[2] She attended the University of Colorado in Boulder, and began singing blues, folk and country music and playing guitar in clubs there and in Denver.

She performed at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival,[2] and at many leading club venues in the eastern United States, developing a loyal following,[1] but a second album for Columbia was never completed after Roderick and Scott disagreed on the direction it should take.

Again a mixture of blues and folk material, from a variety of sources, it featured musicians Artie Traum, Dick Weissman, Russ Savakus, Todd Sommer and Paul Griffin.

In 1982, she and Payne formed a new band, Judy Roderick & The Forbears, and recorded a self-titled album with musicians including Mac Rebennack (Dr. John).

One of Roderick and Ashford's songs, "Floods of South Dakota", was later recorded by Tim and Mollie O'Brien; their performance was nominated for a Grammy.