 Her influences were Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Oscar Peterson without forgetting Ray Charles.She lived in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Carmel, California, Santa Fe, New Mexico among other places, living the life of a nomad, as it was easy at that time to have a "sit down" music gig and stay in a place for a month or two or longer.In 1994, Judy Blair moved to Southwest France, settling in the Quercy region near the city of Cahors in the Lot.