Dinner Music: Margo Guryan
quintessential 1960s sunshine psych folk
Margo Guryan, born and raised near New York City, was a singer-songwriter in the 1960s. She had some early success, particularly with her song Sunday Morning, which was recorded by Spanky and Our Gang and quickly became a Top 40 hit. Guryan herself, despite her talent and charm, was a shy and insecure performer. After recording her first and only album titled Take a Picture, she was asked to go on tour to promote the album. She declined. The lack of promotion of the album caused her burgeoning career to fall into the shadows. However, as her music became available to stream online in the mid-to-late 2000s, folks in Japan and Europe began to take a particular interest. In her last decade of life, she enjoyed some success from the album she released nearly fifty years prior.
Take a Picture was released in 1968. Though the sound is gentle and charming, the underlying music and songwriting is anything but simple. Guryan had a masterful pulse on psychedelic folk, using her background in jazz to add deeper bass to lighthearted melodies. The album begins with Sunday Morning, her most successful track, and weaves through bright, sunshine pop folk melodies. The final track, Timothy Gone, sweeps us out of the album with a bit of downtempo sadness, though sadness filtered through a lens of light rays.
Enjoy.
Take a Picture - Margo Guryan
Pair this album with:
Greek Chicken with Cucumber Feta Salad. Delicious and easy (do I say this every week?). It’s starting to heat up quite a bit here and the cucumber and greek yogurt combination is a great dinnertime cool-off.
Chilton. I’ll let them tell it: “A cold wet drink made for the hot dry heat: vodka, sparkling water, fresh squeezed lemon & sea salt.” This was my go-to drink in 2020 and likely will be again in 2022.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. ✨