Of the several that are my favorites, two stand at the pinnacle.

KATE RUSBY
She is the total package: unaffected moving voice, great interpretation, and the arrangements she and husband John McCusker put together turn every song into gold. Her recordings seem to get better and better at each listening. Songs I glossed over for others, suddenly hit me with their beauty, a year after owning that particular CD.

LOUIS KILLEN
Louis just plain knows how to sing traditional songs. There is a certain high, faraway sound in chantey singing I really like, something similar to what bluegrass musicians call the "high lonesome" sound. A.L.lloyd had it, Ewan MacColl had it, and Louis has it. Louis's interpretations of traditional songs, for me, set the standard. Anyone who has heard him sing The Death of Nelson knows what I mean.