POLL of Many Colors - ILM Artists Poll #117 - Women of Country Music

https://i.imgur.com/G3wjTLm.png

Though often overlooked in award ceremonies and histories of popular music -- so rarely played on country music radio stations today as to be dismissively branded "tomatoes" in the salad of the genre -- women have arguably played a greater role than men in shaping the sound of country music since its conception. From The Carter Family to The Chicks, Patsy Cline to Patty Griffin, Kasey Chambers to Kacey Musgraves, a lineage of remarkably talented and innovative women have put soul to wax and found a way to overcome seemingly insurmountable barriers to be heard and be recognized for their craft.

Ballot #1 - Artists: Up to 30 artists. Rank as you see fit -- based on their entire body of work, influence on the genre/popular music, or just your personal favorites.

Ballot #2 - Albums: Up to 30 albums.

Ballot #3 - Tracks: Up to 30 tracks.

Vote here: https://forms.gle/3Hf5bmPcih6yh4Hj7

As I'm trying to wrap this up by March 24th, voting is open until Wednesday, Mar. 15, 2023 Midnight (Pacific Time).

No one will have a "perfect" ballot in two-and-a-half week's time, so if you're on the fence about whether to submit something, even a partial ballot, I strongly encourage you to do so. We all benefit when more people vote.

bookmarked

this is a complete blind spot for me and i'm here to learn. let's do this.

partial blind spot for me, but those 60s albums by Wanda Jackson and Dolly Parton are great

I'm not going to be putting any limitations on what is defined as country. If you want to vote for Bluegrass, Americana, et al., go for it.

However, I think it's probably best to limit this to artists that mostly worked within the genre, rather than include a spare country track by an artist that mostly worked in rock. Obviously there are grey areas, so if you feel passionately about something, vote for it.

Though we do not have time for nominations, please rep for your favorites in this thread. If helpful, I can start an artist google sheet with popular names and those mentioned in the thread.

Rosanne Cash, Patty Loveless, K.T. Oslin, Miranda Lambert, and Margo Price are delighted by this development.

so Bonnie Raitt counts? just asking. what about Linda Ronstadt?

Linda Ronstadt had two number ones on the country chart, so definitely fits.

Do yourself a favour and don’t neglect to check out

Albums:
Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
Lucinda Williams - Sweet Old World

Tracks:
Iris DeMent - Our Town
Neko Case - Andy; Hold On, Hold On; Thrice All American

Especially looking forward to albums discussion, because most of what I know pre-1990 is from compilations — I have greatest hits by Loretta, Patsy, Dolly, a whole Tammy box set, Tanya Tucker, Skeeter Davis, probably some others I'm not thinking of, but I don't really know individual albums.

Track:
Eliza Gilkyson - Beauty Way

Album:
Emmylou Harris - at the Ryman

Artist:
Jean Shepherd

*Shepard

Album:
kd lang - Shadowland

A little known album/band that I will rep for here is the Reeltime Travellers - Livin' Reeltime, Thinkin' Old Time. There are at least 3 stunningly gorgeous tracks that qualify for this poll - "Little Bird of Heaven," "Hallelujah," and "Higher Rock," all written and sung by Martha Scanlan, who sadly hasn't released much music in recent years.

Also in the old-time/bluegrass end of this world, search Rhiannon Giddens and her old group the Carolina Chocolate Drops

I will do my best to update and keep updated this google sheet with names, tracks, and albums that are either explicitly mentioned or notable. If someone wants to create a Spotify playlist, I would be grateful.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZG8IgHCDheS-83yJpnIQC0pu-cdciuZ9suKwPs0Q4E/edit#gid=0

Will try to fill in gaps in that later today and throughout the week.

And if a mod would be kind enough to throw that at the bottom of the first post -- along with the Spotify link if anyone ends up making one -- I'd be grateful for that, too.

Was coming here to mention Jean Shepard. Her Songs of a Love Affair was arguably country's first concept album — in 1954. And don't forget Susan Raye, who worked with Buck Owens and on her own in the late 60s and early 70s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh0RSzPdjUQ

I am totally here for this and hope to see some alt-adjacent and twangpolitan / countrypolitan / ameripolitan voices praised. Cheri Knight, Kathleen Edwards, Honeycutters. Bring it. Also some of the classic/vintage and folk-adjacent artists in the Iris DeMent, Nanci Griffith vein.

