Karen Dalton – In My Own Time (Apricot Vinyl)

Karen Dalton's In My Own Time was released in 1971 as the second and final album issued during her lifetime, arriving after her years in the Greenwich Village folk scene and a debut that had already shown how singular her phrasing could be. This follow-up took shape over six months at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock for Michael Lang's Just Sunshine label, with Harvey Brooks producing in a way that let Dalton work at her own pace. The result is a fuller, more arranged record than her debut, but one that still keeps her weathered, intimate voice firmly at the center.

Dalton rarely wrote her own material, and that is part of what makes this album so distinctive: she turns other people's songs into something deeply personal. Traditional pieces like Katie Cruel and Same Old Man sit beside versions of Paul Butterfield, Richard Tucker, and soul standards such as When a Man Loves a Woman. The arrangements bring in pedal steel, piano, horns, and a loose folk-rock warmth, yet the emotional pull comes from the way Dalton stretches time, reshapes melodies, and makes even familiar songs sound newly vulnerable.

For years, In My Own Time was the kind of record listeners sought out by reputation as much as availability, and its afterlife has only grown. Admirers from Bob Dylan to Nick Cave and Devendra Banhart helped keep Dalton's name in circulation, while later generations heard in this album a rare blend of blues, folk, country, and soul delivered without polish for its own sake. This edition uses the 2022 remaster of the original album and adds a substantial booklet that helps place Dalton's small but enduring catalogue in context.

Features

• Apricot Coloured Vinyl
• 2022 remaster of the 1971 album
• Gatefold jacket with 20-page booklet
• Booklet includes rare photos, liner notes by Lenny Kaye, and contributions from Nick Cave and Devendra Banhart

Reviews

• Her talent isn't merely interpretive, but imperialistic: She takes these songs over completely, bending their melodies and meanings to fit her specific mood. - Pitchfork
• In My Own Time is the better of her two offerings in so many ways. - AllMusic.com