Bang & Jangle Radio Hour, Season 3, Episode 3: Would You Like a Glass of Water? A Brief History of the Gravelly Voice Part II

Karen Dalton

Last night the Would You Like a Glass of Water? series concluded with a look at gravelly, growly, and smoky-voiced female singers. I did a little extra research for this one, and I now have a half dozen new favourite singers. Here they are:

Koko Taylor - Wang Dang Doodle
Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog
Big Maybelle - Gabbin' Blues
Lavern Baker - Bop-Ting-a-Ling
Etta James - Two Sides to Every Story
Wanda Jackson - Let's Have a Party
Janis Joplin - Take Another Little Piece of My Heart
Yma Sumac - Five Bottles of Mambo
Karen Dalton - Same Old Man
Sandy Dillon - I Fell in Love
CocoRosie - Japan
Lhasa - Con Todo Palabra
Kate LeDeuce & the Beer Barons - Minnie the Moocher

I hope Kate LeDeuce doesn't mind getting lumped in here, because if she's more of a belter than a growler. Hopefully she'll still think she's ended up in good company. I'd also advise you to look up Peggy Lee's "Ready to Begin Again." Although it didn't quite have the grit to make it onto the show last night, I found the lyric "My hair lies somewhere in a drawer" strangely moving....


The Bang & Jangle Radio Hour airs Mondays 9:00-10:00 p.m. on Trent Radio, 92.7 in Peterborough, or online at http://www.trentradio.ca/stream.htm.

Listen to this episode:

Season 3, Episode 3