I'll try not to make this a rant recently i have come across a lot of blues bands or solo acts etc , when the singer is trying to hard to sound "bluesey" by effecting a growling voice or basically trying to sound what they are not . as most of us aren't from the from the deepest of souths , way down in the whiskey soaked delta blues , but still put on a false tone to thier voice . I have listened to absolutley loads of old blues and most of it is sung naturally , JB lenoir , had a high singing voice , so did skip james , then you have singers and harp players like junior wells and little walter , who sounded like themselves. if you are blessed with a deep low voice then fine , There's not many in the world that can sound like howlin' wolf , sonny boy williamson , or even have that southern drawl like DR john . i was listening to the r&B hour on radio 2 ( in uk ) on monday , and low and behold , some middle class british bloke trying to sound like someone , who had drunk from Ol man river!, sounded totally false ! there are some great bands in england that do carry off a good vocal , The guy from Paul Lamb's Kingsnakes i think his name is Chad ? great singer . also big joe louis , and Big boy bloater , who has a growling big voice but then he is a big bloke ! anyway i'd like to know your thoughts on this sometimes prickly subject ? i await your comments
Last Edited by on Dec 08, 2011 6:33 PM
Nothing sounds better than a vocalist who can sing properly. Part of that is knowing their range. Singing a song in the original key (or octave) has very little to do with how the emotion is conveyed.
A good singer who may have a limited vocal range - like an octave and a half - can do just about any song justice so long as it's sung in the right key for that singer.
Growling in of itself is not a bad thing. Think Koko Taylor. But like anything else, I'm not fond of it's overuse.
Let me ask you this: Can you make your determination only based on the recording, or do you you know what the person looks like and factor that in? Just wondering.
Well, I don't have a beautiful natural voice, but I CAN "carry a tune." I avoid sounding like a white man trying to sound like a black man. And I avoid trying to sound like the original artist when I cover a song. For instance, if I do a Bob Dylan song (I only do one), I don't try to sound like Bob Dylan. I sound like Fat Melon Woodeye. Now, a lot of you might remember Janis Joplin. She imitated another singer -- I think Etta James -- when she sang. I imitate another "entity," not a singer. I sing with a little lisp, which sets me apart from the original artist but gives the vocal some "color." For instance, Elvis had a beautiful voice which I could not hope to duplicate. I can, however, sell a version of Heartbreak Hotel as Fat Melon Woodeye. If you try to mimic the original, people will compare you to the original and you will fall short. If it's obvious that it's your own rendition, you get some slack. Someday, over cocktails or around a fire, I will reveal who I imitate. Hint: It is an animated character.
There are some affected vocals that I really love. One of my favorite blues singers is a local white 20-something who growls.
There must be some "authentic" (i.e. dead, black, and Southern) blues singers with affected vocals. Blind Willie Johnson immediately comes to mind. He sings in a growl, which I doubt is anything like his speaking voice. (I'm not sure if his speaking voice was recorded to confirm)
Still trying to find my own voice. Sometimes I do try to imitate Muddy, although I generally hate to listen to other white guys imitating Muddy.
Here's a guy who just sings, without affect. This is honest blues. A young blues singer could find much worse models:
The thing is, he's isn't trying to put anything over on you. He's not wasting one moment trying to convince you that he's something he's not--a tough guy, say, or a guy who wishes he was Howlin' Wolf (or Kim Wilson, for that matter). He's not fronting. Notice that it's just him and an electric guitar. Sitting on his amp! This is a top pro.
Whenever somebody says something foolish like "White people can't sing the blues," I always think of Tab Benoit.
Last Edited by on Dec 08, 2011 7:53 PM
This is where the mighty Dr Feelgood were particularly interesting- in that the re-imagined southside chicago in essex and produced a totally believable 'blues mythology'on their own back yard. Lee Brilleaux had the R&B growl but still sounded like a london geezer, not a fake american- a true original, and sadly missed. Recently rediscovered these guys via the 'oil city confidential' documentary and have been (re) blown away by how good they were in their heyday. See also -Rory McLeod...... Hm... on the rare occassions I sing it tends to be a vaguely soul/gospel falsetto- pure practiclity- its where my voice pitches best and.. er... unfortunately, yes- I Americanize it... English falsetto would sound more like some wierd choirboy!
In my opinion these things are very subjective. I may think a certain singer or types of singers suck while ten other people think they are great; and still others will think they are just ok.
