There isn’t a day that goes by without a story in the media about some celebrity train wreck. Traffic incidents, custody battles, substance abuse, divorces, marital infidelity, assaults, bizarre behavior, and controversial statements on talk shows seem to be the order of the day in this E! channel society we live in. The bad part is that some celebrities actually seem to benefit from all this negative press and it becomes a way for them to keep their name in the public eye. In fact, for some celebrities, fame only carries them so far, but infamy ironically springboards them to success or, more accurately, to fortune.

To be heard above the din of the mass media celebrity culture, one must shout louder and louder. Possessing actual talent, creating something with heart and mind, and placing the work before the image seems like a quaint notion. But Vashti Bunyan is one musical artist who is the antithesis to the current media star. Her story, and the fact that she is now back making music, goes against all the stereotypes of the attention-needy celebrity. Many actors, musicians, and other creative types have taken time off, or even claimed to be “retired,” only to re-emerge towing the hype machine in their wake. Bunyan, however, after releasing only one album in 1970, quietly, happily, and successfully walked away from it all just when it seemed like she was poised for a long and fruitful musical career. I spoke with Bunyan about her early success, her long period in her own blissfully self-imposed exile, and her heartening revival. But, for the uninitiated, let’s revisit her back story.

Like many people, I came to Bunyan’s music late in the game. Back in 1991, Sony reissued the soundtrack to the 1967 film Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London, which was originally issued on Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate record label. The film was a documentary directed by Peter Whitehead that reflected the effervescent explosion of pop in London just as the psychedelic era was exploding. Featuring rare concert and in-studio performances by the likes of Pink Floyd, the soundtrack, like the film, also contained interview segments with many of the leading figures in Britain’s cultural renaissance of the mid-‘60s, including Mick Jagger, Michael Caine, David Hockney, and many others. Amidst the interviews and Pink Floyd and Small Faces songs were two tracks by an artist simply named Vashti. I have to admit that as much as I was fascinated with this aural peak at the watershed period of British pop, Bunyan’s soft, acoustic sound on her song “Winter is Blue”, as lovely it was, didn’t make a great impression on me at the time. Prior to that album, Bunyan had released a single in 1965 under Oldham’s direction. It was a cover of a Jagger-Richards song, “Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind” (the Rolling Stones’ version did not come out until the group’s Metamorphosis album, a collection of mostly unreleased tracks released in 1975). Under the direction of Oldham, Bunyan released a handful of singles in the mid-’60s that were not out of place amidst such pop confections as Marianne Faithfull’s “As Tears Go By.” They were mostly songs that featured Bunyan’s breathy whisper of a voice as well as ornate pop touches, studio trickery, and the image of a tousled ingénue.

Bunyan next traveled to the Isle of Skye to join a commune with soon-to-be boyfriend Robert Lewis. She went at the urging of her friend Donovan and it is there that she wrote most of the songs that would appear on her debut album, Just Another Diamond Day, which was released in 1970.

Since that soundtrack reissue, Bunyan didn’t again cross my path until the recent birth of the so-called freak-folk movement. The loose, and perhaps misguided, moniker was applied to Devendra Banhart and other artists, including Joanna Newsom. It was Banhart, more than anyone, who wanted to pay homage to Bunyan and see her return to music. Banhart, who had been writing Bunyan’s name on his arm before some of his concerts, sought out Bunyan for advice, which began a correspondence between the two. This led to her re-emergence in 2005 with Lookaftering, her first album since Just Another Diamond Day.

Just Another Diamond Day is closer to what Bunyan had envisioned for herself. It’s a beautiful, understated album that on first listen crosses English folk with light touches of baroque art-song. What makes the album so evocative is how accurately it portrays the simple joys of English village life. It’s further proof of a time when music reflected the regionalism and culture of a people. Given the current homogenization, comparing albums from then and today speaks volumes about English life, literature, and poetic wordplay. Bunyan has a direct connection to English literature, as she is a descendant of John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress. There’s a childlike wonder in the nursery rhyme lyrics and rhythms of “Lily Pond” and many other cuts. “Timothy Grub” evokes A.A. Milne and Wind in the Willows. One could easily say that Bunyan is like Nick Drake’s considerably wiser, older sister. Musically, Bunyan found like-minded collaborators, starting with producer Joe Boyd (the album was released through Boyd’s Witchseason Productions) and engineer Jerry Boys, who worked with many classic English folk-rock artists, not to mention the Beatles, and who is still going strong today. Bunyan also had support from Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band and Dave Swarbrick and Simon Nicoll from Fairport Convention.

After the release of Just Another Diamond Day, Bunyan’s musical story appeared to be at an end. Instead of continuing to make albums, Bunyan quit the music scene and moved to Ireland before settling in Scotland, after having spent a short spell at the Incredible String Band’s Glen Row cottages. She would spend the next 30-plus years happily raising her three children.

Long out of print and commanding a hefty price on the collector’s market, Just Another Diamond Day was reissued in 2000. Through her connection with Banhart, many more musicians were becoming acquainted with Bunyan’s work. The group Piano Magic invited her to sing on the song “Crown of the Lost” for their Writers Without Homes album (released in 2002). Further appearances on albums from Animal Collective and Banhart followed in 2005. Finally, in 2005, with the help of Banhart, Newsom, and many other musicians, she recorded her first album in 35 years, Lookaftering, on Fat Cat Records. She followed it up with a brief tour of North America. Since then, she has been involved in several projects, including a collaboration with Scottish novelist Rodge Glass. Their song, “The Fire”, appears on the compilation album Ballads of the Book. In 2007, the Bunyan revival went into overdrive with Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind – Singles and Demos 1964 to 1967 (DiCristina). Although it is comprised of crudely recorded solo-acoustic demos, the two-CD set is a charming collection that illustrates Bunyan’s prodigious output of artfully crafted English folk songs. The CD opens with Bunyan’s early singles and their B-sides and, as detailed previously, has more of a mid-’60s English pop feel.