Have you found yourself thinking about Linda Waterfall lately?
You are not alone, my friends. Within a six-month period, three separate creative projects – two record compilations and a movie – have requested to license Linda Waterfall music. Three different songs, all from the same album – her third, released in 1979, called “My Heart Sings.”
You may or may not know about this album, which was released fairly early on in Linda’s musical career. Each licensor told me, separately, that they’ve had a secret love for that more obscure album in the Linda Waterfall repertoire.
“I’ve hosted a radio show since 2003 where the main focus is on lesser-known female singer-songwriters from the 1970s-1980s. I always have my eye and ear out for new-to-me discoveries,” says Taylor Rowley, of Dream Songs, says Taylor Rowly of Dream Songs, who music supervised the recently released movie “Good One.”
“One day back in 2021, I was trawling my Instagram feed and saw that a record label I like, the wonderful Séance Centre had posted about “My Heart Sings” along with a clip of song “My Name Is Maya.” I was hooked immediately! I played it on the next episode of my radio show and have been a fan since.”
Specifically, Rowley says, there is a scene in the film where the characters stop at a roadside diner on their way to a camping trip in the Catskill Mountains.
“The diner is kind of stuck in time, all wood-paneled and vinyl booths,” says Rowley. “When I was considering the kind of music that would play in a place like that, I envisioned 1970s soft rock. I thought of artists like Jackson Browne, Phoebe Snow, Janis Ian. Linda Ronstad’s music also came to mind. Once I thought of her name, I was like “Wait! Linda Waterfall’s music would be *perfect* here!” I laid it under the scene and sure enough, it was. I presented the filmmakers with a handful of songs by different artists and they landed on “My Heart Is Gonna Break” just like I hoped they would. It was a unanimous decision and I can’t imagine any other song in that spot now.”
“Good One,” written and directed by India Donaldson, premiered at Sundance this January to stellar reviews and will be released nationwide this summer. I am SURE Linda would get a kick out of the fact that her music was scoring the film of a female independent filmmaker.
Two other songs from “My Heart Sings,” including “My Name is Maya” and “Clarity” will be released on DJ compilation albums coming out of the UK later in the year. More details on those albums including titles and where you can buy them will be released this fall.
“On discovering the ‘My Name Is Maya’ track … from the ‘My Heart Sings L.P.’ I did a deep dive into Linda’s back catalogue only to find a host of lost gems unheard by many for years,” says Micky Browne, a 30-something record producer and DJ with RE:WARM Records in the UK “It felt like discovering lost treasure or stumbling across a forgotten tribe that were only too happy to welcome you into the family.”
Linda herself had this to say about “My Heart Sings:”
“Manny Hadlock, co-owner of Bear Creek Studio where the album was recorded, told me “You should call this album “Crazy Quilt,” because there are so many different patterns and styles.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Tom Corddry (of former KZAM radio fame), Linda recalled: “(He remarked) that I was like a new fledgling, flexing my musical muscles in a dozen different ways. Everything from a rock tune, a jazz tune, a folk tune and short coral piece that became the seed for my first choral music grant from the Seattle Arts Commission. (La Cigale et la Fourmi, performed by the Seattle Chamber Singers in 1984).
Some great news:
We have some vinyl copies of “My Heart Sings” and want to make it available to you! Please click the “Add to Cart” button to order the album, and we’ll ship it to you.