List of favorite female/female identified bands or fronted bands

So by request of maehemsez over on twitter, here’s my list of favorite female/female identified bands or fronted bands. I’m using favorite rather broadly here. Basically I went through my Google music list of artists and picked out all of them that I knew had multiple songs I liked. So there’s probably a lot that I’m missing because I only have one or two tracks or they’re all listed under soundtracks. One of these days I need to spend like a snowstorm ripping all of my old CDs.

Some of these, I’m sure, really date me. Some of them are probably relatively obscure. Like, I am half certain I was the only person who ever bought Pet’s album. (bought purely because it was produced by Tori Amos back in the 90’s and I had a horrible case of fangirl, but I still know all of the songs!) I also didn’t put down some of the mainstream stuff from that time period. Probably because I’m attempting to pretend that I have taste. And there’s a couple I didn’t list because I’m pretty sure that they can’t be found for sale any more like some obscure Canadian artists I picked up off MP3.com in ’99 or stuff by a friend of mine who I recently had to upload a copy of her album for because she didn’t even have a copy of it any more.

Neko Case, late 90’s Tori Amos, Vienna Teng, Regina Spektor, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, The Be Good Tanyas, The Nields, Florence and the Machine, Lianne La Havas, Madeleine Peyroux, Adele, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Rasputina, Ani DiFranco, Bat for Lashes, The Bird and the Bee, Bjork, Darling Violetta, Pet, Drain STH, The Dukhs, Erin McKeown, Erykah Badu, Escala (string covers of a lot of famous stuff), Estelle, Gypsy Soul, Hilary Hahn, Imogen Heap, Indigo Girls, Janelle Monae, k.d. lang, Lhasa, Melody Gardot, PJ Harvey, Nina Simone, Norah Jones, Paloma Faith, Paris Combo, Poe, Portishead, Sarah Harmer, Sarah Jaffe, Shana Tucker, Zoe Keating, Patsy Cline

I am also debating including Band of Skulls. The songs trades vocals back and forth between a male lead and a female lead. Dead Can Dance, same thing.

Alright, your turn. Give me recs!

Another Trip to Sky Meadows

I love Sky Meadows. Sky Meadows State Park is

Rich in history, this 1,864-acre park has scenic views, rolling pastures and woodlands. Look into a bygone era by touring the Mount Bleak House to see how a middle-class farm family of the 1860s lived. Nature and history programs are offered during the spring, summer and fall. Hiking, picnicking, fishing and primitive hike-in camping for families and groups are favorite activities in this peaceful getaway on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The park has 7 miles of bridle trails, 17 miles of hiking trails and a trailhead for the Appalachian Trail.

We headed out there on the 5th of July this year since it was supposed to be less hot than the rest of the weekend. The mountain breezes would be cooler, we thought, and there’d be wineries around when we got done. All things I look for when I decide to climb small mountains.

We decided to take a different trek than we usually do. Not too different, just a bit backwards. (PDF trail map) Instead of heading up the South Ridge trail which, while being pretty constantly uphill, it is a wide smooth trek, we decided to head up the Piedmont Overlook Trail to the North Ridge Trail. These are steeper, narrow, and generally more difficult due to the rock on the trail. The thought was that it was better to be less tired and overheated on this trail that day. I usually love running down the North Ridge at a good clip because it’s just so damn fun, but I was really worried about the heat. Downside of having a dog with a short muzzle is that they’re more prone to overheating. Just a few hundred feet up through open meadow, both Greta and I were like “The hell were we thinking?” Okay, maybe I’m projecting.

Being a weekday and not officially a holiday for most people, there was actually more traffic than I expected, but not enough to scare off all of the wildlife. I spotted this black rat snake right off the path curled up in the hollow of a dead tree.

black rat snake

I didn’t notice how she was covered in mosquitoes until I was editing the picture. Poor thing.

Another water break found a juvenile skink waiting for us to leave his hunting grounds.

juvie skink peeks around a rock, waits for us to leave

But mostly we just sat in the shade and panted or sweated.

Greta lying in the path panting

Got to the intersection with the South Ridge Trail and decided it was time to go downhill. This was much nicer. Could actually concentrate on things around us and do things like spotted Pawpaw trees!

pawpaws

And then we stopped for the view.

Sky Meadows view over valley

Yeah, it’s worth it.

Greta engaged in some classy grass eating.

Greta upside down and on her side, trying to eat grass

The best part of the day is that it was also Greta’s Gotcha Day! This mutt has been waking me up in the morning for 3 years now. Hard to believe. So we took our free wine tasting coupons over to Barrel Oak Winery again to cool off, drink some wine, hang out in dog friendly environs. Greta managed to scam multiple pizza crusts off the softies next to us while I refused to give her more than five or six (many, many) crackers or pieces of cheese. All and all, it was a really nice, if sweaty, day for everyone.