We all have ours: mine are Beth Gibbons (Portishead), and Chan Marshall (Cat Power). I’m realizing now what it is about Beth I like. She has a bite, like cayenne powder in a stew. I put on the record she did under the moniker Rustin Mann when the first fall-like nights arrive. Unlike most guy-music, female vocals carry me away on pure emotion. As I say that, I can think of Chet Baker and Nick Drake who make me a liar, but that’s what I go for in female vocalists: carry me away.

Categories: Errata