How This Underrated Folk Singer-Songwriter From the 1970s Got the Comeback She Deserved 35 Years Later

Vashti Bunyan’s story is an inspiring one for any musician, especially those who have tried to make it in the music industry for decades. 

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The English-born singer-songwriter first became enamored with folk in the 1960s, when she discovered the work of Bob Dylan and decided to become a musician. She was born to the right people, it seems. Her mother was friends with an actress, who introduced Bunyan to The Rolling Stones’ manager. Bunyan recorded the Jagger-Richards song “Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind”, out in 1965. She released several singles after that, none of which garnered much commercial attention.

Still interested in music but not entirely thrilled with her lack of success in pop, Bunyan set off in an old wagon and horse in 1967 to reconnect with an art school friend, Robert Lewis, who would later become the father of her children. She set off on a whopping 650-mile journey to Skye in Scotland from London. On that journey, she would write the folk songs that would appear on her first album, Just Another Diamond Day.

Sadly, Just Another Diamond Day would be a hefty disappointment for Bunyan. After recording the album in 1969 and releasing it in 1970, it was met with very little commercial success, despite receiving relatively warm reviews. Oddly enough, it was the combination of her album flopping and seeing Joni Mitchell perform on television that led her to abandon her music career.

“I thought, ‘I can never do that,’” she said. “It had a huge effect on me. From that moment on I never believed in myself. For about 30 years I gave up on music altogether … I didn’t even sing to my children. I don’t like to admit it, but that’s what happened.”

A few decades later, all of that changed for the better.

Vashti Bunyan Almost Left the Music Industry for Good, Until Her Unearthed Classic Began To Resonate With 2000s Youths

Vashti Bunyan’s Just Another Diamond Day would mark the start of a long musical hiatus for the singer-songwriter. And then, something magical happened.

Over the years, particularly in the 1990s and 2000s, a growing interest in folk music began to kick off in the US and UK, partially bolstered on by the rise of the internet. While Bunyan raised her children, Just Another Diamond Day was slowly becoming a cult classic among younger listeners. In fact, the album became one of the most sought-after records among audiophiles and folk fans around the new millennium.

In the year 2000, Just Another Diamond Day was re-released on CD, as were many older albums of the 1970s. That CD would inspire the likes of Joanna Newsom and Devendra Banhart, as well as thousands of burgeoning folk fans. Banhart wrote to Bunyan in 2001 asking for songwriting advice, which introduced her to something she hadn’t realized had happened: Just Another Diamond Day had gained an enormous amount of fans.

Encouraged to give music a try once again, Bunyan would return to the music industry after 35 years away with Lookaftering. The album would be a success, leading to her third and final release, Heartleap, in 2014. A true comeback for the ages!

Photo by Rob Ball/Redferns via Getty Images