I have definite feels about this topic. I don't know a lot about yr pop-country material between 1995 and the present.

This list from 2008 has 100 names for your consideration (not all of whom I know by any means): https://www.countryuniverse.net/features/100-greatest-women/

Of course it excludes the past 15 years, so no Miranda Lambert/Pistol Annies, Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves, etc.

(I take that back, Lambert is on there but at #90 — lower than she'd presumably rank today.)

hardcore dilettante I would ask you to check out some of the extremely fine covers of American country songs done by English trad singers. For some reason I have a soft spot for this. Kate Rusby does a version of "Our Town" that breaks my heart even a little bit more than the original does.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6hzXLwW6PY

And Kate also totally slays "Gulf Coast Highway" here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EGtH1Eth3Y

But the pinnacle of this microgenre is and shall always be the entrancing version of "When Will I Be Loved" done by Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTVDvwduVnk

British women with crystalline voices plus bathetic American songcraft is an alchemy that I can't get enough of.

^^ SO GOOD

And I want to make sure that posterity records that Nanci Griffith (a fine artist in her own right) was an exquisite collaborator.

This is a weird video but it remains one of my favorite performances of all time. Had Nanci not been there it would be meh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY0AAVKIMPI

Mostly here to learn but I'm a fan of the unknown singer Angel Dean. She was in a country band with Amy Rigby and another with the guy from The Scene is Now, twee af in the best possible way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgAzBTlNsEQ

Cheri Knight, "All Blue":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjwUXBI5b40

^ Cheri Knight has other good songs but that is the one that sticks with me most.

Here are two utterly perfect songs from Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXF3PXN-h0A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y87LkhrPVg

Okay a few more more recommendations and I will shut up for a while

Kathleen Edwards, "Six O'Clock News"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcm6sdR6jOU

Kathleen Edwards, "Hockey Skates"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7QMVWhLPYE

Honorable mention: Hem's cover of "Angels Wanna Wear my Red Shoes":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYs_vd4bz1c

Paula Frazer/Tarnation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrxEmVEXwzg

(Great posts yall!)
xxxxxxxpost Susan Raye had a duet alb w Buck Owens reissued by Omnivore in 2022: a few keepers, but most of it has no real spark, like maybe each artist rec in sep sessions, studios, even?
Before I forget/note to self, pre-ballot: Ffrom 2018 Nashville Scene ballot comments---"Edd" is venerable ilxor/Scene staple eddshurt, who still comes through these parts comet-like, and has turned me on to so much good-to-great stuff:

Another Edd pick, Jeannie Seely’s The Seely Style,
is also awesome but a bit too signed sealed stylized,
at least for this set of tracks, most of which could register
as bullseye gravitas in other contexts, but altogether they
can seem too slow and heavy, pulling even a rock-ready
wail into relics of ritual---yet/and as a fan of Nico and
Joy Division, I’m about to go listen again, esp. to
“I Fall To Pieces” and “Don’t Touch Me” (and right off,
she’s keeping a close watch on “what you’re turning to,
and turning into.”)
Perils and pearls of a serious adult woman urban country
album made and released in 1966!

x-post

We actually did a 10 year update to that list. Lambert's up to #19 with a bullet:

http://www.countryuniverse.net/features/100-greatest-women-10th-anniversary-edition/

Sara Watkins is on that list so I will rep for the utterly sublime "Reasons Why":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lyZQB1H_Zw

Somebody mentioned Bonnie Raitt---blues is a feeling that can be with country for sure, but in terms of a country-as-genre feel/sound, the only one of hers I can think of is "Sweet and Shiny Eyes"---any others?

"Love Has No Pride"?

Laura Cantrell, one of John Peel's favorites and mine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkac2HkAjC4

This is all fascinating! In addition to my idiosyncratic kinda alt-adjacent and contemporary choices, I will totally endorse any and all praise for Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris, and Loretta Lynn.

That said: Linda Rondstadt is, for me, in another league even from Dolly. Considering her as a great country artist (which she is) damns her with faint praise. She would also easily top several other lists; she was a force in rock and traditional Mexican music and light opera. Her work in the movie version of "Pirates of Penzance" alone was frkn all-time.

