Wherever you're going I'm going your way

Buffy Sainte-Marie - Cod'ine
Marianne Faithfull - Black Girl
Precious Bryant - Fever
Gillian Welch - Revelator
Kaki King - Second Brain
Audrey Hepburn - Moon River

Another all female, all amazing (and almost all acoustic) post for you today. Girls with guitars is the theme.

Buffy Sainte-Marie was born on a Cree reservation in Saskatchenwan, Canada. While at university she became known for her protest songs and after graduating she toured colleges, reservations and folk festivals to wide acclaim. From her first album, It's My Way!, released in 1964, comes Sainte-Marie's raw account of drug addiction, 'Cod'ine'.

More folkyness now, this time from English singer Marianne Faithfull. Here she is with a cover of the traditional tune 'Black Girl', also known as 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night?' or 'In The Pines'. Notable versions are also done by Leadbelly and Nirvana but it's a nice change to hear the song sung by a woman.

Precious Bryant was sixty by the time she released her first album in 2002. Of course she had been playing her Piedmont style of Georgian blues for quite some time before that. Her sweet voice and feisty picking are more than adequately demonstrated here on her interpretation of 'Fever'.

Time (The Revelator), Gillian Welch's third album, would have to be one of my alltime favourites. Her honest vocals and heartfelt songwriting, together with the synapse mauling guitarwork of her partner, David Rawlings, make it a no-question five-starrer all the way through. For today's post I've chosen the opening track, 'Revelator'.

I can't recall where I first found out about Kaki King. However her tune 'Second Brain' has been floating around my iTunes for a little while now and it never ceases to grab my attention. It could be the exquisite sound of the Mbira thumb piano, as played by Kelli Rudick, combined with King's ethereal vocals that does it.

Moon River, wider than a mile, I'm crossing you in style some day. Old dream maker, you heart breaker, wherever you're going I'm going your way. Two drifters off to see the world. There's such a lot of world to see. We're after the same rainbow's end, waiting 'round the bend, my huckleberry friend, Moon River and me. With lyrics by Johnny Mercer and music by Henry Mancini it's no wonder that 'Moon River' won the Best Original Song Academy Award in 1961. They wrote it to fit Audrey Hepburn's vocal range for the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Buffy Saint-Marie website
Marianne Faithfull website
Precious Bryant website
Gillian Welch website
Kaki King website
Audrey Hepburn website