Hedge and Donna were an American

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and folk-rock duo comprising Keene Hedge Capers (born February 21, 1945) and Donna Marie Carson (November 13, 1946 – November 21, 2019). They recorded six albums between 1968 and 1973. On their final album they were credited as Capers and Carson.

Career

Capers was born in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

, and Carson in

McAlester, Oklahoma McAlester is the county seat of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. The population was 18,363 at the time of the 2010 census, a 3.4 percent increase from 17,783 at the 2000 census,Shuller, Thurman"McAlester" profile ''Encyclop ...

. They met when both were students at

Whittier College Whittier College (Whittier Academy (1887–1901)) is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of fall 2022, had approximately 1,300 (undergraduate and graduate) students. It was ...

in California. James Goodrich, "Reviewers Don't Hedge About", ''Jet'', 27 March 1969, pp.1, 58
Retrieved March 15, 2019 In early 1967 they began performing together, both singing with Capers on guitar and bass, and they married in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

later that year. They played the amateur night at the

Troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...

, and as a result club owner

Doug Weston Alexander Douglas Weston (December 13, 1926 – February 14, 1999) was an American nightclub owner, known as the owner of The Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles which in the 1960s and 1970s was particularly responsible for promoting many successf ...

became their manager. In early 1968, a ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' reviewer described them as "a class act ... combining expert harmonizing and strong vocal prowess", and they attracted attention as a

mixed race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

duo. They signed to

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

and their debut album, ''Hedge and Donna'' (sometimes known as ''Love'', a title used on the record label but not the

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

), appeared in 1968, followed later the same year by ''Hedge & Donna 2''. Both albums were produced by

Nick Venet Nick Venet (born Nikolas Kostantinos Venetoulis, 3 December 1936 – 2 January 1998) was an American record producer, who began his career at age 19 with World Pacific Jazz. He is best known for signing The Beach Boys to Capitol Records and p ...

, and contained some self-penned songs with others by

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

singer-songwriter

Billy Batson Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam, is a superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Fawcett Comics and currently published by DC Comics. Artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker created the character in 1939. Captai ...

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world mus ...

Tim Buckley Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years. Buckley began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums experimented with ja ...

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, ...

, and

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

."Hedge & Donna"
Discogs.com. Retrieved March 15, 2019. The pair appeared on the front cover of '' Jet'' magazine in March 1969, with the magazine describing them as working "the gamut of songs from

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

to spirituals and folk." They released their third album, ''All the Friendly Colours'', again produced by Venet and with arrangements by James E. Bond, in the same year. As well as in Los Angeles, they appeared in

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

s in Washington D.C., New York City,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, San Francisco and elsewhere, and appeared on ''

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'' was an American comedy and variety show television series hosted by the Smothers Brothers and initially airing on CBS from 1967 to 1969. The series was a major success, especially considering it was sched ...

''. In 1970, they issued ''Special Circumstances'', with

Janis Ian Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit " Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" and the 1975 Top T ...

playing on the pair's performance of her song "He's a Rainbow", and they were among the performers at the Atlanta International Pop Festival in July 1970. Capers and Carson then moved to

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

, releasing ''Evolution'' in 1971. The album sleeve showed the title as ''Revolution'' with the initial "R" struck through. Their final album, ''Capers and Carson'', was issued on the

Janus In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus ( ; la, Ianvs ) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janu ...

label in 1973. Capers appeared as a folk singer in the 1973 movie ''Who Fears the Devil?'', later edited and reissued as ''The Legend of Hillbilly John''. The couple had a child, Ethan, in 1972. Capers and Carson divorced in 1976. Carson later worked with special needs children at the California State Diagnostic School, and as a child advocate supervisor for

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

courts. She died on November 21, 2019, aged 73."In Memory of Donna Marie Carson"
EverLoved.com, Retrieved 24 November 2019.

Discography

Albums

* ''Hedge and Donna'' (aka ''Love'') (

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

ST-2869, February 1968) * ''Hedge & Donna 2'' (Capitol ST-107, September 1968) * ''All the Friendly Colours'' (Capitol ST-279, August 1969) * ''Special Circumstances'' (Capitol ST-447, May 1970) * ''REvolution'' (

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

24–4063, June 1971) * ''Capers and Carson'' (

JLS-3045, April 1973)

Singles

* " Tomorrow Is The 1st Day of the Rest of My Life" / "

Black Betty "Black Betty" ( Roud 11668) is a 20th-century African-American work song often credited to Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter as the author, though the earliest recordings are not by him. Some sources claim it is one of Lead Belly's many adaptations ...

" (Capitol 2695, 1969) * "My God And I" / "Sunshine" (Capitol 2840, 1970) * "Touch Caste on the Water" / "

She Said She Said "She Said She Said" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album ''Revolver''. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was written by John Lennon with assistance from George Harrison. Lennon described it as "an 'acidy' song" ...

" (Polydor PD 2–14090, 1971) * " Guava Jelly" / "Well I Never" (Janus J-216, 1973) * "Mirror Mirror" / "(Something's Really) Got A Hold on Me" (Janus J-229, 1973)

References

External links

Session details and discography

Allmusic

Discography

2017 interview with Hedge Capers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedge and Donna American musical duos Capitol Records artists 1945 births Living people 1946 births 2019 deaths