Cowboy Junkies, Lucinda Williams, Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves: very solid modern performers and they all have songs that resonate with me. "2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten" is perfect. So is all of Trinity Sessions.

Moving on... Wanda Jackson, various Carters and Cashes - respected but not necessarily adored.

There is another tier - let's call it the Shania / Miranda tier - that I just don't have much interest in. I won't apologize for being lukewarm about music that I have tried to like but failed to like.

When we submit the first page, with ilxor name etc, do we then get the ballot pages? All I'm seeing is the first page, not having hit Submit yet (please don't tell me it's because I'm stuck with Windows 7!)

I hope LeAnn Rimes gets some love on this poll...

Lee Ann Womack will, from me at least — as corny as it is, I'm a huge sucker for "I Hope You Dance."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV-Z1YwaOiw

^ TS: LeAnn vs. Lee Ann

Suggestions:

Loretta Lynn - Loretta Lynn Writes'em and Sings'em
Rosanne Cash - Rhythm & Romance
K.T. Oslin - '80s Ladies
Patty Loveless - Honkytonk Angel
Lee Ann Womack - There's More Where That Came From

a reminder that this sunny sweeney masterpiece exists

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLOmpgLmtP0

Before we get too modern, wanna make sure no one forgets that Barbara Mandrell could play the HELL out of a pedal steel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2M_J16z9sk

Spotify playlist for tracks — I’m definitely not going to have enough time to explore albums I don’t know. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2B4LdLMbhBNRsJ2wNACJEc?si=zg1p5rQySD6lmL-iPTwupg

That aside, her "The Midnight Oil" is one of my singles of the high Billy Sherrill/Columbia era. xp to me

*favorite singles

From that same Sherrill/Columbia axis, I'd also add Tanya Tucker's "Delta Dawn" and "What's Your Mama's Name" to things people should be voting for. Child prodigies don't come more prodigious.

Over the years, Wilma Burgess has become known as "the lesbian Patsy Cline," which is all well and good. It was one of the worst kept secrets in the late 1960s. But it's a brief career I find thoroughly fascinating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILack5otVfQ

FYI, I’m not adding tracks to the playlist unless they’re clearly marked as a choice for Tracks — e.g. the Wilma Burgess track posted seems to be in support of Wilma as an Artist

If I miss anything, please let me know either in the thread or through ilxmail and I’ll add it. I’ll probably be able to update the list once or MAYBE twice a day.

From hither and yon. Yes, I can find a way to put hip-hop into a country poll!
The Forester Sisters - Crazy Heart
More heart than crazy, but the guitars mince some garlic over in the cutlery section of Bed Bath & Beyond.
Faith Hill - One
Keep forgetting how good Faith Hill is. This is quiet storm, basically, that doesn't forget to get a little noisy.
Bonnie Guitar - Hello, Hello Please Answer The Phone
Question, what genre has the most telephone songs? Think country's a contender.

Norma Jean - The Gambler And The Lady
You're either on the boat or you're off the boat.
Haley Georgia - Becky
"Becky" is blissful and buoyant and one of the great songs of 2017 and when all the online creeps kept telling Haley it was shit she must've listened, 'cause it's been wiped off the Internet except for this snippet.
LeAnn Rimes - Family
Saw a live clip of this where LeAnn says "And just admit you have a dysfunctional family" and she raises her hand really high.
LeAnn Rimes - No Way Out
And she didn't know a way out.

Taylor Swift - You're Not Sorry
Taylor Swift - Lose Yourself
SHeDAISY - Lucky 4 You
Carrie Underwood - Jesus Take The Wheel
Allison Moorer - Dancing Barefoot

Sarah Buxton - Space
Laura Bell Bundy - Giddy On Up
Sarah Darling - Whenever It Rains
Cassadee Pope - Wasting All These Tears

Amazing how many of these aren’t on Spotify.

I don’t think anyone mentioned 16th Avenue by Lacy J Dalton yet, maybe it’s too obvious but it’s still all-time for all that

Submitted and not gonna think about everything I left out

having a tough time but will get a ballot of some sort in.

Sent!

Awesome, 11 ballots in, so we are over halfway to my goal of 20 with about 36 hours left to vote. Judging by the commenters in this thread I think we might get there. Vote!

