The folk world lost an icon on Sunday, June 11th as Rosalie Sorrels passed away at the age of 83. A Grammy-nominated singer whose career spanned decades, she was an independent spirit who left her husband in the mid '60's to go on the road with her five children and begin her music career. She performed at folk venues across the country including the Newport Folk Festival.
Her homes in Salt Lake City and Boise became stopping grounds for some of the most creative figures of the Beat Generation, including Hunter Thompson, Oscar Zeta Acosta and Studs Terkel. Perhaps her closest friends and collaborator was the folk icon Utah Phillips, whom she worked with for more than 50 years including The Long Memory and her tribute to Phillips, Strangers in Another Country.
Rosalie was one of the pioneering voices in American folk, a social actvist, teacher, performer and encyclodepia of folk music. She will be missed. Our thoughts and hearts go out to her family.