When it comes to blues and rock I have found that many times a great singing voice doesn't matter. There are many rock singers who are successful while not actually being "good" singers. At the same time a great vocalist...lets say Pavarotti...may not sound great singing blues or rock. He may sound to phoney or trying too hard to be bluesy.
In the end it comes down to what the listeners like and what the vote would be among a large group rather than the opinion of one or two. I know that there have been many occasions where I have said; " are you serious? You guys like his singing? I think he is pitchy and off key and he sounds like he is trying to sound..." And he can't hit the high notes." Yet others thought he was good.
So I understand the thought/rant and can agree somewhat.But I think it all comes down to "does the band work and draw a crowd?" Are they liked by most? Then it becomes just a matter of taste.
Live versus recorded pieces come into play, too. My favorite band from Chicago back in the seventies put on a helluva show, always had the audience on their feet. When I bought their albums I could listen more critically and could hear notes sung a little off key and such. Had I listened to the album before seeing the band live, it's likely I would have been less impressed.
If your voice gets tired, hoarse, you are pushing it too much. I have seen black and white guys go there, me included until I figured out the backing musicians needed to bring it down so I didn't have to shout all night. Singing in your natural range and not blasting all the time is the key. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
It's a tough question without any easy answers. Should we all sing in our natural accent? I can remember an interview on youtube with the brilliant soul/ blues singer James Hunter, when was asked why he didn't sing in his natural accent proceeded to sing Sam Cooke with an Essex accent that effectively answered the question.
@Magic Pauley - what's your take on Ian Seigal? His vocals may be an affectation or at least started that way but he's pretty much adopted a convincing musical persona, so for me at least the question isn't really valid any more.
Excellent question! I don't sing, because I don't know how to do it naturally and don't want to do it affectedly. I'm a bass, which makes my problems worse. ---------- Andrew. ----------------------------------------- The only good cat is a stir-fried cat. (ALF)
Surely you can only know if it is an "affectation" by comparing to the singer's speaking voice, even then we have a head voice & a gut voice...sometimes somthing in between.
@Magic Pauley "there are some great bands in england that do carry off a good vocal , The guy from Paul Lamb's Kingsnakes i think his name is Chad ? great singer . also big joe louis , and Big boy bloater , who has a growling big voice but then he is a big bloke !" So, only big blokes growl? Why? Neither BJL nor BBB growl & bellow in your ear during a conversation.
Listen to Mike Sanchez, the guy's a vocal chameleon, do you really care which is his "real" voice?
Is Kate Nash a "better" singer for singing in an unaffected style? Which in itself becomes "affected" by the distinct effort to avoid obvious affectation?
My feeling is, if it sounds wrong, it IS wrong...if it sounds right it IS right.
---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
Last Edited by on Dec 09, 2011 10:43 AM
@5F6H - assuming that first comment was directed at me - there's obviously plenty of Tom Waits and Howlin Wolf (and maybe a little Sam Cooke) that's influenced Siegal's vocals. Nothing wrong with that, and yes his speaking voice has become more and more like his singing one. FWIW, I totally agree with your last statement
Gamblershand, sorry, my post was mainly aimed at Magic Pauley...I just didn't make that clear.
To everyone...;-)..The thing with voices, singing or otherwise, is that they change, often deepen over time. Pitch, attack & syntax change depending on who we speak to & on context.
Some people are lucky, their natural speaking voice sounds great over music...others have to work at it, it's the result that matters. ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
@Adam: I appreciate Tab's honest vocal - but is fronting or pretending always a problem?
Jehosophat has a good point. It's not about the song's title, it's about the song's mood. Tab's honest style works great with this sad ballad, but I don't think it's appropriate for songs in the sexy/swagger vein like "Back Door Man" or "Got My Mojo Workin."
Should he just not sing those songs? Maybe I'm biased by my own personal preferences, but it seems to me that these songs make up a very significant part of the blues catalog. On the other hand, I have heard my fair share of bad white imitators...
Personally, I love to sing songs in that vein. I think I enjoy the pretending. I'm not actually irresistible to most (or all) women; it feels good to pretend I am. You can't be irresistible unless you believe you are, so pretending is a good start!
What about Bob Dylan's various vocal styles/affects? I dig it, especially that country voice on Nashville Skyline.
