Sometimes one of you tells me you don't know who Otis Redding is. Or Etta James, or Al Green. Wha?! Here is a list of singers that you should check out. The list is by no means complete, but it's a place to start...

Al Green - SONG: “I've Never Found A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)” - ALBUM: Gets Next To You

Anita O’Day - SONG: “Them There Eyes”

Annie Lennox - SONG: “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” [from Red Hot Blue ]

Aretha Franklin - SONG: “Skylark” - ALBUM: Live at the Fillmore West

Bessie Smith - SONG: “Weepin' Willow Blues”

Betty Carter - SONG: “I Only Have Eyes For You”

Big Mama Thornton - SONG: “Hard Times”

Big Maybelle - SONG: “I Got It Bad”

Billie Holiday [I prefer the 30’s-early 40’s] - SONG: “I'm Gonna Lock My Heart” - ALBUM: Lady Day Swings 

Bobby McFerrin - SONG:  anything

Carla Thomas - SONG: “Bring It On Home” 

Carmen McRae - SONG: anything

Cassandra Wilson - SONG: “I've Grown Accustomed To His Face” [from Blues Skies] - ALBUM: Blue Light Til Dawn

Charles Brown - SONG: “Please Come Home For Christmas” - ALBUM: All My Life

 Dinah Washington - SONG: “You Don't Know What Love Is”

Donny Hathaway - SONG: “For All We Know”

Ella Fitzgerald - SONG: “A Sunday Kind of Love” - ALBUM: Cole Porter Songbook

Emmylou Harris  SONG: “All My Tears” or “Plaisir D'Amour”

Etta James - SONG: “These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)”

Etta Jones - SONG: “If I Had You” [from Don't Go To Strangers]

Eva Cassidy - anything

George Jones - SONG: “She Thinks I Still Care”

Gillian Welch - SONG: “Paper Wings” - ALBUM: Revival

Gladys Knight & The Pips - SONG: “Nitty Gritty”, "Heard It Through the Grapevine"

Irma Thomas - SONG: “Ruler Of My Heart”, "Time is On My Side"

Jack Sheldon - SONG: “On The Sunny Side Of The Street”

Jackie Wilson - SONG: “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher”

Julie London - SONG: “You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To”

June Christy - SONG: “How High The Moon”

k.d. lang - SONG: “Outside Myself” [from Ingenue] - ALBUM: Hymns Of The 49th Parallel

Kurt Elling - SONG: “You Don't Know What Love Is”  or  “My Foolish Heart”

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross - SONG: “Centerpiece” - ALBUM:Everybody's Boppin'

LaVern Baker - SONG: “Shake a Hand” - ALBUM: Sings Bessie Smith

Lena Horne - SONG: “Stormy Weather”

Les Paul & Mary Ford - SONG: “Vaya Con Dios”

Little Willie John - SONG: “My Love Is”

Lonnie Johnson - SONG: “Tomorrow Night“

Lou Rawls - SONG: “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)”

Louis Jordan [American sax player] - SONG: “Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby” or “I Want You To Be My Baby”

Louis Prima & Keely Smith - SONG: “That Old Black Magic”

Lucinda Williams - SONG: “Lonely Girls” or “Fruits of My Labor” - ALBUM: Essence, World Without Tears or Car Wheels on a Gravel Road

Luther Vandross - SONG: “A House Is Not A Home”

Mahalia Jackson - SONG: “Move On Up a Little Higher”

Mark Murphy - SONG: “More Than You Know”

Marvin Gaye - SONG: “Ain’t That Peculiar”

Maura O'Connell - SONG: “The Water is Wide”

Mel Torme - SONG: “Comin' Home Baby”

The Mills Brothers - SONG: “Tiger Rag”

Najma - SONG: “Neend Koyi” - ALBUM: Qareeb

Nancy Wilson [early 60's] - SONG: “When Did You Leave Heaven?” - ALBUM: Nancy Wilson & Cannonball Adderley

Nat King Cole - SONG: “Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby”

Nina Simone - SONG: “Feeling Good”, “Come Ye” or “My Baby Just Cares For Me“

Otis Redding - SONG: “Pain In My Heart”

Patty Griffin - SONG: “Be Careful”

Peggy Lee - SONG: “Fever”

Ray Charles - SONG: “Here We Go Again”

Rickie Lee Jones - SONG: “Chuck E.’s in Love” - ALBUM: Rickie Lee Jones  (first album)

Roberta Flack - SONG: “Tryin' Times” - ALBUM: First Take

Ruth Brown - SONG: “Mambo Baby” or “I Don't Know”

Ruthie Foster - SONG: “Hole in My Pocket” - ALBUM: Phenomenal Woman

Sam Cooke - SONG: “You Send Me”

Shawn Colvin - SONG: “Stranded” - ALBUM: Steady On

Sheila Chandra - SONG: ”Ever So Lonely” - ALBUM: Weaving My Ancestor's Voices

Shelby Lynne - SONG: “Thought It Would Be Easier” - ALBUM: I Am Shelby Lynne

Shirley Horn - SONG: “Don’t Be On The Outside” - ALBUM: Travelin' Light

Solomon Burke - SONG: “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love”

Stevie Wonder - SONG: “For Once in My Life” - ALBUM: Talking Book    [or anything before 1983]

Susannah McCorkle - SONG: “Manha de Carnaval” - ALBUM: Over the Rainbow - Songs of E.Y. "Yip" Harburg

Willie Nelson - SONG: “Georgia On My Mind” [from Stardust]  - ALBUM: Stardust or Red Headed Stranger

She kindly let me sit in with her amazing band the other night at Bull McCabe's (Union Square, Somerville, MA). It's a little intimidating following someone who seems to be at home on stage... I'm a shy, skeptic pony, she's one of those fancy circus ponies (in the best way, Jess <3)

She also has a thing for Timothy Olyphant like I do, so in a way, we're soul sisters.