Great recommendations. I’ve heard maybe 1/3rd of these. (Guess Spotify’s algorithm for finding "similar" artists was pretty good). Looking forward to trying these artists out. For instance, the 2022 Ella Henderson album "Everything I Didn’t Say" is ostensibly better than Adele’s last album. YMMV. I’ve complied most of these except the ones I thought were sort of obvious and not "underrated" as a single list here to make copying and pasting easier:
Lissie
Etta James
Lily Kershaw
Lydia Ainsworth
Lydia Gray
Sophie Zelmani
Christel Alsos
Laura Fygi
Eva Cassidy
Sara K
Freya Ridings
Chantal Chamberlain
Malia
Emily Barker
Ma Muse
Blossom Dearie
Silje Nergaard
Ela Vos
Anette Askvik.
Dido
Enya
Beth Hart
Imelda May
Jill Barber
Madeleine Peyroux
Nina Simone
Tracy Chapman
Kate Bush
Kiki Dee
Patricia Barber
Lisa Gerrard (with or without Dead Can Dance)
Mary Fahl - “ Can’t Get it Out of My Head”
Nichole Atkins
Nico - her solo offerings.
Bianca Castafiore
Jane Olivor (eary works)
Ronda Vincent: bluegrass, country
Laurie Anderson
Flora Purim
Kate Wolf
Nina Simone
Linda Thompson - (ex of Richard Thompson) Dreams Fly Away
Laura Nyro - Eli and the Thirteenth Confession
Allison Russell - (no kin) with Quantic- Look Around the Corner
Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball
Dusty Springfield- Dusty in Memphis
Nanci Griffith- The Complete MCA Studio Recordings
Karla Bonoff- All My Life: the best of
Patty Griffin- Servant of Love
Bonnie Koloc
Priscilla Herdman
Jo Ann Kelly
June Tabor
Mary McCaslin
Sandy Denny
Natalie Merchant - MTV Live....and any of her 10,000 Maniacs work
Mary Black Her albums “Babes in the Woods” and “New Frontiers” are outstanding.
Alison Moyet
Ella Henderson
Aimee Mann - Lost in Space and Mental Illness.
Susan Tedeschi (Tedeschi Trucks Band)
Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering, Vuur, Agua de Annique)
Eva Cassidy
Kim Gordon
Kacey Musgraves
Jenny Lewis
Zooey Deschanel (she and him)
Kim Deal
Karen O.
I would add Breanne Düren, her solo works, not just as a backing singer for Owl City. Her "little girl" coquettish vocals are nice. The thing is you can go to Last dot FM and put in any of these artists’ names and "similar" and find nearly an endless list of female artists to check out and discover, hopefully recorded by engineers and producers who know what they are doing.
Shannon Whitworth (Americana music)
