That’s because the folksinger, Phil Ochs, was her little brother. He killed himself nearly 30 years ago after suffering through years of depression. Since then, Sonny Ochs of Middleburgh has tried to do what she could to keep his name — and his songs — alive.

I first heard one of Phil’s albums in the late 1960s when a friend played "I Ain’t Marching Anymore." In 1968, it wasn’t easy to find music with an anti-war message — especially one that went beyond the Vietnam War and connected it to our history and culture. Phil did that.

By then Dylan had dropped out of sight only to return with "Nashville Skyline." He was continuing to dissociate himself from the movement that the "young Bobby Dylan" had inspired with his early albums. A friend, Mike, would listen for hours on end to "The Times They are a Changing" and "The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan" and become so angry about what had happened that he’d throw a book or a shoe at the record player.

Phil made it to Greenwich Village not long after Dylan but, unlike Dylan, he and other young folk singers with a message such as Tom Paxton and Eric Anderson struggled with commercial success.

Phil’s first three albums — his best and his most political — were released successively in 1964-1966 at the beginning of the Vietnam War and at the peak of the civil rights movement. His songs, known as topical, reflected the times.

Sonny Ochs, who is having Phil Ochs Song Nights at 8 p.m. today on WAMC-FM and at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at The Night Eagle Cafe in Oxford, said her brother likely would find the events of the new century fertile for song-writing. But she added that the Iraq war and other actions of President Bush also give new meaning to many of his 1960s songs.

It’s true. My albums gathered dust in their scratches and grooves until about five years ago when, suddenly it seemed, the messages in many of the songs surfaced yet again as relevant. The folk singers involved in the Phil Ochs Song Nights, Greg Greenway, Magpie, Aztec Two-Step and Kim and Reggie Harris, apparently have felt the same way over the years.

Phil’s first album in 1964, called "All the News That’s Fit to Sing," included the song "Power and Glory," which was sort of his personal version of Woody Guthrie’s "This Land is Your Land." The title reflects how a great nation can misuse the former and thereby fail to achieve the latter.

Sonny Ochs says she found a fourth verse written in 1963 not included with the recorded version that could have been penned today. "This land is troubled by those who hate. They twist away our freedom; they twist away our fate. Fear is their weapon; treason is their cry. But we can stop them if we try."

Another apparent contemporary vision was expressed in "Cops of the World," which was recorded for Phil’s third album, "Phil Ochs in Concert," in 1966. The song recounts the tradition of American foreign policy intervening one way or another when people or nations step out of line.

A folk singer performing at a song night last year exchanged two words (bold face below) in one verse, Sonny Ochs said.

"We pick and choose as we please, boys

Pick and choose as we please

You’d best get down on your knees, boys

Best get down on your knees

We’re hairy and horny and ready to shack

And we don’t care if you’re yellow (Iran) or black (Iraq)

Just take off your clothes and lay down on your back

’Cause we’re the Cops of the World, boys

We’re the Cops of the World"

Some of Phil’s anti-war songs, such as "I Ain’t Marching Anymore" and "Draft Dodger Rag," became well-known in the peace movement, but a few of his most widely recognized recordings delved more into more-emotional social issues.

These included "There But for Fortune" (about the fine line separating our fates), "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" (based on the infamous stabbing in New York City in 1964 when everyone went about their business and did nothing) and "Links on the Chain" (celebrating the successful struggles of labor unions).

As the 1970s arrived, Phil’s developing mental illness and writer’s block led to some pretty bad times. Sonny Ochs said that today her brother would have been diagnosed as bipolar and more medications would be available compared to 30-some years ago.

When you’re suffering from depression, you tend to find out who your real friends are. Sonny Ochs said that while Dylan may have been a genius, "he didn’t treat Phil well" during those years marked by illness.

Meanwhile, Sonny Ochs, a member of the Broome Town Board and ambulance squad, said she plans to keep doing Phil Ochs Song Nights as long as she can. And when she can’t, I have a feeling that the artists performing Phil’s songs will carry it on.

Cary Brunswick, managing editor, can be contacted at cary@thedailystar.com or 432-1000, ext. 217.