TV Reviews : The Spotlight Is on Judy Collins in Two Music Specials

“Judy Collins: Going Home” (airing on the Disney Channel at 9 p.m. Sunday) is a generally pleasing concert/documentary that depicts the renowned singer/songwriter on a recent visit to her native Colorado. (She currently resides in New York City.)

The program is built around a nine-tune Collins performance, delivered at the intimate Wheeler Opera House in Aspen. The concert footage is augmented by interviews with Collins and some of her family, home-movie-type footage, such as a Collins’ family reunion, a few shots of typically gorgeous Rocky Mountain landscapes and a scattering of archival stills and footage. The narration by Collins gives us more than a passing glimpse into what makes the singer tick.

The performance material is uneven but ultimately satisfying. Collins’ voice rings as clear and pure as ever, but some of her interpretations--as on classics such as Ian Tyson’s “Someday Soon” and Joni Mitchill’s “Both Sides Now,” where she takes liberties of questionable taste with the songs’ melodies and rhythms--are unsettling.

She’s in better form on “My Father,” where she offers a first-rate piano accompaniment, and the country-ish “City of New Orleans.” Kris Kristofferson joins Collins for “Red River Valley” and his “Me and Bobby McGee,” but his flat, colorless voice only weighs these numbers down. The back-up band, with guitarists Lou Volpe and Hugh McCracken spotlighted, is first-rate throughout.

The Elliot Edwards-directed film closes with Collins on stage amid her family members, singing “Amazing Grace.” It’s a warm conclusion that captures the people-oriented spirit of this unique artist.

Collins is also the headliner, but in title only, on “Sing Out America! With Judy Collins” (at 2 p.m. Sunday on Channel 28). Here she shares the spotlight with vocal magician Bobby McFerrin, original Kingston Trio members Nick Reynolds and John Stewart, singer Ronnie Gilbert (of the Weavers) and Bay Area-based vocalist Val Diamond.

The show, filmed at San Francisco’s Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, is partly a sing-along--audience members were given lyric sheets, but no word prompter is provided for those at home--and partly a McFerrin extravaganza.

A winner of four 1989 Grammys, McFerrin begins with a snappy, three-phrase a cappella scat tune, ingratiatingly leading the audience participation. He then segues into a one-man, full-scale version of tunes and scenes from “The Wizard of Oz,” into which he manages to squeeze a vocalise version of “Over the Rainbow,” tornado sound effects, a squeaky-high ‘Dorothy” voice and bits of “Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead” and “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” It’s a riveting sequence.

Other highlights: Collins again sings “Someday Soon” and “Both Sides Now”; Gilbert offers “Goodnight, Irene”; Reynolds and Stewart are almost outsung by the crowd on “Tom Dooley” and “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore,” joined on the latter by Collins; and Diamond, an Ethel Merman-ish belter, brasses it up on “Seventy-Six Trombones” and “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” The San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, under Leo Eylar’s baton, offers solid accompaniment.

Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” sung with gusto by all hands on deck, is an apropos finale for this program of festive Americana.