June Tabor is one of my favorite singers! I was lucky enough to hear her and the Oyster Band when they were touring together doing rock'n'roll folk - one of the encores was June singing Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" - it made chills run up and down my spine...

Tabor's smoky voice and torch song arrangements of traditional material aren't everyone's cup of tea (some folk purist friends of mine walked out of one of her solo concerts once), but I've learned a lot of ballads from her recordings. "A Cut Above" got me hooked on ballad singing when it first came out. I'm glad she left the restaurant business and went back to singing!