Do Call It a Comeback: Vashti Bunyan

GUITAR PLAYERS HAVE thick calluses on their fingertips, built up from years of fretting chords on steel strings. But U.K. singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan had virtually no calluses when she entered the studio to record her second album, "Lookaftering," in 2005. "My fingers hurt," said Bunyan by phone from London.

They hurt because in 1970, after her debut album, "Just Another Diamond Day," Bunyan put down her guitar, silenced her voice and left music to live in the countryside and raise three children.

She quit because the album tanked, and the failure of "Just Another Diamond Day" was so painful that Bunyan got rid of all of her copies: "It was just too sore; I couldn't bear to think about it at all."

But "Just Another Diamond Day" became a cult hit, garnering praise from modern freak-folk artists such as Devendra Banhart. Bunyan found out about the buzz when she looked up her name on the Internet — and was shocked to find that her long-lost album was being called a classic of the era.

Bunyan soon made contacts with people who encouraged her to reissue "Diamond Day" and to write new songs. "Lookaftering" picks up right where her first album left off: delicate, trippy and beautiful folk music sung in the same pure, girlish voice she had when she was 25.

While Bunyan's excited about her second chance, she has just one regret about leaving music 37 years ago: "I didn't sing to my children," she said. "And I keep coming across people who did sing those songs to their children. That makes me a bit sad."

The sadness is somewhat mitigated, however, by the enthusiastic response "Lookaftering" has received. "We've been touring the CD for a year now, and there's quite a bit to go. I certainly got the calluses back."

» Rock & Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE; with Vetiver, Vandaveer, Fri., 9 p.m., $15 in advance, $18 at the door; 202-388-7625. (Union Station)

Photo by Jason Evans