by Mick Rhodes | editor@claremont-courier.com

It’s nothing new that Cindy Lee Berryhill has a lot on her plate.

Best known for her acclaimed series of records beginning with 1987’s “Who’s Gonna Save the World,” the Encinitas-based singer-songwriter — who appears at Claremont’s Folk Music Center this Saturday, November 2 — has studied acting with Lee Strasberg, been a full-time music instructor for 20 years, was one of the originators of the “anti-folk” movement in New York City, is the executor of the estate of her late husband Paul Williams, author and founder of Crawdaddy Magazine, she’s a mother, and oh yeah, she’s about to publish her first novel.

And it doesn’t stop there.

After appearing in Claremont Saturday, she’ll play a house concert in San Diego on Sunday, “Election Day is Tuesday,” Berryhill told the Courier. “Wednesday and Thursday we’re in the studio, and then Friday back in San Diego where it’s an honor that I’m being inducted into the San Diego Music Hall of Fame.”

At the Folk Berryhill will perform “songwriters’ circle” style alongside and with Thee Holy Brothers, comprised of Marvin Etzioni (Lone Justice) and Willie Aron (Leonard Cohen, Peter Case); multi-instrumentalist and author John Kruth; and Claremont native and renowned cellist and teacher Renata Bratt, a longtime friend and accompanist.

“It’s super fun, because we all really admire each other, and each other’s work,” Berryhill said. “You’ll hear a song that Marvin [Etzioni] wrote, and I’m like, ‘Oh my god! What can I play after that? That’s so freakin’ good!’ I’ll whip this one out …”

Cindy Lee Berryhill performing at McCabe’s in Santa Monica in October 2022. The acclaimed, Encinitas-based singer-songwriter appears at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday, November 2, at the Folk Music Center with Thee Holy Brothers, Renata Bratt, and John Kruth. Call (909) 624-2928 for tickets and info. Photo/by Stevo Rood

Her as of yet untitled new record will be her first since 2017’s moving “The Adventurist,” which in part explored the nuances of her relationship with Williams, who died in 2013 from complications of early-onset dementia brought on by a serious brain injury he suffered in a 1995 bicycle accident.

“I mean, wow, we’ve been through so much,” Berryhill said. “My record came out and then Trump went in office. I was like, f$%k! Then the whole COVID thing, and then it was kind of like, what am I going to do post-pandemic? Do I even want to perform again?”

Thankfully for us, a few gigs came her way. She teamed up with Kruth and Aron, and soon she’d answered her question.

“The vibe was so much fun. I’m just like, ‘We’ve got to do more like this.’ I love playing music with these guys,” she said. “It’s got this loose, kind of folky thing happening.”

Though Berryhill has been largely absent from stage in recent years, she’s been writing, with more than enough new material for the upcoming record. Presumably many of those tunes will get a workout Saturday at the Folk.

“The Folk Music Center is one of my favorite places,” Berryhill said. “I’ve always wanted to play there, and now I finally am. So, I’m psyched about that.”

The record’s release date has yet to be determined. In the meantime, Berryhill has just finished the first draft of an as of yet untitled novel, which is set in the fertile, wildly colorful Los Angeles punk rock scene circa 1979-80.

Back then Berryhill fronted her own band, The Stoopids, while hanging out at “the church,” the Hermosa Beach headquarters of legendary hardcore architects Black Flag, and palling around with other South Bay bands such as Red Cross (now Redd Kross following a 1980s cease and desist order from the nonprofit), the Urinals, the Last, and others. At the same time she was going to acting school and working as a maid at a mansion in Bel Air.

“It’s not a memoir, even though it’s based on some [personal] stuff,” she said. “It’s a chance for me to talk about the scene but really to put a story to it.”

Before Los Angeles’ punk scene became notorious for its violence and male-dominated monochromatic fashion, it was a true art movement populated by outsiders — men and women, gay, straight, Black, Hispanic, Asian, white — who became its musicians, songwriters, visual artists, journalists, filmmakers, photographers, and poets. It was wide open, and the music reflected the subculture’s diversity.

“I kind of take my story and fictionalize it and get a little bit more of an arc,” Berryhill said. “So I’m lying all over the place, but I’m also changing people’s names and hair color. The whole vibe and everything was always at night. Los Angeles at night … it’s got this noir aspect to it, just writing about LA.”

Cindy Lee Berryhill performs with and alongside Thee Holy Brothers, John Kruth, and Renata Bratt at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 2 at the Folk Music Center, 220 N. Yale Ave., Claremont 91711. Tickets are $25 at the store or at the door, or by dialing (909) 624-2928. More info is available at folkmusiccenter.com.