Though recorded to a warped acetate -- and subsequently flecked with wavering semitones --
Niela Miller
's debut (and only) album
Songs of Leaving
still reveals her nonetheless impressive talent. An obscure figure in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early '60s,
Miller
occupies some of the same mysterious country blues territory of
Karen Dalton
but sings like a theatrically strange and much less precious cousin of
Joan Baez
. Nonetheless, on tunes like "Mean World" (covered by
Dave Van Ronk
) and "Too Long Blues," framed by her accomplished and spare folk-blues picking, she manages both to comfort and haunt listeners. While fame and sales eluded
, the set includes "Baby Don't Go to Town," a song composed by
that inspired her then boyfriend
Billy Roberts
to write "Hey Joe." The similarities between her song and the inevitable rock cover are so striking that somebody, somewhere owes Ms.
millions.