When we started doing this (collaborating musically), he said we should have done this from the beginning and skipped the romance.Īnd I said, “Yeah, but then you wouldn’t have written ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ and there may not have been any careers.”Īfter breaking up, you and Stephen remained close, right? You and Stephen have said your collaboration is “a triumph of art and friendship over time.” Can you explain? We don’t do the whole song –– we just sing the end of it, which gets everyone dancing in the aisles. What’s it like for you to hear “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” a song about Stephen’s longing and sadness after your breakup with him almost 50 years ago? Here I am, a girl singer and 12-string guitar player in a rock ’n roll band with Stephen Stills, which is pretty odd.

At the end of the show we sing “Suite Judy Blue Eyes” together which is so much fun. We decided to give each other freedom to do whatever appealed, so I will be doing a new song of mine in my little set, and he will probably do a new one in his set. How did you select what songs to cover and which original songs to include? We came up with a pretty good set list and decided to give it a shot. We talked about songs and tried to figure out what might be the ones we’d do. What led you and Stephen to go out on the road together? In advance of shows at Napa’s Uptown Theatre on May 10 and at Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center for the Arts on June 1, Collins spoke to The Press Democrat by phone from Los Angeles.įollowing are highlights from the conversation: “I’d planned to quit working –– I was going to put it all aside,” she said, but Rivers told her: “You can’t do that – you won’t heal. “Joan Rivers (whose husband committed suicide) reached out to me and said, you cannot stop working,” Collins told Moyers. She has survived substance abuse and her greatest personal tragedy, the suicide of her only son, Clark, who took his life in 1992 at age 33.Īsked in a 2004 interview with Bill Moyers how she got through that period, Collins responded, “Inch by inch, minute by minute, hour by hour.”Īnd with some help from her friends. They also played Collins’ new songs, “Houses” and “River of Gold,” and covered “Handle With Care” from The Traveling Wilburys.Ĭollins’ life hasn’t been all gold and platinum. Last year’s set lists included a diverse mix of songs, including the protest anthem, “For What It’s Worth,” from Stills’ 1960s band Buffalo Springfield.

“And I will learn to live without you now,” he sings, “as I cannot learn to give only part somehow.” The album includes Stills’ ballad, “So Begins the Task,” about coming to terms with the end of his and Collins’ romance. Last year, Stills and Collins played about 50 shows together and released an album, “Everybody Knows” (the title track is Leonard Cohen’s song), a mix of covers and original compositions.

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