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05/07/2023 10:34 AMIn August of 1974, a week after her fiftieth birthday, Connie Converse, once an aspiring singer and songwriter, got into her Volkswagen Beetle and drove away from her home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. No one has seen or heard from her since. If she is still alive, she would be 99 this August. What is alive, however, is the music she created, and some 50 years after she vanished, there is ever increasing interest in her work.
In his new book, To Anyone Who Ever Asks, author and musician Howard Fishman, who divides his time between Chester and Brooklyn, tells Converse’s story. He will appear on May 11, at 5 p.m. at the Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore in Middletown in conversation with another writer, longtime Connecticut resident Lary Bloom.
Fishman’s book is a tale within a tale, not only the story of Converse’s life, but also of his own 12-year meticulous search to fathom the mystery of his subject. He visited her brother and his wife, both since deceased in Michigan; he talked to other relatives, to friends; he went to Prague, capitol of the Czech Republic, to interview Gene Deitch, who had recorded Converse singing her original songs and accompanying herself on an acoustic guitar. Deitch even arranged for her only brush with media fame, an appearance in 1954 on Walter Cronkite’s CBS Morning Show.
To Anyone Who Ever Asks is not Fishman’s first time grappling with the story and music of Connie Converse. He first heard a recording of her singing at a friend’s party in 2010. He was so taken with the music he stopped on his way home and bought an album of Converse’s songs, which by that time were just beginning to be rediscovered and released.
Fishman’s fascination with Converse and her music has never diminished. He has written a piece about her in the New Yorker, where he is a contributing writer; in 2013 he produced an album of Converse’s unpublished art songs; in 2016, he wrote a play about her, A Star Has Burnt My Eye. He has no doubt of her place, or of what should be her place in the annals of American music. “She was a trailblazing pioneer, one of the great artists of the 20th century,” he says.
He describes her music as a combination of the virtues three American musical icons, George Gershwin, Charles Ives and Bob Dylan; Gershwin for the musical sensibilities of the classical American songbook; Ives for his art songs, and Dylan for introspection and autobiographical nature of his music. Converse, in fact, is now often called the first singer-songwriter, the musical combination Dylan made famous.
So why isn’t she famous? In the music business, her songs were considered non-commercial. Fishman noted that her letters and diaries mention the discouraging feedback she got within the music industry. “She wasn’t famous because she was doing new things with music, and the world wasn’t ready for it yet,” he noted.
But today, people are taking notice. There are new recordings of her music; she is on You Tube, on Spotify. Fishman thinks that she might be a musician whose fame comes after they have passed from the scene like composer Florence Price.
Much of the Internet data on Converse, Fishman said, is inaccurate, even the story of how she got the name Connie. She was born Elizabeth Eaton Converse. Most biographical information says friends started calling her Connie when she came to New York City after dropping out of Mount Holyoke college. Not so, said Fishman. College friends had called her Connie too, but the how the nickname developed is a mystery. No one can explain why.
And that is the question that lingers over so much else of Connie Converse’s life: why? But beginning to unravel the mystery is a fascinating tale.
Howard Fishman, author of To Anyone Who Ever Asks, at Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore In conversation with Lary Bloom
Thursday, May 11, 5 pm at Wesleyan R.J, Julia, 413 Main Street, Middletown
Event is free; to register: https://www.wesleyanrjjulia.com.