Female Singer-Songwriter Retrospective

by Benjamin Ray

You may have noticed that, while we’ve featured a lot of variety in terms of genres, most of our monthly retrospectives to date have focused on male artists. Only twice have we spotlighted female artists -- Tori Amos and Sheryl Crow.

We are balancing the scales a bit in the other direction this month by dedicating our December 2006 retrospective to the theme of female singer/songwriters.

The seeds of this retrospective were planted in the late-'60s folk era and the rise of singer-songwriters. While Grace Slick and Janis Joplin were pursuing rock avenues, women like Joni Mitchell were pioneering an emotionally frank, confessional style of music from a female point of view. Carly Simon and Carole King would take this to commercial heights in the '70s.

Things tapered off in the '80s as pop acts like Madonna and rockers like Joan Jett and the Blackhearts rose to the surface, but Tracy Chapman reversed the tide at the tail end of the decade with her self-titled debut album. This paved the way for women in the alternative boom of the '90s, and artists such as Tori Amos, Alanis Morissette and Sarah Maclachlan rose to the challenge, delivering honest and meaningful songwriting that was among the best of the decade.

Daily Vault reviewers will focus on the major female singer/songwriters of the last 40 years, from Joni Mitchell and Emmylou Harris to Jewel and PJ Harvey. A handful of independent artists who are credits to the genre will be mentioned, as will critical favorites such as Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lucinda Williams and Liz Phair.

We’re proud to cap off a big year for The Daily Vault by devoting our December retrospective to this talented group of artists, and we hope you enjoy the reviews as much as we enjoyed listening to the music.

Founded in January 1997, the Daily Vault has featured thousands of reviews from artists covering almost the entire musical spectrum, written by a volunteer review staff from around the world. Previous Artist Of The Month retrospectives have spotlighted the work of artists from Tori Amos to Frank Zappa, including Garth Brooks, Madonna, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin and many others. Themed retrospectives have focused on punk, grunge, arena rock and hip-hop.. A link to all previous retrospectives can be found here.