Like other's I'm influenced by almost everything I hear. (My fiddling sister tends to not listen to some fiddle styles that she otherwise likes, because she doesn't want her own, old Appalachian style fiddling to be unconsciously influenced.)

These are some of the people though, that I think have had the most influence. Some in terms of vocal style, some in terms of the music itself, and some, both.

Henry Farmer Williams (my grandfather)
Hazel Dickens
Bonnie Raitt
Maria Muldaur
Lowell George
Bessie Smith
Tommy Thompson of the Red Clay Ramblers
Robert Palmer
Odetta