Paul Siebel – Looking Back Woodsmoke and Oranges

 

Discovering Paul Siebel

Continuing with yesterday‘s thread on the Facebook Record Collectors Group, I have Paul Siebel‘s album Woodsmoke & Oranges spinning on my turntable tonight. I bought the album, when it first came out in 1970, based on the glowing review about the album I read in some music magazine. Additionally I may have been convinced to buy the album, when I saw that the following musicians played in the album…

…. guitarist David Bromberg, violinist Richard Greene, and steel guitarist Weldon Myrick –

Paul Siebel was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene in the mid to late 60s. At Wikipedia I found the following….

An article in The New York Times on February 14, 1970, written by Mike Jahn, described Siebel as “a folk singer with a country and Western bias … a 32‐year‐old native of Buffalo and musically a product of the Greenwich Village folk scene” and said that he “sings in high nasal and hillbilly manner, rather like Bob Dylan’s singing in his early days”, referring to his songs as “uncomplicatdiscographyed country and folk songs, with occasional thoughts about such things as suburban living and raising children”.

Paul Siebel’s Discography MinimaI but Impactful……

Paul Siebel only released two albums Woodsmoke & Oranges and Jack -Knife Gypsy. But several of the songs from those albums have been covered by….

….among others, Bromberg, Willy DeVille, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Jerry Jeff Walker, Kate Wolf, Mary McCaslin, Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Rick Roberts and Leo Kottke.

Jerry Jeff Covers Three Favorites

Over the years Jerry Jeff Walker has covered my three favorite songs from the album. They are: “Louise”, “Long Afternoons” and “Then Came the Children”

Sadly, After 1971, his songwriting production stopped. Siebel became depressed and developed drug problems. He passed  away in 2022.

The Playlist

Now  l could just play any of my three favorite songs from Woodsmoke & Oranges but here’s those three songs from both Paul and Jerry Jeff Walker! Enjoy I know I will…..