She was a poet, singer, composer and pianist whose melancholic home recordings from the 1950s hit on universal themes of despair, heartbreak, longing and loss.

A pioneering record-label owner and engineer, she played guitar in a raw and unapologetically abrasive way. “Whatever song it was,” she said, “I always creamed…

There’s a resurgence of interest in the pioneering singer-songwriter who disappeared when she was 50.