Having listened to music in a much more concentrated way over the past three years (that being the length of time I have had an iPod), I have discovered a number of things about my likes and passions. One that I didn't know about before is the quality of the English female voice. Kathleen Ferrier and Sandy Denny both had a tone and sound that is as controlled and limpid as Miles Davis's trumpet or Sidney Bechet's clarinet. Go to the Wikipedia page for Kathleen Ferrier. There are some samples there. Despite the age of the recordings, Ferrier's voice shines through. Her renditions of English folk songs like Blow The Wind Southerly and The Keel Row are twee by today's standards, but (for me at least) essential listening. Sandy Denny's voice shines in a similar way in her recordings with Fairport Convention. Listen to Who Knows Where The Time Goes on the Unhalfbricking album. Denny's voice shines out from a fairly unprepossessing instrumental background. Currently it is my choice of music to be played at my funeral (although I hope not for many years). It has the curious effect of making we weak with sadness and simultaneously lifting my heart. How does that happen? I think this clarity of voice is an English trait. For me it isn't present in much Scottish music. I love the Delgados, but Emma Pollock's vocals were only a part of that sound (and her solo work doesn't move me at all). Very few American vocalists reach the same clarity, generally because of an excess of vibrato or melisma. It is also a female thing, and is usually rooted in the naturalistic style of the folk song. What about living singers? Certainly Kate Rusby and Eliza Carthy come close, but I have a feeling that these voices are rare, and we were lucky to have ours even for the short time that we did. Kathleen Ferrier died of breast cancer on 8 October 1953 at the age of 41. Sandy Denny of a brain haemorrhage on 21 April 1978 aged 31. Thanks to the wonders of recording we can enjoy their voices a lifetime and more later.