If it wasn't obvious from the spreadsheet, everyone has a different favorite Emmylou Harris album!

I'm not a fan except as a background vocalist/harmonist :(

zero female posters itt, bums me out

xpost Emmylou. I voted for Wrecking Ball. Not her most country lp but I like what Lanois added to her sound.

Most of the cows have left the barn already, but here's 1966. Among my surprises and discoveries when diving into '66 was how much country was still wrestling with rock 'n' roll and, for the women, wrestling with the girl group sound. For instance, Dolly Parton's "Don't Drop Out," produced by Ray Stevens, was going for a Spector/Shadow Morton/Shangri-Las sound. This is while, out on the pop charts, the girl groups were either disappearing or – in the case of the Supremes and the Marvelettes – morphing into mid '60s soul.

Of course, the country acts were not trying to absorb or meld with the (barely yet named) "rock" genre. Lots of country acts covered "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'," but they got no closer.

One happy surprise, though, was hearing Bonnie Guitar and Margaret Whiting veer towards the art-pop of Petula Clark, say, or Burt Bacharach. Bonnie Guitar (see upthread) is especially interesting – I'd never heard her, but she's terrific. She sounded as at-home on Bacharach type stuff as on Carter Family type stuff, and I could imagine her singing a Bond theme. If you can tell me more about her, I'd be grateful. In the Suggestions Box I was also posting for someone who couldn't figure out how to post, and I ran his choice of Scott Walker's "Mrs. Murphy" right into Bonnie's "Grey Rain Years."

I made a couple of Sixties playlists with a bunch of stuff incl. these and some male-sung country tracks; the second playlist includes the Bonnie-Scott merger. And the first playlist's got my Suggestion Box segue from Norma Jean's "The Shirt" to the Rolling Stones' "Mother's Little Helper." This segue is one of the meanest things I've done in my life.

As much as I love the '66 country tracks, after 10 of them in a row I feel like I'm in an airless closet. If I'd been a kid in a country-listening family, I would've seized on the Stones as a giant bear claw to claw my way out.

In the '00s I wrote that country should change its genre name to "Resentment." For the '60s you could call the genre "What A Drag It Is Getting Old." –An interesting exception was Wanda Jackson; not that she's better than the others, but in going all Jimmie Rodgers she was arriving like a breeze of air and space.

In my actual 1966 – a mostly unhappy year for me – I was trapped in a room not with country but with the Rolling Stones. But since the Stones sounded like they were trying to claw their way out of themselves, I was able to ride with them.

To sum up, though, I'm impressed at the extent that country '66 was willing to engage with other people's present.

Jody Miller "I Remember Mama"
Former folkie who foreshadows Emmy Lou/Ronstadt sogginess, which is actually perfect for the big fat sentiments of the song.
Jan Howard "You Really Know"
This track's in the country and girl-group zone: her voice can wail, but's got a whip.
Connie Smith "Same As Mine"
Excuse me, you've got the wrong house.

Margaret Whiting "The Wheel Of Hurt"
Brings formidable style to the sobbing bucket.
Patti Page "Custody"
The emptiest house in the world.
Norma Jean "The Shirt"
What a drag it is getting old.

Bonnie Guitar "Grey Rain Years"
Deep grey voice but with mirth playing around the edges.
Jan Howard "Bad Seed"
Traveling the more conventional country track, Jan is just as warm and dangerous as on the rock 'n' roll side; and that harpsichord might actually, after all, be a nod to the shiny new stuff over on the pop charts.
Wanda Jackson "Tuck Away My Lonesome Blues"
Loretta Lynn "Saint To A Sinner"
Wasn't God who made honky tonk angels.

Interesting thing about Jody Miller: I read in Wikip that in the early '60s she would appear on a television folk show hosted by Tom Paxton. In my folkie days I'd got an album I liked by Paxton, Ramblin' Boy. A few years later, in my rock nihilism days,* I read an old Sing Out! article circa 1965 called "Folk Rot" by Tom Paxton, a savage denunciation (iirc) of the new electric rock 'n' roll direction by erstwhile folk heroes like Bob Dylan. Beginning summer vacation of '71 I left my Sing Out!s on a friend's porch with a note lending them to his older brother, who was learning guitar (the mags had lyrics and chords). Neither the friend nor the brother ever saw them. I suspect a parental intevention, though maybe a dog ate them. Anyway, when Clark McGregor put together his anthology of old commentary about Dylan, Paxton refused to let him reprint "Folk Rot." So I haven't seen it since, but I remember it ending with Paxton quoting from and sneering at a crossover chart hit, "Home Of The Brave": "Home of the brave, land of the free, why won't you let him be what he wants to be." By Jody Miller. Maybe Paxton felt betrayed.

