Kendall - I strongly agree with you about Slim Whitman and Jim Reeves - two great voices. I haven't heard, that I remember, Robeson. I also like Dement's Infamous Angel, but, like you, other of her songs grate on my patience.

Jeri, like you I also look for expressiveness and emotion in a voice - how well they "sell" the song, but my suspicion is it goes beyond that.

In interpersonal communication theory (way back in grad school) some theorists posited that 80% of a relational message is based on non-verbal attributes, not what the words are. For instance if someone is saying "I love you" while at the same time time using a very sarcastic or bitter tone, you tend to believe the tone. Consequently, I imagine that, at a subliminal level, some voices have tone/timbre embedded that is more or less appealing than others.

When I reflect on men's singing voices, there are very few that stop me dead in my tracks. I just find them more or less interesting because of unusual characteristics. Two that come to mind are Johnny Cash and Ernest Tubb. Cash, back when I first heard him in the late 50's had this incredible low bass sound that I still find delightful. Tubb, who I became aware of in later years, had an indescrible tone and twang that was instantly recognizable and appealing. Unfortunately, to my ear, he also sounded out of tune! However, I just heard a song by him on a classic country CD from the late 40's when he was a young man, and he was even more distinctive and appealing, and seemed to be in tune! Perhaps age and/or booze took him off-key in later years. But even these guy's voices don't get to me the way Judy Collins or Joan Baez or Mary Black and several other women singers do.