Biography
Paul Siebel never reached household-name status despite the caliber of artists who interpreted his material, among them Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Ian Matthews, and Waylon Jennings. Inside folk circles and among songwriters, however, the two albums he released on Elektra—Woodsmoke and Oranges in 1969 and Jack-Knife Gypsy in 1971—attained legendary standing. Stage fright, substance abuse, and disillusionment with the business prompted him to abandon music in the early 1980s. He died on April 5, 2022, from complications of pulmonary fibrosis.
Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1937, Siebel taught himself guitar in his teens after hearing the work of Hank Williams and Hank Snow. Following military service, he began performing in folk clubs in the early 1960s and eventually settled in Greenwich Village, where he built a following on the coffeehouse circuit. Demos he recorded with David Bromberg in 1969 reached Elektra founder Jac Holzman, who offered a modest deal reportedly limited to funding four three-hour sessions. The resulting Woodsmoke and Oranges drew strong critical praise and prompted several publications to call him the next Bob Dylan. Both that album and its similarly acclaimed follow-up, Jack-Knife Gypsy, nevertheless sold poorly. Linda Ronstadt placed a version of the evocative “Louise” on her 1970 album Silk Purse, establishing the song as Siebel’s best-known composition; Bonnie Raitt and Leo Kottke later recorded it as well. Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, and longtime friend David Bromberg each found varying success with “Spanish Johnny.” The 1981 release Live at McCabes, drawn from a 1978 concert with Bromberg and Gary White, became Siebel’s final recording before retirement; Elektra issued a career-spanning compilation under his name in 2004. He spent his remaining years in Eastern Maryland working as a bread baker and county park employee, dying in 2022 at age 84.
Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1937, Siebel taught himself guitar in his teens after hearing the work of Hank Williams and Hank Snow. Following military service, he began performing in folk clubs in the early 1960s and eventually settled in Greenwich Village, where he built a following on the coffeehouse circuit. Demos he recorded with David Bromberg in 1969 reached Elektra founder Jac Holzman, who offered a modest deal reportedly limited to funding four three-hour sessions. The resulting Woodsmoke and Oranges drew strong critical praise and prompted several publications to call him the next Bob Dylan. Both that album and its similarly acclaimed follow-up, Jack-Knife Gypsy, nevertheless sold poorly. Linda Ronstadt placed a version of the evocative “Louise” on her 1970 album Silk Purse, establishing the song as Siebel’s best-known composition; Bonnie Raitt and Leo Kottke later recorded it as well. Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, and longtime friend David Bromberg each found varying success with “Spanish Johnny.” The 1981 release Live at McCabes, drawn from a 1978 concert with Bromberg and Gary White, became Siebel’s final recording before retirement; Elektra issued a career-spanning compilation under his name in 2004. He spent his remaining years in Eastern Maryland working as a bread baker and county park employee, dying in 2022 at age 84.
Albums
Live
