Karen Sue "Casse" Culver (March 7, 1944 – December 4, 2019) was an American folk singer and songwriter in the women's music genre.
Casse Culver | |
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![]() Karen "Casse" Culver, from the 1964 yearbook of St. Mary's College of Maryland | |
Born | Karen Culver March 7, 1944 Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. |
Died | December 4, 2019 (age 75) Milton, Delaware, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
Spouse | Boden Sandstrom |
Early life and education
editCulver was born in Bethesda, Maryland,[1] the daughter of Ronald H. Culver and Thyra Marjorie Ferguson Culver. Her father was an electrical engineer and her mother was a beautician.[2] She attended St. Mary's College of Maryland.[3] In the 1980s, she took a course of Bible study at the Way of Faith Christian Institute in Virginia.[4] Her older brother Donald M. Culver was president of the Gay Restaurant Owners of Washington.[5]
Career
editCulver began singing and playing guitar as a busker in the late 1960s.[6][7] She had a record contract in 1971,[8] and recorded an unreleased album.[9] Culver played her "very personal, folk-sounding music"[10] at women's music festivals, and toured nationally in the 1970s.[4][11][12] Susan Abod performed with Culver in concerts,[1][13] and on Culver's album 3 Gypsies (1976).[14] She and Boden Sandstrom began a sound company, Woman Sound, in 1975.[15][16]
Beyond music, Culver was an organic gardener in Woodstock, New York, in the late 1960s, and ran a garden and landscaping service in the 1980s.[17] She enjoyed doing home renovation projects, and was a house manager for a group home in Washington, D.C. In the 1980s, she taught at a church, Hear and Be Healed Ministries,[18] and was known as "the Rev. Elder Casse Culver" by the early 1990s.[5][17]
Publications and recordings
edit- Casse Culver Songbook[4]
- 3 Gypsies (1976 LP)[19][20]
- "What We Gonna Do (About Anita)"/"Queen of the Night" (1978 single)[19]
- Songs and Other Dreams (1982 LP)[19]
- "Ride, Sally Ride!"/"Blame it on the Moon" (1982 single)[19][21]
- Casse Culver Live in Concert (1984 cassette, recorded in 1974)[19]
- "Perfect Child of God" (2018, poem)[22]
Personal life
editCulver married Boden Sandstrom in 2013,[17] but they were together "on and off" from the mid-1970s.[23][24] Culver died from lung cancer in 2019, at the age of 75, in Milton, Delaware.[24] There is a large collection of her papers in the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History at Smith College.[17] There is a recording of Casse Culver and Willie Tyson performing in 1976 on WBAI in New York, in the Pacifica Radio Archives.[25][26]
References
edit- ^ a b "Casse Culver, feminist performer to give concert". Carpinteria Herald. 1976-12-02. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Parents' names and occupations from 1950 United States Census, and their 1940 Michigan marriage certificate, via Ancestry.
- ^ St. Mary's College, Castellan (1964 yearbook): 18, via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b c "Casse Culver to be in Concert". Johnson City Press. 1985-03-01. p. 17. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Pearson, Richard (April 27, 1993). "Donald M. Culver Dies; D.C. Nightclub Owner". The Washington Post.
- ^ McNamara, Susan (1978-05-09). "Fighting for minorities through songs". Democrat and Chronicle. pp. 1C, 2C. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Concert Scheduled Today at Park". Hartford Courant. 1971-06-26. p. 58. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Bearsville, WB Agreement Names Acts". Billboard: 3. October 16, 1971.
- ^ Anderson, Jamie (2019-10-01). An Army of Lovers. Bella Books. ISBN 978-1-64247-159-5.
- ^ Brown, Susan Rand (1977-06-01). "Women's Music for Everyone". Valley Advocate Amherst. p. 17. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sasfy, Joe (2024-03-04). "Casse Culver". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
- ^ "Women's Concert Slated". West Bank Guide. 1977-07-13. p. 27. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Clemmons, Nelda (1976-11-20). "Full moon, music make for 'bewitched' evening". The Tampa Times. p. 39. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Love, Barbara J. (2006-09-22). Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975. University of Illinois Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-252-09747-8.
- ^ Gaston-Bird, Leslie (2019-12-06). Women in Audio. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-85024-0.
- ^ Rothblum, Esther D.; Gartrell, Nanette (2013-09-13). Everyday Mutinies: Funding Lesbian Activism. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-99263-9.
- ^ a b c d "Collection: Casse Culver papers". Smith College Finding Aids. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
- ^ "Advertisement" The GMCW Holiday Concert: Our Own Family Tradition (1991 concert program): 17.
- ^ a b c d e "Casse Culver". Queer Music Heritage. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
- ^ "Innovative Women Produce An Album". Billboard: 47. March 5, 1977.
- ^ "Tribute to Astronaut Ride". The Los Angeles Times. 1983-06-10. p. 87. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Culver, Casse (March 2018). "Perfect child of God". The Christian Science Journal.
- ^ "Oral history with Boden Sandstrom, 1945-". · Rainbow History Project Digital Collections. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
- ^ a b Gilles, Michael (2021-11-19). "Before the Beach". CAMP Rehoboth Community Center. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
- ^ "Two women singers: Casse Culver and Willie Tyson". Pacifica Radio Archives. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
- ^ Two women singers / Casse Culver and Willie Tyson, Pacifica Radio Archives, retrieved 2024-06-03
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External links
edit- Biography of Casse Culver at Goldenrod Music
- Casse Culver at Discogs
- Casse Culver at AllMusic
- "Ride, Sally Ride" (1983), Culver's novelty song about the astronaut, on YouTube