I had not heard of Shirley Collins until this thread came up—and I have not read much of the thread, just enough to get the general thrust of peoples' opinions.

Can she sing? Obvious she can, because she does. And in my humble opinion, she has a pretty good voice for singing folk songs. I've heard one helluva lot of far less listenable voices on field recordings, AND I have noted in my long and checked career in the folk music world that there are many "revival" singers out there—city-bred singers of folk songs—who kill themselves trying to sound like singers on field recordings.

Shirley Collins apparently doesn't have to try. That's her natural voice.

Granted, she's no Joan Baez, but then Joan sounds much more like a classical singer than a "folk" singer and one could raise the question of whether or not she has a good voice for singing folk songs.

It seems to me (at least I have always operated on this premise) that the main aim should be in communicating the song. The emotions expressed, the story, if a ballad or the implied story with other songs. Clear diction, singing on pitch, and a pleasant sounding voice helps, but if the audience is more hung up on the beauty of the singer's voice and the finesse of their vocal technique than they are on the song itself, then—

I once heard George London, one of the world's greatest bass-baritones (the only American invited to Beyreuth to sing "Wotan" in the Wagner Ring Festival and to Russia to sing "Boris Godunov") sing "Lord Randal"—giving it the full operatic treatment. He made Lord Randal sound like "the Death of Boris" scene. It was Gawd-bloody-Awful!

But beautifully sung. . . .

In the meantime, Dave Van Ronk's voice sounded like a rusty hinge. But what a great singer!!

Don Firth