After 40 Years, Folk Singer Elyse Makes Triumphant Return

In 1968, things were looking up for Elyse.

The acoustic folkie had just released her self-titled debut album, and things really started rolling with a performance on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show and write-ups in Newsweek and the L.A. Free Press. The record nestled itself into the Top 40 and was a modest hit.

Then: poof! Elyse all but disappeared. With folk’s waning popularity, the demise of her label and the resulting absent push behind her second and third records, she faded from the stage and out of the spotlight.

But now, Elyse is back. Forty years after releasing her debut album, she has recorded the aptly titled In My Own Sweet Time. And we have Andrew Rieger of Elf Power to thank. In 1999, Rieger heard Elyse’s debut and was moved to track her down, a task harder than it sounds; she’d changed her name to Cori Bishop and was living in Oregon.

With renewed interest in her work, including bits in Magnet, Creative Loafing and Time Out NY, and a re-release of her debut, Elyse hopped back in the studio to cut In My Own Sweet Time, which’ll be released on Nov 15.

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.