Casse Culver

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Casse Culver
A young white woman with short dark hair and dark eyes, wearing a dark top and three strands of pearls
Karen "Casse" Culver, from the 1964 yearbook of St. Mary's College of Maryland
Born
Karen Culver

March 7, 1944
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
DiedDecember 4, 2019 (age 75)
Milton, Delaware, U.S.
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter
SpouseBoden Sandstrom

Karen "Casse" Culver (March 7, 1944 – December 4, 2019) was an American folk singer and songwriter in the women's music genre.

Early life and education[edit]

Culver 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[edit]

Culver 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[edit]

Culver 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]

  1. ^ a b "Casse Culver, feminist performer to give concert". Carpinteria Herald. 1976-12-02. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Parents' names and occupations from 1950 United States Census, and their 1940 Michigan marriage certificate, via Ancestry.
  3. ^ St. Mary's College, Castellan (1964 yearbook): 18, via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ a b c "Casse Culver to be in Concert". Johnson City Press. 1985-03-01. p. 17. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b Pearson, Richard (April 27, 1993). "Donald M. Culver Dies; D.C. Nightclub Owner". The Washington Post.
  6. ^ McNamara, Susan (1978-05-09). "Fighting for minorities through songs". Democrat and Chronicle. pp. 1C, 2C. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Concert Scheduled Today at Park". Hartford Courant. 1971-06-26. p. 58. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Bearsville, WB Agreement Names Acts". Billboard: 3. October 16, 1971.
  9. ^ Anderson, Jamie (2019-10-01). An Army of Lovers. Bella Books. ISBN 978-1-64247-159-5.
  10. ^ Brown, Susan Rand (1977-06-01). "Women's Music for Everyone". Valley Advocate Amherst. p. 17. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Sasfy, Joe (2024-03-04). "Casse Culver". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  12. ^ "Women's Concert Slated". West Bank Guide. 1977-07-13. p. 27. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Clemmons, Nelda (1976-11-20). "Full moon, music make for 'bewitched' evening". The Tampa Times. p. 39. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Love, Barbara J. (2006-09-22). Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975. University of Illinois Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-252-09747-8.
  15. ^ Gaston-Bird, Leslie (2019-12-06). Women in Audio. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-85024-0.
  16. ^ Rothblum, Esther D.; Gartrell, Nanette (2013-09-13). Everyday Mutinies: Funding Lesbian Activism. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-99263-9.
  17. ^ a b c d "Collection: Casse Culver papers". Smith College Finding Aids. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  18. ^ "Advertisement" The GMCW Holiday Concert: Our Own Family Tradition (1991 concert program): 17.
  19. ^ a b c d e "Casse Culver". Queer Music Heritage. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  20. ^ "Innovative Women Produce An Album". Billboard: 47. March 5, 1977.
  21. ^ "Tribute to Astronaut Ride". The Los Angeles Times. 1983-06-10. p. 87. Retrieved 2024-06-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ Culver, Casse (March 2018). "Perfect child of God". The Christian Science Journal.
  23. ^ "Oral history with Boden Sandstrom, 1945-". · Rainbow History Project Digital Collections. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  24. ^ a b Gilles, Michael (2021-11-19). "Before the Beach". CAMP Rehoboth Community Center. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  25. ^ "Two women singers: Casse Culver and Willie Tyson". Pacifica Radio Archives. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  26. ^ Two women singers / Casse Culver and Willie Tyson, Pacifica Radio Archives, retrieved 2024-06-03{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)

External links[edit]

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