최고의 여성 보컬리스트들의 (에바 캐시디, 조안 바에즈, 앨리슨 크라우스, 스테이시 켄트 등) 명곡을 모아 놓은 베스트 앨범

This fantastic 3CD set celebrates the spirit of the songbird and presents an eclectic selection of great performances by the finest female singers and songwriters.

Drawn from the worlds of jazz, pop, country, blues and folk, these talented artists exhibit a rare level of intelligence and sophistication.

<수록곡>

CD1
1 Eva Cassidy – Songbird
2 Beth Orton - Central Reservation
3 Shelby Lynne - Your Lies
4 Alison Moyet - Weak In The Presence Of Beauty
5 Rickie Lee Jones - Little Mysteries 
6 Catie Curtis - Bicycle Named Heaven
7 Alison Krauss And Union Station – Last Love Letter 
8 Gabrielle – Sunshine
9 Kathleen Edwards - Hockey Skates
10 Beth Gibbons – Drake
11 Shawn Colvin - Whole New You
12 Hazel Dickens - Aragon Hill
13 The Lynn Morris Band - You'll Get No More Of Me
14 Clare Teal - Ill Wind
15 Joan Baez - It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Live) 
 
CD2
1 Emmylou Harris, Gilian Welch, Alison Krauss - Didn’t Leave Nobody But The Baby
2 Aimee Mann - I Can't Get My Head Around It
3 Eddie Reader - Honey Child
4 Nanci Griffith - I Wish It Would Rain
5 Maria Mckee - Show Me Heaven
6 Rory Block - Come On In My Kitchen
7 Tracy Nelson - Motherless Child Blues
8 Petra Haden & Bill Frisell – Yellow
9 Paula Santoro - The Girl From Ipanema
10 Mary Chapin Carpenter - He Thinks He'll Keep Her
11 Dolly Parton – Jolene
12 Patty Griffin – Useless Desires
13 Kelly Willis - Not Forgotten You
14 Maura O'connell - The Shades Of Gloria
15 Cheryl Wheeler - Lighting Up The Mighty Mississippi 

CD3
1 Suzanne Vega - Marlene On The Wall 
2 Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me
3 Dinah Washington - Mad About The Boy
4 Jaqui Dankworth - September In The Rain 
5 Sophie B. Hawkins - Mmm My Best Friend
6 Lucinda Williams – Still I Long For Your Kiss 
7 The Roches - Can We Go Home Now
8 Peggy Seeger - I'm Gonna Be An Engineer
9 Patsy Cline - Walkin’ After Midnight
10 Heather Myles - Broken Heart For Sale
11 Stacey Kent – When Your Lover Has Gone 
12 Joanna Eden - The Nearness Of You
13 Thea Gilmore – Movie Kisses
14 The Reel & Soul Association - Warm & Tender Love
15 Carol Sloane - Baby, Don't You Quit Now 
   


<곡목해설>     
CD1:

1. Eva Cassidy – Songbird
Born in 1963, Cassidy’s first musical love was folkie Buffy Sainte-Marie but her own singing covered jazz, blues, gospel and rock, making her hard to categorize. She died of cancer aged 33 and had made few recordings, but Songbird gained UK media exposure and became a huge posthumous success.

2. Beth Orton – Central Reservation
Singer/songwriter Orton first recorded with William Orbit on their 1992 cover of John Martyn’s Don’t Wanna Know About Evil, and then sang with Red Snapper and the Chemical Brothers. As a soloist, 1999’s Central Reservation followed up her impact with Trailer Park three years earlier and featured folk/jazz artist Terry Callier.

3. Shelby Lynne – Your Lies
Having endured an early life scarred by nightmarish violence, Lynne has fashioned a respected career as a feisty singer rather in the mould of Bonnie Raitt and k.d. lang. Your Lies was the opening track, co-written with Bill Bottrell, from her 2000 breakthrough album I Am Shelby Lynne.

4. Alison Moyet – Weak In The Presence Of Beauty
Moyet enjoyed enormous success in Yazoo in the early 80s as hits like Only You, Don’t Go and Nobody’s Diary all proved popular, with ex-Depeche Mode Vince Clarke’s synthesizer backing her smouldering vocals. As a solo artist, too, 1984’s Alf album was a million-seller and 1987’s Weak In The Presence Of Beauty gave her another Top 10 hit with a highlight from Raindancing.

5. Rickie Lee Jones – Little Mysteries
1979’s Chuck E.’s In Love instantly branded Jones as a kooky, jazz-influenced bohemian, with a hip image sustained through her association with Tom Waits. She has pursued an eclectic and determinedly individualistic path, choosing songs by Marvin Gaye, George Gershwin, Lyle Lovett and Jimi Hendrix; Little Mysteries appeared on 2003’s compelling album The Evening Of My Best Day.

