Singers and Songs, A List: Post 898

I have not listened to much music for years. Contemporary pop sounds like heaps of over produced, synth based slop, and streaming services, Spotify and its ilk, are one more expense, but a Times story on Patty Griffin that linked to some of her songs caused me to remember how much I liked her first album, Living With Ghosts and her big voice and that booming guitar and sharp lyrics.

In listening to her again, I found that she evoked a need in me that’s vital to fill, especially now when opening our screens to the news anytime of the day or night scalds any person with a decent heart. Her voice has that element all good singers possess – a depth of soul – that intensity of feeling and genius for connection. I went looking for the singers I remember who sing the real, who sing pain, who sing old, who sing joy, who sing solace, who tell us that just out of sight of all the terrible shit coming around every corner is another country where we might rest awhile.

Dolores O’Riordan and the Cranberries: Dreams

Sinead O’Connor and the Chieftains: The Foggy Dew

John Prine and Bonnie Raitt: Angel From Montgomery

Sean Rowe: 1952 Vincent Black Lightning

Abbey Lincoln: A Turtle’s Dream

Gillian Welch: The Way It Goes

Dylan: Girl From the North Country

Howlin Wolf: Smokestack Lightning

Muddy Waters: Mannish Boy

Sarah Vaughn: September Song

Waylon Jennings: I Ain’t Living Long Like This

Bruce Springsteen: Wild Billy’s Circus Story