(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – In an evening of unprecedented folk-pop royalty, Grammy Award-winning folk music pioneer Judy Collins will share the stage at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center with hit songwriter Jimmy Webb as her opening act on Sunday, August 26, 2012, at 7 pm. Known for her blend of interpretive folk songs and contemporary themes, Judy Collins’s impressive career has spanned more than 50 years, interpreting and spreading the work of songwriters including Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Stephen Sondheim. Webb’s pen is responsible for a slew of pop classics, including Glen Campbell’s “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” and “Galveston”, Richard Harris’s “MacArthur Park” and “Didn’t We”, and the Fifth Dimension’s “Up, Up and Away.”

For a time in the 1960s, Judy Collins specialized in popularizing the work of so-called social poets, including Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Tom Paxton. She expanded her repertoire to embrace and popularize the work of singer-songwriters including Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman. Her rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” on her 1967 album, Wildflowers, paved the road for Mitchell herself, and her version of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” won the Song of the Year award at the 1975 Grammy Awards.

In addition to writing hits for Glen Campbell, Richard Harris and the Fifth Dimension, Jimmy Webb wrote the song “The Highwayman” for Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson, which they adapted as the name of their all-star quartet. Webb’s songs continue to grace a multitude of major recording artists’ albums, including Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Urge Overkill, Reba McEntire, and Shawn Colvin.

The Mahaiwe is located at 14 Castle Street in Great Barrington, Mass. Box office hours are Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 6 pm and three hours before show times. Tickets to Judy Collins with Jimmy Webb are $45 to $70. For tickets and information, visit Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center or call 413.528.0100.