6. Catie Curtis – Bicycle Named Heaven
Making her name in Boston, Curtis’s distinctive voice and quirky, intelligent songwriting have taken her far from the confines of the local folk scene. She made her first album in 1995 but four years later signed to Rykodisc and received great acclaim for A Crash Course In Roses and 2001’s My Shirt Looks Good On You, which featured this track.

7. Alison Krauss – When You Say Nothing At All
Originally a prodigiously talented bluegrass fiddler who formed her own band Union Station as a teenager, Krauss signed to Rounder aged just 14 and won her first Grammy five years later. She has inspired many other young women with her accomplished vocal recordings of mostly traditional, authentic country music and collaborated with kindred spirits like Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch.

8. Gabrielle – Sunshine
Soulful UK singer Gabrielle’s debut single Dreams topped the charts in 1993 and was followed by further melodic hits like Going Nowhere and Give Me A Little More Time. Sunshine appeared on her third album Rise in 2000, before Out Of Reach was chosen for the soundtrack to the movie Bridget Jones’s Diary.

9. Kathleen Edwards – Hockey Skates
Canadian Edwards first recorded in 1999 but it was the release of 2003’s Failer album which really brought her strong recognition, leading to touring major venues as support act for the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Hockey Skates was an outstanding track from Failer, rendered in her accessibly rootsy alt country style.

10. Beth Gibbons – Drake
Portishead’s 1994 album Dummy won that year’s Mercury Music Prize and was hailed as the first masterpiece of trip-hop. Lead singer Gibbons continued to mine a similarly edgy, cinematic landscape on Drake, which appeared on her 2002 project Out Of Season which Mojo magazine described simply as “among the best albums ever made”.

11. Shawn Colvin – Whole New You
Whole New You was the title track from Colvin’s fourth album which thoughtfully chronicled the changes in her personal life following her sudden impact with 1997’s Grammy Award-winning single Sunny Came Home. Multi-instrumentalist John Leventhal continued to work with her on her 60s-influenced sound.

12. Hazel Dickens – Aragon Hill
Country singer/songwriter Dickens teamed up with Alice Gerrard in the 70s and recorded an unusual repertoire which mixed traditional balladry and bluegrass influences with an independent feminism. She also worked with folk revivalist Mike Seeger and provided the soundtrack for the Oscar-winning documentary Harlan County, U.S.A.

13. Lynn Morris – You’ll Get No More Of Me
Like Dickens, Morris is another determined artist who had to work hard to break down male prejudices in the conservative country music world. Her instrumental talent on both banjo and guitar was recognized at 1974’s National Banjo Championship, however, and she has steadfastly championed a contemporary take on authentic bluegrass.

14. Clare Teal – Ill Wind
Yorkshire-born singer Teal secured a record-breaking contract with Sony after establishing her credentials as a quality interpretative singer on the Candid label. Harold Arlen’s Ill Wind was also recorded by Billie Holiday, Lena Horne and Ella Fitzgerald but Teal shows her mettle more than capably even in comparison with that exalted company.

15. Joan Baez – It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
Baez became an iconic folk singer strongly associated with the 60s protest movements and her keening vocal treatment of Pete Seeger’s We Shall Overcome. She was also romantically involved with the young Bob Dylan, whose work she promoted, and successfully recorded this composition of his from Bringing It All Back Home in September 1965, just a month after her protégé’s epic Like A Rolling Stone.

CD2:
1. Emmylou Harris / Gillian Welch / Alison Krauss – Don’t Leave Nobody But The Baby
The almost saintly purity of these three affectionately acclaimed voices blend perfectly on this highlight from the soundtrack of the Coen Brothers’ deftly realized movie O Brother Where Art Thou? made in 2000. It complemented songs by Jimmie Rodgers, the Stanley Brothers and the Carter Family to create an appropriately innocent atmosphere.

2. Aimee Mann – I Can’t Get My Head Around It
Mann left her band ‘Til Tuesday to record a 1993 project Whatever which garnered much critical admiration and praise from writers of the stature of Elvis Costello and Glenn Tilbrook. She struck a darker tone on I’m With Stupid and this song appeared on 2005’s The Forgotten Arm, a concept album about an addicted Vietnam-vet boxer.

3. Eddie Reader – Honey Child
Reader sang the soaring lead on Fairground Attraction’s irresistible 1988 No.1 Perfect, and Honey Child appeared on her debut solo album Mirmama four years later. Commercial success has never matched the generous reviews for her beguiling work, unfortunately, despite working impressively with artists such as Boo Hewerdine and Clive Gregson.