*which haven't ended, by the way; but neither have my folkie days.

Turned in a ballot and suddenly remembered a favorite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRpScJzx41U

Would probably leave out the song (I topped out at 30), but would squeeze the album (Rabbit Fur Coat) in between Emmylou Harris's Wrecking Ball and Linda Ronstadt's Heart Like a Wheel.

I can add it for you. Thanks for voting!

LAST DAY TO VOTE!

Nearly two-hundred artists have been named or voted for. Not too shabby.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZG8IgHCDheS-83yJpnIQC0pu-cdciuZ9suKwPs0Q4E/edit#gid=0

Can I add this one to my unweighted ballot? I totally forgot it.
Patsy Cline - She's Got You

Done.

Also, Alfred, you voted for the same song twice if you want to add another track to your list.

I've been procrastinating. Torn between bolstering the chorus of enthusiasm for acknowledged great stuff, and throwing curveballs of relative obscurity.

Like, it's one thing to be the lone vote for "The Hatfield Side" by Cheri Knight or the Cowboy Junkies' "Oregon Hill." Quite another to make sure that "She's Got You" or "Drunken Angel" gets its due.

Same here, but decided to leave out most of the obvious or much-cited choices, unless it was something I just couldn't resist.
Great comments from Frank, and speaking of mixed feelings about 60s, see upthread what I pasted from Scene ballot comments about reissued The Seely Style, though I damn near put it on the ballot. Also, speaking of Connie Smith, I still need to check out her 60s, but here's what I said about her 2021 (60s-wise) album:

Connie Smith's The Cry of The Heart is named for her definition of and specialty in country music, the kind of relentlessly cyclical treks- on-gilded-splinters-of-the-heart trad, sometimes funereal, that I tend to resist, as seen below in comments on Lucinda's urn ov same (wine-and-lipstick-stained butts incl., OK). Nevertheless, she picks songs about being knowing, struggling with being stuck inside a mobile, turning like a vane of dislocation in layers of strangely familiar, the stranger for it, weather: apologizes to her heart for being about to take another chance on prospect they both know better than; later, "I just don't believe me any more—I wouldn't trust my own eyes, if I saw him walking through the door," and gets to overview, "There are three s-i-i-i-des, to ev-ery sto-ry: his side, her side, and the truth": tricky, could get to truthie, jesting Pilate, sense of futility, reckless, even: interesting cusp—also, that chorus reminds me of "Love Is Strange," including a possible cross-influence with proto-reggae, and my other favorites here also have that out of the box, 60s crossover appeal that her accompanists, mainly Mary Stuart & his Superlatives, are so good at—-another starts with an acoustic country suggestion of "Pinball Wizard"—also "A-l-l-l, The Time" could be Orbison singing Jimmy Webb or himself, likewise omg yall fave is "Here Comes My Baby Back Again," with a kettledrum hook, even, also her voice, now reputedly shy of a few top notes of her 60s-70s commercial heyday, especially mighty and booming from the gut here, w/o overdoing it. This song rec also to Everly Bros., and eerie observational "Jesus Take A Hold" for Mavis (who will be doing some shows w Bonnie Raitt this summer btw). But some of the other, more generically constrained trad country ballads, are ballast, for sure, keeping whole thing bubbling just under my Top Ten.

If I'd done a Singles ballot for this thread, would def. have picked:

"Here Comes My Baby Back Again," with a kettledrum hook, even, also her voice, now reputedly shy of a few top notes of her 60s-70s commercial heyday, especially mighty and booming from the gut here, w/o overdoing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_fX0QWTTx4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLloC8P_-ao

^ I prefer the Karla Bonoff version but this is the more country one

Bobbie Gentry - Delta Sweete needs to be on the list.

