stopped by to see Ellen play. And Ellen recalls, he even asked her out afterwards: “He came into my gig with all of his bodyguards,” she says. “He liked what I did. He said ‘I want you to come home with me.’ I said ‘No… I have to teach tomorrow.’”
A missed connection, alas.
(Here’s a non-informative page from Dylan’s official website which, at least, confirms the date of the concert.)