4. Nanci Griffith – I Wish It Would Rain
Once described as a “folkabilly poet”, Griffith made her first album in 1978 and progressed to international fame through her song Love At The Five And Dime and the 1987 album Lone Star State Of Mind. She has sung with Emmylou Harris, John Prine and Guy Clark, and 1993’s I Wish It Would Rain was an affecting performance on her album Starting Today.

5. Maria McKee – Show Me Heaven
McKee formed a band as a teenager, with brother Bryan from Arthur Lee’s Love, before her ardent singing with Lone Justice impressed the critics. As a singer/songwriter her work has appeared in movies, with If Love Is A Red Dress featuring in Pulp Fiction and Show Me Heaven in Days Of Thunder which starred Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

6. Rory Block – Come On In My Kitchen
An accomplished slide guitarist and blues aficionado, Block has been a tireless champion of great originals like Mississippi John Hurt and Reverend Gary Davis, touring extensively and recording for Rounder for over twenty years. Robert Johnson’s much-covered Come On In My Kitchen naturally proves a perfect vehicle for her.

7. Tracy Nelson – Motherless Child Blues
Powerful singer with 60s West Coast country rockers Mother Earth, Nelson gained a cult following but unjustly poor sales with acclaimed albums including 1965’s Deep Are The Roots, a tribute to Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Re-invented in the 90s, she attracted guest collaborators like Delbert McClinton, Bonnie Raitt and Maria Muldaur.

8. Petra Haden & Bill Frisell – Yellow
Frisell went to school with the founders of Earth, Wind & Fire but discovered Wes Montgomery as a reference point and his guitar playing has consistently expanded the harmonic possibilities of the instrument. Here he backs Charlie Haden’s daughter Petra, whose extraordinary singing crossed all barriers on their self-titled duet album.

9. Paula Santoro – The Girl From Ipanema
A rising star of contemporary Brazilian music, Paula Santoro here performs the most famous of all the magical compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim. Peggy Lee and many other vocalists have sung it, but it was of course the dreamy sound of Astrud Gilberto backed by the romantic saxophone of Stan Getz which made it such an enduring classic since its chart entry in 1964.

10. Mary Chapin Carpenter – He Thinks He’ll Keep Her
A mature songwriter whose work reveals an adult perspective on her subject matter, Carpenter made a significant breakthrough with her 1991 album Come On, Come On. Her sophisticated songs are often closer to Joni Mitchell than Loretta Lynn, but her Cajun-style Down At The Twist And Shout, fervent cover of Lucinda Williams’s Passionate Kisses and this literate tale made her an innovative country-rooted star.

11. Dolly Parton – Jolene
Parton has long belied her thoroughly misleading popular image by recording a series of five intelligent albums which found her exploring her roots in bluegrass and mountain music with engaging results. Like her predecessors Kitty Wells and Loretta Lynn, 1976’s Jolene saw her addressing important issues facing women, particularly relevant to rural America.

12. Patti Griffin – Impossible Dream
Griffin started out in Boston folk clubs where she was spotted and signed to record Living With Ghosts, followed by two more albums which established her as an independently-minded singer/songwriter. Emmylou Harris became an admirer and guested on her 2004 album, Impossible Dream, the title track of which appears here.

13. Kelly Willis – Not Forgotten You
Country/rockabilly revivalist Willis was discovered by fellow Texan Nanci Griffith and has covered some of the best work of esteemed writers Joe Ely and Steve Earle. She made a fine version of Marshall Crenshaw’s rocking Whichever Way The Wind Blows and Not Forgotten You is one of her most contagious and melodic compositions.

14. Maura O’Connell – The Shade Of Gloria
Born in Ireland’s County Clare, O’Connell became lead singer for De Dannan but could never be classified as a strictly traditional Celtic artist. She worked with New Grass Revival, mostly with producer Bela Fleck, and settled in Nashville where she produced gems such as this song from her 1997 album Wandering Home.

15. Cheryl Wheeler – Lighting Up The Mighty Mississippi
Wheeler’s songs range from the confessional to the witty, and have been covered by other female artists like Maura O’Connell, Juice Newton and Linda Thompson. She found a sympathetic home at Rounder in 1993 and this evocative composition appeared on her album Sylvia Hotel six years later.

CD3:
1. Suzanne Vega – Marlene On The Wall
A graduate of the Greenwich Village folk circuit’s cultured school of sometimes “bedsit” school of songwriting, Vega’s atmospheric Marlene On The Wall was a European hit in 1986 before she made it in the US with her stark portrayal of domestic violence on Luka a year later; the subsequent Tom’s Diner sealed her reputation in the same year.

2. Nina Simone – My Baby Just Cares For Me
Although much of the veteran diva’s work concerned itself with dark and often political subjects, delivered with a moody edge, Simone was always capable of projecting songs expressing a kind of ironic innocence. The breezy My Baby Just Cares For Me was a hit on reissue in 1987 and a distinct contrast to her body of militant protest songs.

