Folk: Female Voices

Our homage to the greatest female voices in folk begins with the movement's goddesses — one a survivor, still active; the other a fond and indelible memory. Sandy Denny died in 1978, but the vulnerable beauty of her vocal conquers the lush arrangement of "Solo", while the clarion vibrato of Joan Baez rings out strong and true on "Diamonds and Rust". Irish enchantress Cara Dillon had been pursuing the folk route, as a member of outfits like Oige and Equation, since her teenage years, but she went solo in 2001 — a path that would lead to the 2006 download hit "Never in a Million Years". More sisters in song can be found in Next Steps.

In 1975, English folk heroine June Tabor was starting a career that includes contemporary tracks like "The Banks of the Sweet Primroses" (2005). Deep Cuts follow.

Cerys Matthews made her name with Welsh pop-rock chart-conquerors Catatonia, but we find her in staunch folk voice on the benefit album Hands Across the Water, belting out "An Occasional Song" with John Jorgenson and Stuart Duncan. Another great pop voice with irresistible folk crossover potential belongs to Leona Naess, whose "Ghosts in the Attic" walks the sturdy/delicate divide with sure-footed ease.

Over the past half-century the female folk voice has proven itself a beguiling and diverse instrument, from the unaccompanied yet mesmerising work of Anne Briggs on the traditionally English "The Snow It Melts the Soonest", to the folk-pop hybrid arrangements of Irish singer Sinead Lohan ("To Ramona") and the ambitious folk-rock of Steeleye Span fronted by Maggie Prior, who co-founded the group and recorded "One Misty Moisty Morning" in the early '70s. Every one of these artists strikes a remarkable balance between substance and whimsy, and every one of these Essentials belongs to a web of sound in which it's a pleasure to be helplessly entangled.