While singers like Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez certainly inspired me and influenced my taste in music, their influence on my singing, was to inhibit me, because my voice was so low, and their ranges were high and clear. Their songs were the ones I tried to sing, in their keys, and of course I couldn't do it. When Linda Ronstadt and Emilou Harris came along, with their lower voices, I began to think that maybe I could sing. But it was Marie M. and Bett Midler, singing covers and making them absolutely their own, that freed me to begin developing my own voice and interpretation.

This thread is great reading, and stirs up a lot of reflection. Thanks for starting it, Jerry.

Janie