Great female voices
Thanks guys. Spotify has a bunch of her recordings. I will check those titles out. Hello again Don. Your visit planted the vinyl bug so I've been running the Technics. Fooled with the gain setting on the pre-amp. Seems like it perked up the Grado a bit. Last albums played after Summer Lawns were all Pat Metheny: 80/81, Wichita Falls, and now, Rejoicing with Haden. Used to listen to Miles of Aisles with friends back in the day. I'll see what Shadows and Light is like. Thanks again to both of you. |
Hey Mofi. I bought that a long time ago (vinyl cutout) and it is one of hers that I do still play from time to time. Pretty much stopped following her closely after that one. Gave Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter a listen the other night. Somewhat interesting. A bit "rambling", maybe. Any others you would recommend from her post-Lawns "oeuvre"? (oops...almost forgot, I do have her Hejira). |
Now that you have listened to the others, try the good ones! kd Lang, Tift Merritt, Margo Timmons of Cowboy junkies, Kt Oslin, Jane Monheit, Linda Eder, Lorrie Morgan (not the country songs), Lucinda Williams, Sam phillips, Alison Kraus, Mary Guthier, Crystal Gayle, Enya, Gilliam Welch, Jackie Evancho, Cocateau Twins (search for the good ones), Opera Babes (search for the good ones). Try these and I'll get you some more. |
"Give the kid a break. " She's very talented for her age. Not sure how much more of a "break" I can give her. I just do not find a grade school child singing the traditional blues very compelling. Its more disturbing to me than entertaining. That song and most others are for adults. There is nothing I find more uplifting than children singing in general. Perhaps that's why I seem to find a child singing the blues disturbing. My advice would be to apply her singing talents in other ways for now. My wish would be that she never have to truly sing the blues from her heart. |
Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSfgCIGd7k4 |
I received "Tomorrow Is My Turn" along with "The Lost Basement Tapes" on which Giddens plays a large part. After a few listens I am a fan. Although I must say I was a bit of a fan all along but didn't know it as Rhianna is a driving force behind the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Listening to the new music prompted me to go back and listen anew to the CCDs. Quite a bit of fun going on there. Can only imagine them live. |
Iris makes nice records, though her voice might be more raucous than lovely (Atheists can come from a spiritual place, too, btw). For a really strong flavor in the Iris vein, check our Lizzie LaPrelle. For the great Eva Cassidy, try "Simply Eva." The version "Wayfaring Stranger" found there is a reference track in my listening group. +1 on Sarah Jarosz; her version of "Come on Up to the House" is another reference track, as it goes pretty low for the genre. An obvious choice, but I'd not want to overlook Margo Timmons of Cowboy Junkies. Lovely voice, solid recordings. "Acoustic Junk" is a limited release to look for. John |
So many great female singers, in no particular order: Anything by Shawn Colvin Sara K, particularly "Waterfalls", one of the best recorded CDs I have Jonatha Brooke Sara Jarosz " Build me Up from Bones" Kate Rusby, an English Folk Singer, anything, but "Underneath the Stars" is great If you like Fado, anything by Amalia Rodrigez |
There is one other very special woman I believe everyone should hear---Iris Dement. I learned of her from Merle Haggard, who was raving about her at the time of her 1st or 2nd album, about twenty years ago. Her music is that great blend of singer/songwriter, hard country, bluegrass, and a little folk (not too much!). She not only has a great voice, she is also an astounding songwriter. Merle recorded her "No Time To Cry", but hers is the one to have, on her "My Life" album. Mostly acoustic, she has all the first call Nashville musicians on her records, guys like Jerry Douglas (Alison Krauss band) on dobro. For the atheists out there, let me warn you that she comes from a spiritual place (sounds Southern Baptist to me)---but then so do Buddy and Julie Miller (Julie has a couple of OOP Christian albums out there). As a bonus, her records, like many bluegrass albums, have pretty darn good sound. |
As a young audiophile (I got my first serious system at age 22), I briefly fell into the trap of playing records that made my system sound good---music in the service of sound. That is a shallow, empty experience. I quickly tired of it, and have ever since considered good sound a bonus. Superior Hi-Fi is that which deepens the listener's connection with the music played on it, even if the sound per se of the recording is not particularly good. |
Actually, I just thought of one example of what some consider good Pop music with great sound---the Cat Stevens album Tea For The Tillerman, produced by Paul Samwell-Smith, bass player of The Yardbirds. But that was, what, forty years ago? And I have no evidence that the sound of that album was the result of Paul's efforts at achieving "great" sound, or was instead the product of Paul's engineer (I don't have the LP handy to look for his name) alone. Another is a song on a Gordon Lightfoot early 70's LP. Walter Davies (the creator of the Last line of record care products) had a retail Hi-Fi store in the 70's, and I just happened to be making my first visit to it the day that Bill Johnson was as well, bringing with him a full ARC system to initiate Walt becoming an ARC dealer. Walt played "Me and Bobby McGee" on the system (a Thorens 125, with a Decca Blue cartridge mounted on a prototype ARC tonearm that never made it into production, an SP-3 pre-amp, and a pair of Magneplanar Tympani T-1's bi-amped with a D-75 and D-51. The year was 1972, and that was THE system to have at the time), and Bill said "Hey, that IS a good sounding record. What is that?". Walt gave him the record to take back to Minnesota with him. I've used it ever since as demo material---the sound is indeed good, and I kinda like Gordon's version of the song, of which he is the writer. |
Ozzy, yep T-Bone has no audiophile sensibilities, unfortunately. My comment about him was in reference to his musical abilities, not the audio quality of the music he makes. I can't think of a single producer in Pop music who makes great music with great sound, but I have no doubt that statement will be contested shortly. |
Bdp24 - Absolutely agree with you about Buddy and Julie Miller, I've been a long-time fan. I went to what I thought was an Emmylou Harris concert in Seattle that turned out to be a Buddy and Julie Miller concert with Emmylou as lead singer. I think I have all their music and one of their latest, "Written in Chalk" is a wonderful introduction to them and to her voice. As you said, her voice isn't for everyone, it probably is easier to appreciate if you had early exposure to white/Appalachian/gospel but it's great music, regardless of where you grew up. |
