Folk: Clouds – Joni Mitchell (1969), The Way I Feel – Gordon Lightfoot (1967), Tape from California – Phil Ochs (1968), Inside Dave Van Ronk (1964), Ramblin’ Boy – Tom Paxton (1964), Songs from a Room – Leonard Cohen (1969)

“Clouds is the second studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released on May 1, 1969, by Reprise Records. After releasing her debut album to considerable exposure, Mitchell recorded the album at A&M Studios in Hollywood. She produced most of the album and painted a self-portrait for its cover artwork. (The red flower is a prairie lilly, the provincial flower of Saskatchewan.) Clouds has subtle, unconventional harmonies and songs about lovers, among other themes. … She also painted the album’s cover artwork—a self-portrait. Two songs, ‘Chelsea Morning‘ and ‘Both Sides, Now’, had already been recorded by other singers by the time Mitchell started work on the album. …”
W – Clouds – Joni Mitchell, YouTube: Clouds 10 videos
W – The Way I Feel– Gordon Lightfoot, YouTube: The Way I Feel 12 videos
W – Tape from California – Phil Ochs, YouTube: Tape From California 8 videos
“… Midway through recording Tape From California, Ochs learned of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. The despair Ochs felt is palpable on the record’s searing centerpiece, ‘When In Rome’, a 13-minute portrait of America shadowing the fall of the Roman empire. ‘White Boots Marching In A Yellow Land’ and the martial ‘The War Is Over’ sound exhausted, and the title cut gives unnerving voice to the paranoia Ochs must have felt: ‘New York City has exploded and it’s crashed upon my head/I dove beneath the bed/Fighting, biting nails, turning pale.’ …” No Depression
W – Inside Dave Van Ronk, YouTube: Inside Dave Van Ronk 12 videos
W – Ramblin’ Boy – Tom Paxton, YouTube: Ramblin’ Boy 15 videos
W – Songs from a Room – Leonard Cohen, YouTube: Songs From A Room 9 videos