In honor of Dolly, today’s Wondering is about the ladies…as in, who is your favorite female recording artist?
I’ll start:
Norah Jones
Ah, Norah. Sweet, sultry voice that lands somewhere soft between your ears and helps your head hit the pillow filled with sweet sounds and sweet dreams.
Ella Langley
Yes, she’s getting a ton of airplay lately and was a favorite of recent German World Cup visitor, Freddy, but that’s a damn fine song right there. Admittedly I get happy when the girls choose to listen to her on Spotify when they’re in the car with me.
Annie Lenox
I was a bit of a Eurythmics fan when I was younger and grew to like Annie’s voice. Just an old Gen X memory, I guess.
Tina Turner
Yep, another Gen X throwback, I knew Tina in her more pop days of the 80s, but her version of Proud Mary is something to behold.
So how about you? Who were your favorite female lyricists?
Karen Carpenter, Judith Durham, Brenda Lee come to mind.
Yeah yeah yeah, I’m old.
Some great choices there, JP.
I’m sure she played other colleges as well, but Ike and Tina played the fraternity scene back in the sixties at UGA. My dad told me stories of staying up late after they played at the Phi Delt house drinking whiskey with Tina. That must have been pretty cool.
I always had a thing for Natalie Merchant’s voice from 10,000 Maniacs and I’ll throw the Go-Go’s in there too. Man did I have a crush on Belinda Carlisle as a teenager.
I still have a crush on Belinda Carlisle…
Allison Krauss and Emmylou Harris get play in my rotation.
Yes and yes. I get to see Allison Krause next month in Evansville.
Lucky Dawg.
I really like Emmylou. A lot of people remember her backing up Gram Parsons in his bands and solo records. I was listening to a vinyl record of Dylan’s a few months ago, the album Desire, and thought I heard her. Sure enough, she backed him up on several tracks on that album. I had no idea. Sounded great.
I’m into distinct voices. May I add:
Patty Loveless
Joyce Kennedy of Mother’s Finest
Ann Wilson of Heart
Maria McKee
Sass Jordan (Canadian – if Kim Carnes could rock, she’d be Sass)
Damn I love Norah. I’ve seen her in concert. Beautiful.
I like Sheryl Crow, the Pretenders, and I dig on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs some (Karen O).
Plus also like a lot of the classics mentioned above.
Gwen Stefani from the No Doubt days. Before she turned into a home wrecking reality TV cartoon.
Alicia Keys
Alanis Morissette
Grace Potter
Florence and The Machine
I will sing Whitney Houston ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ at the top of my lungs in the car (old memory from middle school – my best friend’s hot sister and I would watch that video together on MTV. She’s still hot_.
Patsy Cline
Patty Loveless
Allison Krause
There are more. Will think of more as day goes on.
Aretha Franklin. I will hear no further discussion.
Whitney if for no other than the Super Bowl National Anthem.
Mine is a mix of old soul and outrageous vocal range.
Etta James
Hayley Williams
Kelly Clarkson
Amy Lee
Gladys Knight
Mariah Carey
Merry Clayton
Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon, Brandi Carlisle, lots of others. I love listening to the ladies sing. Anne Wilson wasn’t mentioned, so I’ll add her.
My joke was always: I only listen to Country Singers that can kick my arse, and Patsy Cline is HIGH on that list. However, being Gen X through & through, Pat Benatar and Debbie Harry taught me how to be an amphibian – able to dig blondes and brunettes.
Grace Slick, early Madonna.
Not sure how this will go over on this page, but for me it’s Madonna. She isn’t the best singer by a long shot, not saying she’s bad, but she is really the whole package. Singing, dancing, song writing, even some decent acting. And 13 year old me watching her “Material Girl” video just confirmed my affinity for the opposite sex. There’s a part of that video where the dancers lift her up and hold her kind of upside down. Those puppies were struggling to stay in her dress, but they never came out (damn two-sided tape.) But I knew the next time I watched would be the the time they finally escaped. Alas, they still haven’t, at least not in that video.
Patty Loveless, Loretta Lynn, Jessie Colter.
Brandi Carlile, minus all the collaboration stuff
Many of the ones above. Carpenter was amazing, her voice is effortless. Stevie Nicks, Norah, Kristy Hinds, Grace Slick, Tina Turner.
A couple people may not know
Great choices!
Natalie Merchant’s voice mesmerizes me.
Come on now. ‘Retha now and forever.
Bonnie, as with others posted her, has released loads of good music which didn’t get play on the mainstream outlets.
I prefer physical media and rip my CDs to a server which I can play any time at home. I say this as CDs are relatively inexpensive and I’ll pick up something if it strikes me for less than $10 knowing I may only like a few songs.
*posted here
A few that may not be mentioned otherwise: Harriett Wheeler (The Sundays), Kelly Willis, Nanci Griffith, Sara Evans
Lately I’ve been listening a lot to Lucinda Williams. Wish I had heard her music earlier.
I’m a big fan of Dusty Springfield and Juliana Hatfield. Definitely a fan of Norah Jones. Also, Suzanne Vega and Marti Jones.
I’ll add a couple more old favorites that probably haven’t been named. Susi Quatro, Janis Joplin, Rickie Lee Jones, Ann Peebles, Joan Baez and Nena.