3. Dinah Washington – Mad About The Boy
Washington was another jazz-oriented artist with a song chosen for a popular reissue, when her knowing version of Noel Coward’s Mad About The Boy made the charts in 1992. The late vocalist had previously enjoyed a varied career covering pop tunes, duets with Brook Benton, and sultry performances of classy songs like What A Difference A Day Makes and Harry Warren’s September In The Rain.

4. Jacqui Dankworth – September In The Rain
Daughter of saxophonist/arranger Johnny Dankworth and his jazz singer wife Cleo Laine, Jacqui has clearly inherited the family’s musical sensibilities to take her rightful place in the dynasty which also includes bass-playing brother Alec. Her September In The Rain is rendered in aptly reflective mood, and Dinah Washington would surely have approved.

5. Sophie B. Hawkins – Mmmm My Best Friend
Originally a percussionist with Bryan Ferry in the early 80s, Hawkins’s idiosyncratic vocal style produced the hit Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover in 1992. Seven years later Mmmm My Best Friend appeared on her third album Timbre, an imaginative progression with considered lyric writing and unexpected instrumentation.

6. Lucinda Williams - Still I Long For Your Kisses
A product of Austin, Texas's vibrant folk scene in the 70s, Williams made two albums before moving to Los Angeles and eventually flourishing as an assured writer. She wrote Passionate Kisses for Mary Chapin Carpenter and 1998's Car Wheels On A Gravel Road was her fifth and most successful album, containing this track, co-produced by Steve Earle.

7. Roches – Can We Go Home Now?
Sisters Maggie and Terre sang together as teenagers in late 60s New York, backed Paul Simon in 1972 and were joined by sister Suzy a year after their debut album, 1975’s Seductive Reasoning. Their hip whimsy attracted producer Robert Fripp to work with them, before 1995’s Can We Go Home Now? brought further plaudits.

8. Peggy Seeger – I’m Gonna Be An Engineer
Half-sister of the uncompromising protest singer and leader of the 50s folk revival Pete Seeger, Peggy recorded 1979’s I’m Gonna Be An Engineer as an amusing piece of wry feminism, poking fun at sexual stereotypes. She sang with husband Ewan MacColl of course, whose daughter Kirsty sustained the musical legacy before her premature death.

9. Patsy Cline – Walking After Midnight
Jessica Lange portrayed country legend Cline in the 1986 biopic Sweet Dreams, titled after the posthumously released hit. She became a huge star through songs like I Fall To Pieces and Willie Nelson’s Crazy (sucessfully re-released in 1990) but 1957’s Walking After Midnight gave her her first success on the song originally written for Kay Starr.

10. Heather Myles – Broken Heart For Sale
Myles led her own group the Lonesome Myle Band in the 80s before going solo. At first a ukelele player before she learned the guitar, she greatly revered the individualistic spirit of country giant Merle Haggard and got to record a duet with him; Broken Heart For Sale finds her in the melancholy mood which brought out her most poignant singing.

11. Stacey Kent – I Get Along Without You Very Well
American expatriate based in London, Kent often works with husband/musician Jim Tomlinson, and she has won several awards for her singular take on standard repertoire. She invariably brings new life into her material, as evidenced here on When Your Lover Has Gone, a melancholy track from her 2001 album Dreamsville.

12. Joanna Eden – The Nearness Of You
Eden’s 2000 album A Little Bird Told Me closed with The Nearness Of You, a typically laconic Hoagy Carmichael song, co-written with Ned Washington. She has recorded both standards and her own compositions, performed in a way which reveals her main influences as Billie Holiday, Julie London and, on the contemporary scene, Diana Krall.

13. Thea Gilmore – Movie Kisses
Anglo/Irish singer Gilmore grew up absorbing her parents’ taste for the music of Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. Songwriting of that quality clearly inspired her and she moved from writing short stories and poems to the kind of work which appeared on her 1998 debut Burning Dorothy; this song featured on her third album, 2001’s Rules For Jokers.

14. The Reel & Soul Association – Warm And Tender Love
Gilmore also contributes lead vocals on Warm And Tender Love, the Percy Sledge hit from 1966 revisited by this unique outfit whose forte is highly imaginative folk/rock versions of American soul. Michael McGoldrick’s uilleann pipes also combine with Nigel Stonier’s acoustic guitar to create an ethereal Celtic feel.

15. Carol Sloane – Baby, Don’t You Quit Now
Born in Rhode Island in 1937, jazz singer Sloane notably deputized for Annie Ross in the stellar trio of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross which brought the house down at 1961’s Newport Festival. She has survived throughout a long career, and gives a spine-tingling performance of this seductive Johnny Mercer song.