Non pop/contempory well recorded/mastered female singers - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asr 

Forget About It isn't really a bluegrass album - it's the other CDs with Union Station that are bluegrass. Your mis-spelling of AK's name is also somewhat dubious - the correct spelling is Alison Krauss.

 

Some other female bluegrass singers include Rhonda Vincent and Jeannie Kendall, though I'm not sure I'd call their CDs audiophile-quality necessarily. There's also Sara Watkins who split off from Nickel Creek.

My bad on the spelling of Alison's name and "Forget About it" probably is more pop than bluegrass but she is backed on the album by Ron Block, Barry Bales, Dan Tyminski and Jerry Douglas aka Union Station so it does have some bluegrass elements.  It shows up under the "Country" genre in WMP and is listed as "Bluegrass" on Amazon so it evidently is hard to classify.  I was just trying to offer the OP some options for albums that I find well produced and have music that I value.

BTW: I will be seeing Rhonda Vincent live this afternoon.  There is a bluegrass festival in town.  Is there any particular album of hers that strikes your fancy?

Quote:

Originally Posted by GnuB 
BTW: I will be seeing Rhonda Vincent live this afternoon.  There is a bluegrass festival in town.  Is there any particular album of hers that strikes your fancy?

No not really, I don't like Rhonda Vincent and her band that much - well, not nearly as much as I like AKUS. I got into AKUS first and IMO they can't be topped.

Janelle Monae - but you have to like hip-hop/r&b. She's got a great voice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheGhostWhoWalks 

Jane Monheit - She's somewhat light on substance, but she has a remarkably pure voice and is great technically. Plus, there are fewer vocalists that sound better on my audiophile system. Her version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow is quite good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP_5veYs1vE

 

Just checked her out and she's amazing! Thanks for the recommendation.

     Quote:

Originally Posted by kingtz Just checked her out and she's amazing! Thanks for the recommendation.

I'm glad you like her. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Ms. Monheit, myself. As a vocalist, I love her. In fact, I might dare to go out on a limb and say she's the most purely talented female vocalist out there today. But as a music/recording artist? Well, I just keep waiting to be impressed, and I get frustrated that there's such a gap between her talent and what she's producing. One Amazon review summed up my feelings on her perfectly:

"Monheit has the best voice in jazz today. I'm a 5 year fan.
On stage 3 weeks ago in Boston with her band she was great. But she badly needs a statement album - one that defines her and her talent. She has been with at least 3 labels and I think that they have been pulling this immensely talented singer in too many directions. Her vocal breadth is so extraordinary and she can do so much vocally that she ends up doing a little of everything well but her albums are not cohesive sounding. They sound watered down and undefined. You never know what you are going to get from song to song and it's been getting worse on the newer albums. I was hoping with the change to a Jazz label like Concord that this would be behind her but not yet. What are those A&R types doing? I even congratulated here on her new label after the show and there was an unstated acknowledgment that her and Sony were not a good fit. Like RC I hope the next CD is great, because I'm running out of patience after 7 CD's and several other tracks on various artists albums and 6 live shows. She is t o o good t o o waste. So how about it producers? - Give us some jazz, give us some swing. Give us the real Jane and get rid of the strings."

I still think her first two albums--Never Neverland and Come Dream With Me--are her best. Everything after that has been quite spotty. That's one reason I mentioned Anna Maria Jopek and Anneke van Giersbergen, because even if they're not as purely talented I think they consistently produce much better music and seem to really know what to do with their voice at every moment of every song.