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Rocky4

By Rocky4
in The Gibson Lounge

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milod

milod

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"Old" rock and blues, pop and country had more opportunity, I think, for a female lead or duet sorta sound that I freely admit I like a lot.

 

I've performed with girlfriends and a spouse - it's cool as long as it's "professional" instead of "boy-girl" even when you're doing boy-girl songs. I even know of a couple of father daughter rock/country duos that do well with Dad now around my age and Daughter around 35-40. I think it can work quite well as long as it's seen as kinda a "ma an pa business" and both agree to the work side of it - and put work kinda aside on occasion.

 

A "girl" my Dad went to country school with some 80 years ago ended up with a career as a violinist in a couple of good orchestras - St. Louis and Minnesota - and we talked over dinner one night many years ago about her career and "life."

 

It seems that the female outside the "country" field was often expected to be a voice, but not an instrumentalist unless very much behind the scenes as in orchestral sorts of background music. The Swing era had lotza "bird" singers - but very seldom a girl saxophonist you could see. Traveling with a band for a living is not easy if a relatively normal "wife and mom" sort of life is even contemplated. Even an actress' life likely is a lot "easier" than that of a traveling musician.

 

That lady friend said she thinks maybe there's something different about how a girl's head has worked - whether nature or nurture - that makes it a bit better (easier???) to be a vocalist or an instrumentalist, but not necessarily both. She never married, by the way, never had children. I don't think she had girlfriends or even reeeeeeally long term boyfriends. She told me she envied me because I could do music for money or just for me and in her "middle age," she didn't feel she had that alternative.

 

So... again, I dunno. All I can say is she was a lady I very quickly grew to both like and respect as a person as well as a musician.

 

I do note that a lotta the old girl singers lived a darned tough and competitive life which may be a reason so many came and went and many of us of all ages can remember the "survivors'" names like Bessie Smith and Helen Forest. But now? I think Title 9 and girls encouraged more to do their own thing has made some women a bit more likely to get into music performance careers. It's hard work, though, and still is somewhat counter to the possibility of today's "typical" female role.

 

And "sexy" as rock may be, I can't feature many women doing the sexy body movement stuff while PG as one might have found in the old blues era. But a guy can sing all he wants about "doing" many women. It's a double standard likely to continue, I think.

 

It's perhaps as that lady friend suggested... a male can lead a relatively "normal" male sort of life as a pro musician; it's a lot harder for a woman.

 

EDIT: DeMoon - you've heard of the little sparrow with the big vibrato? Wow! <grin>

 

m

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jaxson50

jaxson50

Posted
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Karla Bonoff has always been one of my fav.s. she wrote many of Linda Ronstadt's hits. She has fought with stage fright for many years, but she is awesome.

 

But there can be no list with out the Songbird, Eva Cassidy, IMO the best voice of our generation, she passed away 6 months after this was recorded;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_gqctUZ4Oc

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NeoConMan

NeoConMan

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Karla Bonoff

Yeah, I remember her.

 

 

But there can be no list with out the Songbird, Eva Cassidy

I do not remember her.

 

[confused]

 

Speaking of Songbird, Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac fame did a great job on that one.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLRyYETnoIE

 

The original studio version is still the best by far in my opinion.

 

When Rumours came out, this is one of the songs I would skip.

Who needs that mellow buzzkill crap anyway?

 

Ah, age changes things a bit...

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jaxson50

jaxson50

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Interesting bio, she died at age 33 in 1996, a few years later (I think around 1999) some of her early work was released in Britain and she was the top new artist, she has a large fan base there, which includes Christine McVie, who knew her and had hoped to do a project with her, but she passed away before that happened.

http://www.oaksite.co.uk/bioblue.html

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canon_mutant

canon_mutant

Posted
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+1 on Pat Benatar

+1 on Ann and Nancy Wilson

+1 on Melissa Etheridge

+1 on Stevie Nicks - though I liked her in Fleetwood Mac, not so much as a solo artist

+1 on Cristine McVie - can't believe Fleetwood Mac toured without her. I boycotted that tour out of spite!

 

Where's Janis Joplin? She belongs here I think.

And did I miss Carol King?

 

I'm dating myself again . . . here's to the over 50 club! :rolleyes:

 

And there's a number of great C&W voices out there. I just don't know any. [unsure] Listen to C&W for more than 30 secs and I get a headache and depressed simultaneously.

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cjlandry

cjlandry

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Some of my favorite female singers sing Celtic music. I wish I could remember their names, but alas, I can't at the moment.

 

Meanwhile, I have some Tori Amos on this computer. So now I'm listening to "Snow Cherries from France" before I take a nap.

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