Judy Collins, one of the enduring voices of the 1960s folk revival, has announced she will be performing what she describes as her final tour, stopping at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City on 26 August.
Speaking from her Manhattan apartment, Collins made clear she views this run as a proper swan song. “
“This is it,”she told reporters, noting a career that spans some 67 years on stage and in the recording studio. The 87-year-old compared her longevity wryly to a much-loved television star, calling herself “the Betty White of the folk music revival.”
Guests, repertoire and the road ahead
Collins will not tour alone. She said she will share stages with a number of respected artists through the itinerary: Bruce Cockburn joins her for the Iowa City date, while other performances around the country will feature Richard Thompson, Loudon Wainwright III, Amanda Shires and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Collins, a Grammy Award winner, has built much of her reputation as an interpreter of other writers’ songs as well as for her own material — her recordings of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” remain fixtures on folk and adult-contemporary playlists.
She emphasised that singing and performing remain central to her life. “I’ll be singing with them,” she said of the guest artists, adding that she looks forward to the companionship the tour promises. The itinerary appears designed to balance celebration with practicality: a collection of dates supported by peers and admirers rather than a large-scale arena production.
Loss, resilience and legacy
Collins has endured personal loss in recent years. She revealed that both her husband and her brother died in 2024, losses that have affected her but not extinguished her desire to perform. “It hasn’t been easy,” she acknowledged in conversation.
Her comments gesture towards a wider pattern among veteran performers who choose to step back from extensive touring while designing farewell runs that allow them to control the tempo and company they keep. Collins places herself among the artists who have called time without later reviving the concept of a final tour.
Why this matters
Collins’s career sits at an intersection of folk revival history and mainstream popular music. She made her name both as a songwriter and as an interpreter of others’ songs, helping introduce wider audiences to writers such as Joni Mitchell and Stephen Sondheim. At 87, her decision to mount a concluding tour will provide audiences — and a new generation of listeners — a chance to hear a living link to a pivotal era in American song.
- Tour stop confirmed: Englert Theatre, Iowa City — 26 August
- Notable guest artists: Bruce Cockburn (Iowa), Richard Thompson, Loudon Wainwright III, Amanda Shires, Mary Chapin Carpenter
- Career span: 67 years performing and recording
| Collaborator | Connection noted |
|---|---|
| Bruce Cockburn | Appears with Collins in Iowa City |
| Richard Thompson | Guest on other tour dates |
| Loudon Wainwright III | Guest on other tour dates |
| Amanda Shires | Guest on other tour dates |
| Mary Chapin Carpenter | Guest on other tour dates |
Collins’s announcement is both a personal statement and a cultural moment. For followers of the folk revival, her tour will be an opportunity to reflect on a repertoire that has woven together traditional material, contemporary songwriting and interpretative artistry. For Collins herself, the project seems to be as much about companionship on the road as about finality; she repeatedly cited the pleasure of singing with fellow musicians.
Whether this will be the absolute end of her live appearances can only be known with time, but for now Collins intends this to be a farewell of sorts — measured, collaborative and rooted in the music that made her name.