@kudzu On second thought, those Cajuns like to dunk big turkeys in hot fat, and that's when they're in a good mood! So please don't. "
Us Kiwis dig a big hole in the ground fill it with red hot stones put the turkey in ,cover with flax and dirt cook it for 10 hours and then eat the stones ;^0
@Frank: Singers are a lot like harmonica players - FAR to many out there that shouldn't be publicly sharing their so called talent!
Uh...you're talking about ME, aren't you, Frank? I knew there was someone lurking in the shadows waiting to drive a stake through my heart and shatter my dreams. I hope you're happy now.
Turkeys! Turkeys! We got one sparrow to eat per year, shared amongst thirteen people.
I'm not a fan of the "affected" singers. Voice is an instrument in and of itself. I know I came out too strong initially. I had too much power and didn't know what to do with it. I definitely emulate vocal styles, but that's mostly because the way I speak at work doesn't exactly translate into the blues idiom. Just as I dislike the affected growl, I can't stand perfectly pronounced, articulated English in the blues. It's not WalkING, it's Walkin' through the park. ---------- 12gagedan's YouTube Channel
I think Dan has it. It's a continuum, and you don't want to go too far one way or the other. It's an act. When I sing Hootchie-Cootchie man, everyone knows I'm not REALLY the hootchie-cootchie man, even though I SAY I'm the hootchie-cootchie man. I got $700, baby...I wish.
"I can't stand perfectly pronounced, articulated English in the blues."
I didn't mention him before, but we ukulele players have to cope with George Formby, of course. Those of us born in the South, are we to mimic his high-pitched voice and Lancashire accent? "I don't want to read a byoook, I'd rather play with my little yuuuke" I could rejig that and have an affectionate little poke at Northerners by singing it in a Southern accent thus "I don't want to read a book [Southern accent], I'd rather play with my little 'uk-elele (Hawaiian accent, except that the 'uk would rhyme with book)", but, assuming that were clever at all, I'd have to go to the effort of rejigging every other lyric to suit my accent, except that no-one would get it, least of all Northerners. Ah, Vivian Stanshall, you'd have taken all this in your stride! Actually to be really mean, I could get my Yorkshire friend to coach me to sing Formby in a Yorkshire accent. God, I drivel when I'm awake with insomnia! I wonder if any Americans understood a word I just said.
---------- Andrew. ----------------------------------------- The only good cat is a stir-fried cat. (ALF)
Last Edited by on Dec 09, 2011 9:52 PM
@Andrew "To an extent almost every British pop singer since the Sixties has imitated an American accent. That's purely to try to get into the American market, where most of the money is."
Well there are countless exceptions to that rule, but overridingly you're right...& it started before the 60's. I don't think that it is so much market oriented (many domestically well known British acts have failed to break America), more that the vast majority of popular music is American or American inspired (Jazz, R'n'B, Blues, Soul, Hip Hop - Rap specifically is a more complicated issue, Ska & Reggae were greatly influenced by American artists & radio in the 60's). Aspiring singers tend to fall into it from day one.
Occasionally someone will sing a song in a genre "crossover" style & hit on something great - Gerry & the Pacemakers' version "You'll never walk alone" springs to mind...many Liverpudlians, & other Brits, think THAT was the definitive version...Glaswegian Carl Denver's "Wimoweh - The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is perhaps another? Dreadful cover or groundbreaking genre busting hit? The audience decides.
Other times not. Classical singer Charlotte Church had a chat show, at the end she would join a chart-topping, musical guest on stage and sing on of their songs with them (ego?) ...all her performances were uniformly awful & unconvincing with all the songs sung by her with a heavy classical bent.
Much of this issue is perception based, no one listens to Satchmo sing an old English folk song like "St James Infirmary" and complains he is not singing in an English accent...this one has gone full circle - an English song, adopted by Americans, sung by Englishmen today, in an American style! When UB40 covered "Red, Red, Wine" they were completely unaware of Neil Diamond's original version (Ska & Reggae artists were stealing songs from the US, even renaming them, at an incredible rate in the 60's & early 70's)...to most Brits of their age Tony Tribe's version is the definitive one.
If a song is executed well, convicingly & believably, the SONG is done justice, then that's what counts.
---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
Last Edited by on Dec 10, 2011 7:18 AM
Interesting discussion! Believe it or not, my Yank ignorance means that I'd never heard of George Formby before checking out the YT clip above: "Aunt Maggie's Remedy." Knowing nothing about him, I was amazed by his performance. He's going to be a star!