I’m hopefully going to get mine in tonight before midnight pst!

voted!

voted.

In with three minutes to spare

Thanks, all -- we are up to 16 ballots. If there's anyone who missed that cutoff that wants to get a ballot in sometime in the next ~5 hours, go for it.

Also, Alfred, you voted for the same song twice if you want to add another track to your list.

― Indexed,

Sorry. Still time?

hey i mistitled an album i voted for. the Whitney Rose should be called Rule 62.

sorry bout that but it was 11:45 pm or so :/

i ultimately voted a little strategically and also threw in personal favorite albums by some artists vs ones that were maybe considered more classic. overall pretty happy w/the list though i'm sure i'll remember someone during the rollout and kick myself.

Sorry. Still time?

― the very juice and sperm of kindness. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, March 16, 2023 10:20 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, np

Keep meaning to give a shout to ian for sharing that Kate Wolf song a couple of weeks ago. Had never heard of her before and am hooked.

I've been procrastinating. Torn between bolstering the chorus of enthusiasm for acknowledged great stuff, and throwing curveballs of relative obscurity.

Like, it's one thing to be the lone vote for "The Hatfield Side" by Cheri Knight or the Cowboy Junkies' "Oregon Hill." Quite another to make sure that "She's Got You" or "Drunken Angel" gets its due.

― Minivan Morrison (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, March 15, 2023 10:14 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

You voting?

Got my ballot in, tracks only, with maybe an hour-and-a-half to spare. While my number 30, "Suds In The Bucket," is a rockin' little record, it's surely not the 30th best woman-sung country song of all time, just the 30th best that I, my ignorant self, could think of (while restricting myself to only one song per artist except I invoked The Taylor Swift Exception and gave Taylor two: finally choosing "Should've Said No" over "Lose Yourself" as the second on the grounds of better (in)fidelity).

Only six that I linked/"nominated" above actually made my list; voted a different LeAnn Rimes ("Blue") and a different Sarah Buxton ("Stupid Boy"). My guess is my ballot's the only one with Cassadee Pope and Daveigh Chase. Never saw Big Love but from what I remember people telling me, Chase played either a screwed-up character or a character in a screwed-up situation; anyway, her "Happiest Girl In The Whole U.S.A." adds a grabbing passion to the song's supposedly staid and comfy happiness. I have no memory whatsoever of Cassadee Pope's "Wasting All These Tears" prior to three days ago except I must've heard it when it came out 'cause it made my 2013 Nashville Scene ballot. Is an angry self-pitying wailer that you'd think'd want an Avril Lavigne or an Amy Lee to drive it threw the wall, but Pope's thin reeds manage to do just fine.

As you may have figured, I'd no trouble voting "country" songs that sound like they're invading or being infected by another genre.

Thanks for voting, Frank!

I am done with the Artists tabulation but won't get to Tracks and Albums until tomorrow, so if anyone wants to submit a late ballot for either/both of those, go for it.

And I got your 30th track, Alfred.

Two questions for those who voted:
1. Any preference on order of the roll out? I was thinking Albums / Tracks / Artists.
2. Should I start a new thread, as I believe is custom, for results, or do we want to keep everything in here? Nice to have one thread to come back to in the future, but there's also a ton of youtubes in here that I know are making it awfully slow on my end.

I am somehow unaware of the passage of time, and so did not get round to submitting a ballot, and so of course my opinion counts for nuffin, but I’d be inclined toward Artists/Albums/tracks, as the granularity increases that way & so more surprises/suspense to the end.

1. No preference.
2. No preference. Whatever makes the most sense to you. My CPU is 11 years old so loading can be a problem with all the YT embeds, but they don't embed when I'm logged out so I stay logged out when I read; only log in to post.

Proofreading my text: "want an Avril Lavigne or an Amy Lee to drive it threw the wall" - Avril and Amy must be really strong to throw an entire wall. Anyway, "through."

Whoops, I ran out of time and wasn't able to vote on this, but I'll watch the results with great interest (the results will undoubtedly be better without my ballot anyways, which would have been no more than 1/4 or 1/8-assed instead of the half-assed ballot I promised above)

Anyone who wants to submit an Albums or Tracks ballot before noon CST today (~4 hours), even partial and/or unweighted, is welcome to do so.