Best Female Vocalists Ballads

Mass popularity and my tastes are usually mutually exclusive, but there is a fairly recent new singer who has sold a lot of albums whom I really like. She's British, goes by the name of Adele, and is a great singer of ballads, even one by Dylan. She has only two albums, I believe, so get 'em both!

Ooh, good one Peter! Another incredible female is Julie Miller, a great songwriter and singer, wife and partner of the best producer/singer/guitarist/bandleader (for Emmylou Harris) working today, Buddy Miller.

I wasn't going to mention my favorite "new" artist of the past few decades. The last time I recommended her, to the wife of a friend who was looking for a new female artist to like, the feedback I got was that the wife found Iris Dement "so melancholy". Well, so are Bach's Cello Concertos, right? I realized the woman was looking for superficial entertainment, not High Art.
Merle Haggard started telling people about Iris Dement in the mid-90's, so I got her "My Life" album. Holy f#@king sh*t! Her song "No Time To Cry" (which Merle himself recorded, the highest compliment one songwriter can pay another) is the most devastating song I have ever heard in all my 65 years. And it is a ballad, of sorts. She is very well recorded, her Singer-Songwriter/Acoustic/Bluegrass/Traditional Country sound really well captured. She has the best musicians in the world on her records, guys like Jerry Douglas (Alison Krauss) on Dobro and Stuart Duncan on Guitar. I took that album to CES in the late 90's, and as I was listening to NTTC on the Crosby modified Quad 63's, I felt the tears welling up in my eyes, until I could no longer hold them back. Made a fool of myself at CES!

Uh, Cello Suites, that is.

I can't not mention the incredible version of "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?" Joan Osborne does in the documentary on the Motown house band. A Top 10 classic song is there ever was one (it's actually in my all-time Top 3, alongside "God Only Knows" by Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys), the original recording by Jimmy Ruffin is just insanely great. Joan's might be even better. I listen to it just about everyday at least once.

Oops! Tostadosunitos, you are absolutely correct about Stuart Duncan being a fiddler, not a guitarist. And yes, Mr. Sutton is an excellent guitarist (and singer), thought it's Bryan :-).