Well actually he already is, or was. But I could have told you that. He's got an indelible voice: the moment you've heard that kooky, playful buzzsaw of a voice, you can't get it out of your head. So he's got the foundational showbiz talent: he's one of a kind. He's completely himself. He's not pretending to be anybody else.
Except of course he comes out of pre-existing tradition that traces in part to minstrel shows:
Here are a couple of white men putting on a caricatured black voice. One of their key techniques is shifting the tonal range up into precisely the constricted high midrange area that Formby's voice lives in. This traces back to West African aesthetics.
Here's another.
Paying attention to this might help you understand why I try to be attentive to the residue of blackface performance in the contemporary blues scene. There's a long history of white folks "doing" black folks: manifesting admiration and mockery at the same time. 99.9% of the time these days the surreal/mocking element is completely unconscious, so that it seems evident to many white blues singers that the way you're supposed to sing blues is to deliberately phase-shift it in the direction of lowdown black models. But of course actual black blues singers have a very wide range of performance styles: Lou Rawls (on the album "Stormy Monday") and Joe Williams (Count Basie's singer) and Sugar Ray Norcia (great white blues singer) all have smooth voices with, it might be argued, somewhat whitened inflections. They come at the music in a notably different way from Howlin' Wolfe and Big Joe Williams and all those Mississippi country guys.
Blues singers, of whatever stripe, should choose/evolve performance styles that feel true and effective to them. But it's important to ask yourself, at some point, why you've chosen the style that you've chosen. Some people are on a trip; they're exploring their freedom to occupy another's skin, so to speak. Dave Chappelle does a particularly good whiteface accent.
I had looked up the Jazz Singer earlier today (to find out about the dates of the talkies and when Roy Smeck may have made His Pastimes). Did you know that in The Jazz Singer, Jolson is actually playing a character called Jackie Rabinowitz?!!
Formby was the son of a famous music-hall entertainer called George Formby senior. Formby senior was the equivalent of a millionaire, and his son had about 50% more earning power again.
The racism of these performers is interesting because some of it is merely inadvertent and of its era. Take Formby. He didn't black up, but he did a song called Hindoo Man, which armchair socialists would snort at. But Formby toured Rhodesia with his manager-wife, and when they discovered that audiences were segregated, they refused to perform to whites and rearranged the whole tour schedule so as to play to blacks only. Tragically, in retaliation, the tour manager was executed the day Formby's plane left. So the racism of those performers wasn't one-dimensional (I nearly said black and white).
(those brits who saw the Frank Skinner documentary recently may be able to remember it in more detail than I) ---------- Andrew. ----------------------------------------- The only good cat is a stir-fried cat. (ALF)
Last Edited by on Dec 10, 2011 8:02 AM
Something I don't understand about your posting, Adam - are you saying you think Formby's voice is an affectation? ---------- Andrew. ----------------------------------------- The only good cat is a stir-fried cat. (ALF)
@ Kudzurunner: "Except of course he (Formby) comes out of pre-existing tradition that traces in part to minstrel shows:"
How an earth you came to that conclusion escapes me.
This discussion started about blues, non-American artists will normally adopt an American/trans-Atlatic accent because they are emulating an American art form, an American artform that came from part of the African American community, it is music of black origin, but it is not ALL black music. Most black people in the world (95% at least live outside the US) do not naturally speak with an American accent.
Lou Rawls & Joe Williams sound simply more urbane/citified to me, than any less "black" (perhaps regionalised/rural maybe a more accurate phrase). I don't assume that any black man with good diction, an education, or residing in a city is attempting to be "white", or any less "black" (the flipside of your Rawls/Williams vs Wolf/BJW point)...that strikes me as a rather unhealthy outlook.
