She had the voice, the look and the songs, but, for whatever reason, success eluded Evie Sands during her early years in the 1960’s. She recorded the original versions of songs that were hits for other people, like “Take Me For a Little While,” “I Can’t Let Go,” and “Angel of the Morning.” She finally had a hit of her own with “Anyway That You Want Me” in 1969.

Around that time, she began writing songs herself, having heavyweights like Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick and Gladys Knight perform her compositions.

Eventually, she built a career as an independent artist, writing, producing and releasing her own material. Now, she’s issued her first new full album in two decades called Get Out of Your Own Way.

We talk about how the global pandemic threw a wrench in the plans to release the new album. She tells us about her very first recording, “The Roll,” which she sang when she was only eleven years old. And, she also talks about the strange circumstances that clouded her early releases, and why they weren’t successful.