In 2024, the music world saw the release of Andy Brown and Brian Lindstrom’s “Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill,” the first-ever documentary dedicated to the life of the peerless singer-songwriter and musician. I wrote about Sill for my very first Scarlet article in February 2023, and I am thrilled to be able to return to her incredible story and music. “Lost Angel” is a meticulously detailed, informative and creative look into the songwriter that finally gives her the recognition she deserves. 

As I mentioned in my initial article, Sill had a troubled background, and the documentary dives right into it: her parents and brother died when she was young, her stepfather was abusive, she went to jail and then reform school, after which she became a prostitute, then went back to jail. During her incarceration, she decided that she needed to focus on music.

Sill discovered her passion for music, especially gospel, in reform school, where she became their church organist. Gospel became a primary influence on her work, and she remarks in interviews (interspersed throughout the film) that she was also influenced by Bach and baroque music at large. A lot of words get thrown around to describe Sill’s music—pop, folk, baroque, classical— but as Sill says herself in the documentary, she incorporates all of them into a completely new style. 

It starts to feel like an impossible task to describe Sill’s music—so the directors bring in help from Weyes Blood, Shawn Colvin and Adrienne Lenker, among others, to describe the influence she had on them. In addition, those who knew and admired her in her lifetime— including Graham Nash, David Crosby, Browne and JD Souther—all paint a portrait of someone who was, in a word, different.

While the “troubled artist birth-to-death” story can at first seem tired, the directors give creative twists to make it stand out. Brown and Lindstrom had unprecedented access to Sill’s personal notes, including sheet music and diary entries, most of which have never been open to the public before. Through this, we learn that she was also a gifted visual artist, with a plethora of colorful drawings and paintings. And not only was she a singer-songwriter, but a producer and conductor of the orchestra that played for her albums. You get to see her creative process as she shapes some of her most acclaimed work, including songs “Jesus Was a Cross Maker,” “The Kiss,” and “The Donor,” as well as both her albums “Judee Sill” and “Heart Food.” 

Another great creative decision of the film was animating Sill’s drawings. Beautiful birds, stars, and renderings of Sill herself populate the screen as they journey to the soundtrack of her music.

One of the primary questions the film tries to answer is why Sill did not reach the same commercial success of her Asylum Records labelmates, like Jackson Browne, Linda Rondstadt or the Eagles. They mention a few possible reasons—what music was popular in the time period, inadequate support from her label—but they lastly mention (and I agree) that her music was just too weird. Having baroque and mystical influences, with lyrics about rapture, redemption, and transcendent love was just not going to chart in the early 1970s. It also isn’t lost on the filmmakers the role that sexism and unrealistic expectations for female artists played at the time in Sill’s lack of commercial success.

We also learn about her growing dependence on drugs, starting from when she was a teenager and accelerating into adulthood. Through struggles with addiction, multiple car accidents, and unsuccessful surgeries, Sill continued to create music and art after being dropped from Asylum Records. She recorded demos for a new album—they remained unreleased until 2005 under the title “Dreams Come True.”

When the ending comes, it is sadly unsurprising: Judee was found dead of an overdose in 1979, at the age of 35. As the documentary’s end cards tell us, while Sill was not adequately appreciated in her lifetime, her legacy has reverberated across decades and generations. Much like Sill’s recognition, it took time for this film to come into being—it has been in production since 2015, and many of those interviewed in the film have since passed on. It has become crucial to hear stories from those who knew her; in this way, the film serves not only as an introduction to an incredible artist but as a historical record that will be available to future generations.

This film invites you into Judee Sill’s world; step inside, and feel the rapture.

You can rent or buy Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill on most major platforms.