---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
Last Edited by on Dec 10, 2011 8:31 AM
Here's another Lancashire accent to bemuse the Americans among us (far more rural and older than George Formby, though)! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WbbZMnc48E ---------- Andrew. ----------------------------------------- The only good cat is a stir-fried cat. (ALF)
@5F6H: It's impossible to talk intelligibly about somebody grinning and strumming a banjo without talking about the minstrel tradition. The fact that Formby is specifically working his regional accent as part of his comic routine--playing the sophisticated hick, in some sense--connects him with the early country music tradition, which comes directly out of blackface and tails off, many years later, in "Hee Haw," where white Americans from the South work their regional accents. I don't have to know anything about Formby to know that he would have been familiar with Jolson; "The Jazz Singer" was the first talkie--movie with sound--and it was popular throughout the English-speaking world. There's a multi-hundred year history of cultural interchange between England and America; blackface minstrely from the States was hugely popular in England. The originator of blackface minstrels, Thomas Dartmouth Rice, toured England and was a sensation in the 1840s. Christie's Minstrels were huge in England. Here's what Wikipedia says:
"Christy Minstrels in Britain 1874 Advertisement
J. W. Raynor and Earl Pierce formed a new troupe, using many of the former Christy Minstrel members. It opened in London, England as "Raynor & Pierce's Christy Minstrels" at the St. James's Theatre on 3 August 1857. They then performed at the Surrey Theatre and later the "Polygraphic Hall" on King William Street, where they appeared for ten months. "Nellie Grey" by Michael Balfe, as sung by Raynor, became popular. In 1859, the troupe moved to the St. James's Hall (Liverpool), performing for another four months and then touring the British provinces. It then returned to Polygraphic Hall, disbanding in August 1860. The success of this troupe led to the phrase "Christy Minstrels" coming to mean any blackface minstrel show. Soon, four new companies were formed, each claiming to be the "original" Christy Minstrels, because they each boasted one or two former members of the old troupe. One group played in Dublin at the Chester Theatre in 1864, moving to London at the Standard Theatre in Shoreditch in 1865. Three months later, it moved to St. James's Hall, where it began a run of 35 years until 1904. Eventually, the original members of that troupe retired or died, leaving only “Pony” Moore and Frederic Burgess surviving into the 1870s. Therefore, the troupe changed its name to the "Moore & Burgess's Minstrels". Other groups continued to use the title "Christy", but historian Frank Andrews describes their quality as poor. Some of them continued to perform into the twentieth century.[5]"
Formby didn't emerge from nowhere. He emerged from a showbusiness tradition of light comedy and razzmatazz that had its roots, among other things, in blackface minstrelsy. Of course there were other elements, which is why I said "in part."
EDITED TO ADD: In the song in question, Formby is singing about "Auntie Maggie's remedy." The specific tradition that he's pulling from is a fairly direct offshoot of blackface minstrelsy: medicine shows. Many blues and country performers in the US paid their dues at these events. The wagon rolled into town, the musicians scrambled out of the back, the white man in the P.T. Barnum suit stood up in the back, the musicians--sometimes in blackface, sometimes not (Jimmie Rodgers put on blackface)--strummed and sang of the benefits of the remedy, and then the white guy in the suit strutted, hollered, preached, held up the snake oil (thus the term "snake oil salesman"), and did his best to convince the assembled crowd that it would cure everything. Formby's performance clearly traces to this tradition.
Here's additional reading on the subject:
http://www.angelfire.com/sc/bluesthesis/minmed.html
Last Edited by on Dec 10, 2011 9:08 AM
Small point of information - Formby is nominally a ukulele player, but mostly he played a banjolele aka banjo ukulele. These provided the necessary volume of sound to fill a music hall, whereas the ukulele was too quiet. I don't think he ever played a straight banjo. Here he's playing straight tenor ukulele:
---------- Andrew. ----------------------------------------- The only good cat is a stir-fried cat. (ALF)
Last Edited by on Dec 10, 2011 9:07 AM
@5F6H: I think you need to read up on crossover aesthetics as practiced by African American artists. "Urbanity," as you call it, doesn't explain it all. Chuck Berry specifically modified his singing style, "whitened" it, if you will, so as to capture a white as well as black audience. "Who is that black hillbilly playing over at the Cosmo?" is how he describes people's reaction to this move.
B. B. King specifically took his radio voice and his stage patter from Arthur Godfrey; he says this in his autobiography, BLUES ALL AROUND ME. King is an excellent example of a contemporary black blues singer who doesn't sound remotely like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, or any of the down home singers who made their mark in the big city--although he, like they, came from Mississippi.
King is a good model for white would-be blues singers, because he has deliberately shifted his singing voice away from dialect, away from black country phrasings, and thus somewhat closer to the modern world in which blacks AND whites now live.
Yes, the stereotype caricature is of the gawky, gangly lawks-a-mercy black, and that was Formby's working-class white character, so the interplay is very complex. ---------- Andrew. ----------------------------------------- The only good cat is a stir-fried cat. (ALF)
@ Kudzrunner - Medicine shows originated in Europe in the middle ages, they are not an American invention.
Everyone was aware of Jolson, he was a superstar, yet from seeing just a couple of YT clips of Formby you have assumed a tangible (to you) string of reality....it seems quite a leap. You seem to be interpreting the facts to suit your outlook rather than making educated deductions based on research. ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
I sing in many different genres, but when I sing the blues I usually sing in that "affected" voice. I've done it for 40 years, and it's the only way I can do it. I've tried it different ways, and it's not me. but, I don't use that tone much in other genres. It may make some people sick, but it's the way it is.
Also, even though I may be inflicting my less than wonderful singing ability on defenseless people, it's the only way I can lead certain tunes when I'm playing with different groups.
There's alot more elements to singing than tone. For me, phrasing is another key element and you have to have your own style there-- and I find it to be a tough skill to get good at.
It's funny how certain effects are desirable on instruments; guitar and even harp as some examples. We try to copy those. Tone, crunch, dirt, warbles trem, vibratto, slide and other things. But when it comes to vocals all of a sudden we call it mimicking. Why isn't it just another technique to be learned? ---------- Tommy
There are/were many very good white blues singers. The first one that comes to mind is Gregg Allman. That's a man who has sung and lived the blues and you can hear it in his voice. Another is the late Janis Joplin, you can here the real blues in her voice too.
There are others examples that I won't list but the gist of my comment is that I think white blues singers should develop their own style and not try to "sound black". Some may say you have to to sing the blues. I don't necessarily agree. No one would ever mistake the two singers I mentioned above from anybody other than Gregg Allman or Janis Joplin.
I didn't like the late Alan Wilson's singing voice when I first heard it ( I do now ) but I always thought he had his own style.
Of course, all blues singers be they black or white have been influenced by the great black blues men and women that came before. All good white blues singers acknowledge their debt to the great black blues singers. I think I read somewhere that Bobby "Blue" Bland is Gregg Allman's favorite singer ( mine too ). But he does not try to emulate Bobby Bland when he sings "Stormy Monday." Allman's version of that song and Bobby Bland's version is quite different.
I got a little off the subject at hand with this post and maybe it belongs in another thread but I think it relates a little bit to people singing in a voice that is not natural for them.
Last Edited by on Dec 10, 2011 6:52 PM
sorry for the delay ( internet busy last night) i appreicate tjat while singing blues , naturally , people will adopt what's known as a mid-atlantic accent , but what i'm making point of is that , strange growly bear thing that some ( not all ) seem to want to adopt , to make themselves sound more bluesey , a sort of back of the throat growling overtone . Gamblershand asked me what i think of Ian seigal , well , i met a him a couple of times at the jam night at "aint nothing but " At first i thought , yeah he's trying to hard to sound like howlin wolf or something but fair play ,he's done well out of singing blues etc , i 'spose right time right contacts , etc and i also have chatted with Big joe louis ,and big boy bloater in the same venue, all were very friendly and polite , no hiers and graces . also i spoke at length years ago with paul lamb & band , and he shared some tips on playing harp which i value highly . mostly with these artists , they don't try too hard too be anyone else , and the main concern is getting the crowd entertained , which is what live music should be all about . The comment about annunciated english accent , it might work for classically trained singers in musicals but as you know it doesn't cross over well into popular or folk ,blues etc , as far as ol' george , eee bye eck , the boy from wigan did well , turned out nice again? i'm sure i'll add in more comments , whan i get the time
Being London-based myself, I'm betting I could probably guess the singer that inspired your first post. There are a couple of guys in the circuit that to my ears put on a weird gargle that I can't take seriously
re: Siegal I see where you're coming from but would disagree that his success is just being in the right time and right contacts - in my opinion he's one of the best blues-based songwriters out there, and he backs it up with a strong stage presence.
I'm interested in this broad topic around affectation in vocals as I try to sing myself, a lot of it blues or Americana material. And while I can mimic various voices I'm yet to quite get to "my" voice. I probably over think this sort of thing, but I'm conscious about how to make the tunes sound, if not authentic, then at least "valid" in some sort of way.
Last Edited by on Dec 11, 2011 2:54 PM
