Nancy Priddy -

Nancy Priddy is an American singer/songwriter who released the 1968 album You’ve Come This Way Before on Dot Records.

Background

Nancy Priddy was born January 22, 1941, in South Bend, Indiana. She worked as a radio DJ at age 12 and later studied drama at Oberlin College and Northwestern University. In 1961 and 1962, she performed in musical revues at Peninsula Players Theatre in Wisconsin.

In 1964, Priddy joined the Bitter End Singers, a Greenwich Village folk group that recorded one album for Mercury before disbanding. After leaving the group, she resumed acting and began writing songs while living in the Chicago area. She cut a series of demos before returning to New York, where she sang backing vocals on Leonard Cohen’s Songs of Leonard Cohen.

You’ve Come This Way Before

Nancy Priddy released her debut album, You’ve Come This Way Before, in October 1968 on Dot Records.

The album pairs orchestrated acid folk with stylized chamber pop, anchored by elliptical lyrics and abrupt musical pivots. It stands as Priddy’s only full-length release.

Priddy co-wrote the material with arrangers Manny Albam, John Simon, and Everett Gordon. Albam arranged five tracks, Simon two, and Gordon three, including the title track and “Christina’s World.”

“Mystic Lady” stretches over six minutes with sectional changes that shift between elegiac ballad, carnival swirl, and up-tempo soul fanfare. “Ebony Glass” sets layered harpsichord and strings against a vocal interlude from a child narrator. “Christina’s World” references the Andrew Wyeth painting and doubles as a tribute, while “My Friend Frank” plays like a parody of sunshine pop. “On the Other Side of the River” moves with an understated rhythmic pulse.

A1. “You’ve Come This Way Before” (2:52) – an eerie portrait of desire, co-written by Everett Gordon
A2. “Ebony Glass” (2:21) – features child vocals and harpsichord; words by Bobby Whiteside
A3. “Mystic Lady” (6:32) – extended multi-part suite arranged by John Simon
A4. “Christina’s World” (2:45) – inspired by Wyeth’s painting; arranged by Gordon
A5. “We Could Have It All” (2:41) – arranged by Manny Albam

B1. “My Friend Frank” (3:03) – an off-kilter character vignette
B2. “O’ Little Child” (3:17) – arranged by Albam
B3. “And Who Will You Be Then” (3:13) – orchestral tension underpins its fable-like tone
B4. “On the Other Side of the River” (2:34) – hushed chamber-folk with light orchestration
B5. “Epitaph” (1:21) – closing miniature, arranged by Simon

Sessions occurred at A&R Studios in New York City with producer Phil Ramone and engineers unlisted. Albam, Simon, and Gordon arranged and conducted their respective tracks.

Later Activity

In 1969, Priddy recorded the standalone single “Feelings” with producer Harry Nilsson. She also narrated two volumes in Mort Garson’s Signs of the Zodiac series before ending her music career.

Priddy paid a post-release visit to the LA headquarters of Dot Records, where she met her eventual husband, staff producer Bob Applegate. In November 1971, the couple had a daughter, Christina Applegate, a future television and film actress who found fame in the late 1980s as Kelly, the wild teenage daughter on the long-running Fox sitcom Married… With Children.

Priddy divorced Applegate in 1972. She resumed acting in the 1970s and 1980s with roles in Bewitched, Mayberry R.F.D., Police Woman, The Waltons, Cannon, Medical Center, and Barnaby Jones. She appeared in the TV movies Short Walk to Daylight and The Aliens Are Coming.

After recovering from breast cancer, Priddy returned to music in the 1990s and self-released multiple albums, including Can We Talk About It? and Mama’s Jam.

You’ve Come This Way Before was reissued on CD in 2005 by Rev-Ola and has since gained a reputation as a unique artifact of late-1960s psychedelic folk.

Discography: