Teresa Trull

Teresa Trull – The Ways a Woman Can Be
Olivia Records, LF 910B
Los Angeles, CA, 1977

The best thing about shopping for records in thrift stores is when you come upon a specific mini collection from a specific individual. These mini collections are often quite intriguing and when I'm intrigued enough about a previous owner I like to buy all the records that were dumped at this thrift store. I live for the days that I find records from an unusual (in terms of rarity of record finds) country all together in one store. Once I bought a whole box filled up with Latvian records and another time I bought 15 Philippine records in one haul. Sometimes you'll find records of a certain topic or genre, and another time the type of labeling will give away that the records once belonged to one collection. The collections are most interesting to me if it concerns somewhat obscure records, a different set of records than those that anyone could have. I didn't think anything of it when I came upon two Chris Williamson records yesterday (one I already had—I only like it so-so), but when more women-only records from the 1970s showed up my mind became focused. It's not the first time I've encountered a feminist thrift-store record dumping but this was yet more specific. Studying the sleeves of records by Teresa Trull and Jade & Sarsaparilla it became clear that I was dealing with a collection that once belonged to a lesbian woman (or couple). I went back through the rows of records I had already been through to find all those LPs that probably came from this anonymous collector. I ended up with 7 records, including two by Edith Piaf that I suspect belonged to the same owner. Next week I'll post something about this Parisian cultural icon nicknamed The Little Sparrow but today I'll forward a song by Teresa Trull. I had never heard of her but that is not a surprise given that liner notes state that the record is intended for a female audience only (I'm a male by the way). Everything to do with the record is feminine, from the name of the record company to the production, and all music, lyrics, and musicians as well. That I had never heard of her does not mean she's completely unknown mind you, she's not. She has her own Wikipedia page and has recorded several albums. Maybe she's not a mainstream name but obscure she isn't either. Listen to the song Woman-Loving Women from her first album The Ways a Woman Can Be from 1977.