500 Miles By Hedy West

Hedy West (1938-2005) performs the song that she composed and is most remembered for, from one of her early albums on Vanguard Records. West was frequently cited as the best of the female soloists of the Folk Revival of the 1950s and 1960s, due in no small part to her fidelity to her authentically Appalachian roots. West composed “500 Miles“ based on songs she had heard from her grandmother,and though the number was covered and made famous by harmonizing pop-folk groups of the era like The Journeymen, Peter Paul and Mary, and the Kingston Trio, the purity of West’s heritage from the mountains of the southeastern U.S. shines through in her own performance.