Although she often, and memorably, sang in her onscreen roles—she even wrote all three of the songs she sang in Robert Altman’s Nashville—Oscar-nominated character actress Karen Black never had a parallel career as a musician. However, she did leave behind an album’s worth of original music that was partially produced by recording legends Bones Howe (The Mamas and the Papas, 5th Dimension, Tom Waits, The Turtles) and Elliot Mazer (Neil Young, The Band, Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt). The tapes—caked in mold and other things—were taken to her friend, musician Cass McCombs by her husband Stephen Eckelberry. They took three years to repair. Many of the details of the sessions that produced this music were lost to the passing of time. One of the boxes held a cover of “Question” by Moody Blues.

Dreaming of You (1971-1976) gathers these recordings—including six songs recorded with Howe—together for the first time. They have a Laurel Canyon folkie/Judy Collins feel to them and there is a certain mysteriousness to her confessional compositions. Ever the actress, Black would do multiple takes of a song, each time changing her tone, phrasing or cadence. “We went looking for a needle in a haystack, and ended up with a haystack of needles,” McCombs says.

Black duetted with McCombs several times on his albums and he was in the process of setting Black’s words to music when she died. “She’d given me all of her poetry and I was trying to work them into some kind of meter that would work as songs,” he says. They recorded two of them, “I Wish I Knew The Man I Thought You Were” and “Royal Jelly.” These songs are included as a bonus 45 with the vinyl release.

Dreaming of You (1971-1976) is released this Friday, July 16 via Anthology Recordings.