Can you help with music selection?

Some very good listens mentioned above. I would like to toss out Ute Lemper's "Crimes Of The Heart",the Happy Rhodes disc "Many Worlds Are Born Tonight", Heidi Berry's self titled disc from '93 and Won Ton Ton's "Home" as well as Anita Baker's discs. Not for all but Bel Canto's music is worth a listen.

Cheers, Lee

To stir up the pot just a bit you might give the following 3 female vocalists a try. Try the sample sound-clips at Amzon.com first to see if this is your cup of tea or not.

1. Ceraria Evora's "Cabo Verde".
2. Chavela Vergas's "Sentimiento de Mexico,Volume 1 and/or Volume 2"
3. Mercedes Sosa's "30 Años".

FYI - most of the tracks in the movie "Frida" with Selma Hayek and Geofrey Rush are by Chavela Vergas. All three of these of women are excellent alternatives to the status quo.

Happy Weekend Listining to All! Songbird is up next.

Alice Spencer, sings for Victrola, "Live as you like" (on other posts too). This is REALLY GOOD!

Tiff Merritt - "Tiff Merritt"

anything by sade.

Ellen McIlwaine is a damn fine musician. She possesses a strong contralto voice with great power in both the highest and lowest parts of her range. She also plays a wicked slide guitar. I think the reason she never became a known quantity is the eclectic nature of her recorded output. Blues, rock, old timey, carribean were all handled with genuine feeling and authenticity. My favorite of her albums is "We The People", but all of her work is worthy of your attention. Her stuff is hard to find but well worth every erg of effort.