The Albertsons Library should be proud of the beautiful tribute they’ve paid to singer-songwriter Rosalie Sorrels.
Known for her incredible folk songs such as “If I Could Be the Rain,” “Up is a Nice Place to Be” and countless others. Sorrels, born June 24 1933 used her voice and talent for good, touching on important social issues until her passing on June 11 2017.
As explained in this New York Times article.
Though Sorrel played in intimate venues with smaller audiences, the vulnerable nature of her performances deeply impacted the lives of those who truly listened. Sorrels was an inspiration to many, surviving breast cancer, an aneurysm and a fire. In spite of it all, she continued to sing of goodness in the world.
In a 2005 television special “Way Out in Idaho,” Sorrels said, “Things are really bad right now, and I’ve been through what I think is rotten at least four times that I can think of – which is hopeful to me, because I made it through all those things, and I want to communicate that to other people. That even though things get really rotten, you actually can survive them, and that the world is a beautiful place, and it’s worth doing.”
The exhibit features letters, newspaper articles, old flyers featuring upcoming performances and artifacts relating to the social justice issues Sorrels was passionate about.
Cheryl Oestreicher, head of special collections and university archivist for the Albertsons Library, discussed Sorrel’s impact on the music industry, particularly the folk scene.
“I think that anyone who was involved in the folk scene starting from that time period just changed America and American music,” Oestreicher said. “You can look at a lot of the female folk singers from the time, there’s a few that became famous, people like Joan Baez, but the women had to struggle so much more.”
The go-getter attitude and perseverance that was evident in Sorrels’ television special was also noted by Oestreicher.
“It was a much harder life and she came through it,” Oestreicher said. “One of the things that was most impactful is that she never gave up. This was her dream and she did it pretty much until she couldn’t anymore. She passed away in 2017 and it was only a few years before that that she gave her last concert. She played for decades and that to me is what I find most admirable.”
This exhibit was a labor of love. Oestreicher described the experience of meeting Sorrel’s daughters and spending days sorting through various items to bring back for the exhibit.
Oestreicher shared a picture of her car that was absolutely filled to the brim with boxes and folders of memorabilia. And that wasn’t all, an entire table in one of the library’s rooms was filled with piles of artifacts Oestreicher had to sort through to determine what best encapsulated Sorrel’s story.
“We hadn’t really done any exhibits about music,” Oestreicher said. “It was a chance to do something different and it’s introducing people to an aspect of history they might not think about.”
Come see this thoughtful and historically important exhibit at the Albertsons Library, featured until Sept 30.
