After more than 50 years in the music business — producing, engineering, collaborating, writing songs, teaching songwriting and performing on stages ranging from intimate house parties to Carnegie Hall — Tret Fure will play a concert at Rain Shadow Lavender Farm on Sunday, July 30, kicking off a tour for her 18th album.

Fure is known in the folk and women’s music worlds for her masterful blending of voice and guitar, her conversational interaction with the audience, clarity of articulation when singing and deeply thoughtful lyrics.

The family run lavender farm “was a perfect fit,” said jazz singer Jean Lenke, producer of the show, as the new album is titled “Lavender Moonshine.”

Fure recently finished production of the album with co-producer and engineer Kim Person.

If the CDs reach the peninsula in time, they will be for sale at the concert, along with seven or eight of her previous 17 albums; otherwise, people can order them at the concert.

Fure said that Lavender Moonshine is currently her favorite album of her own work.

“It’s usually the latest that’s your favorite,” she said.

Fure said that “Stone by Stone,” her pandemic album, was “truly my best” previously: “I keep growing as an artist, which is what you always hope. I keep maturing and the songs do, too.”

Longtime fans Evelyn and Michele Ransom of Discovery Bay say they have been listening to Fure’s music for 30 years and have known her for 20. They were the ones who first introduced her to Sequim. Fure said that she’s played four or five concerts here.

Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen / Jazz singer Jean Lenke, with Mick Nicholsen on bass and Steve Kirk on guitar, performs at Rain Shadow Lavender during Lavender Weekend 2023. Lenke is producer of the upcoming Tret Fure concert which will take place at Rain Shadow on July 30 at 2 p.m.

“She exudes a sense of warmth, caring and safety, just like her music,” Evelyn Ransom said. “I would say she has a true compass.” True Compass is one of Evelyn’s favorite Fure albums.

“I like the way she talks about family, places,” she said. “Like the quirks of living in a small town, my favorite song. I like the way she talks about current events, showing the pains of war and poverty… her uplifting songs about friendship, her self-examination in dealing with the ups and downs of love and emotional turmoil.”

“It’s the kind of music that goes deep inside you and makes you want to belt out singing in the shower or driving,” Michele Ransom said. “It makes you think. I like her sing-a-longs.”

“I always encourage my audience to sing along with me,” Fure said. “It’s the best thing you can do as a singer and participant. It raises your endorphins and lowers your blood pressure. It’s the best thing you can do for yourself — singing and laughing. It’s a very powerful experience singing in a group, and there’s nothing better for a singer on stage than to hear that.

“I encourage everyone to come to my show and sing with me.”

About the artist

Fure has a lot to sing about, including a supportive first family.

The music industry was overtly misogynistic in the 1960s and 70s, when Fure was making her way in California after moving from Michigan at 19; the industry is still far from being fully inclusive, according to Fure, the Ransoms and Lenke.

Fure has had many other disciplines and experiences to draw from, including a clothing line in the past and painting pet portraits in the present, a small press cookbook and a garden which reflect her lifelong investment in health by good eating, her private love life, many friendships, periods of travel contrasted with periods of stable home life, and a keen awareness of current events all provide material for a range of thoughtful and emotive songs.

Fure has been active in social justice throughout her career, working, singing and songwriting for change. This year she received the Phil Och’s award “in recognition of her music and activism for social and political justice in the spirit of Phil Ochs,” according to A Still Small Voice’s website at assv4u.com.

Fure said, “I was completely blown away,” when Sonny Ochs presented her with the unexpected honor.

“It was pretty phenomenal,” she said.

According to her website biography, Fure served for six years as president and 18 on the board of Local 1000, The Traveling Musicians Association — a union geared toward “helping traveling musicians find security and longevity” — and has been with the union for 56 years.

“It’s a wonderful organization to be involved with,” Fure said.

Get more information about Fure at tretfure.com, and videos of her performances at youtube.com/tretfure.

“Everyone is welcome at my shows. My music is for everyone,” she wrote.

Workshop on Whidbey

Fure will also be leading a four day songwriting workshop on Whidbey Island beginning Aug. 1, with a group concert afterwards scheduled for Aug. 5 at 3 p.m. with a $25 donation.

This is the 13th year of the workshop and she plans to return next year. Check the concerts section on tretfure.com to participate.

Tret Fure solo concert

When: 2 p.m. Sunday, July 30

Where: Rain Shadow Lavender Farm, 1410 Kitchen-Dick Road

Tickets: $15 online (tretfure.com/concerts); $20 at gate

Note: All ages, no dogs allowed, carpooling recommended

More info: tretfure.com