I have no idea of the color of Laura Nyro’s eyes, but she was the first exemplar of blue-eyed soul that I heard and remains one of the finest despite a career largely spent in the shadows by her own choice and that ended prematurely with her death in 1997.

Blue-eyed soul is a term used to describe R&B or soul music performed by white artists, which was an anomaly for this teenager in the mid-1960s. My musical tastes ran from classical to jazz to rock with a special fondness for brown-eyed soul, especially the stable of Motown artists then ascendant, including The Supremes, Temptations & Martha and The Vandellas.

One day I was visiting a friend and she put a record on her stereo. (Or maybe it was her mono.) The singer was obviously white and I incorrectly assumed was Jewish judging from the fetching photo on the dust jacket, but her delivery was deeply soulful, and maybe just a little jazzy, as she sang:

Can you surry, can you picnic?
Can you surry, can you picnic?
Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
Surry down to a stoned soul picnic
There’ll be lots of time and wine
Red yellow honey, sassafras and moonshine
Red yellow honey
Sassafras and moonshine . . .

The song was “Stoned Soul Picnic.” I was smitten and for a while had a crush on Nyro, who I swear could sing a sigh. I rushed out and bought the album, Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, then the following year the darker New York Tendaberry.

Nyro, who would have celebrated her 60th birthday today, was ambivalent as a performer and uncomfortable in the limelight, but was prolific as a songwriter in the finest tradition of Tin Pan Alley. She recorded only intermittently after 1969, made relatively few appearances, and the bulk of her catalogue is re-releases and compilations.

But boy did she write!

Please click here to read more at Kiko’s House. Previous appreciations have included John Coltrane, Jerry Garcia and Bob Marley.