Help me find some newer singers

I’ve been bored with music for quite a while and I have come to the conclusion that singers just aren’t popular anymore. I’ve always liked a good strong voice and most newer music seems to be founded on the instrumentals and the vocals all sound like they are singing from the mask instead of from the gut. The tunes all end up sounding washed out somehow.

To give some examples of the kind of voices I am looking for here’s a list from assorted genres that I consider to be true singers:

Mel Torme, Stan Rogers, Ella Fitzgerald, David Lee Roth, Randy Travis

So what about it? Are there any new artists out there who really use their voice as am instrument?

PS - There is a reason there are no sopranos on that list <shudder>. They may be real singers but they get on my last nerve.

I like Rufus Wainwright’s voice a lot for its richness in conjunction with the quirkness of the lyrics.

Right there with you about Stan Rogers…his brother Garnet is putting out albums and sounds quite a bit like him.

Oh, and he’s not recent but you might enjoy Richard Shindell.

Gary Jules.

Eddie Spaghetti’s solo stuff (he used to be in the alt-country group the Super Suckers) His voice stands out way infront of the music.

Thanks for the replies.

I gave a listen to the suggestions so far. These guys - Rufus Wainwright, Richard Shindell, and Gary Jules seem to represent the problem rather than the solution. Not that it hated their music, just that none of them seem to be singing in full voice. And Jules sounds almost like he is trying to whisper as he sings. Listen to a clip of any of the names I listed and then to any of these. There is a richness and intensity to the voice that these guys just don’t have.

I think Eddie Spaghetti is closer to what I am looking for.

I’m having a hard time expressing what I mean with all of this, probably because I am not a singer myself. If anyone with voice training stumbles accross this and thinks they know what I am trying to say please pipe up.

Otherwise I’ll wait for more suggestions.

I think I know what you mean, in terms of stylized pop music not using real vocals. The worst is overproduced stuff–in a ridiculous example, Justin Timberlake says Taylor Hicks can’t carry a tune in a bucket, but Timberlake’s voice is so over-produced that you can’t even tell whether he can sing at all.

I know you’re probably not looking in this direction, but Josh Groban or Andrea Bocelli? They’re pseudo-operatic guys in that they have some of that influence but can’t project without amplification.

and Michael Buble is all about the voice and crooner style, but his voice is not very full.

Man, this is tough!

All right, what about Neko Case? She has a powerful voice, which she uses to its full extent without overpowering the song. And it’s distinctive, with a weird sort of a twangy drawl and a nasal quality. I’d recommend her newest album, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, since she seems to open up there more than anywhere else.

Some other possibilities:

Nick Cave
Knut Bell and the Blue Collars
A Midnite Choir (the one on cdbaby.com)
Crooked Fingers (“Red Devil Dawn” is my favorite album)
Diamond-Fist Werny
The Dresden Dolls
Dead Can Dance (Lisa Gerrard is amazing)

Yep, Lisa Gerard is a great singer. Her solo stuff is worth checking out too.

Second vote for Neko Case.

If you like male singers with great voices, I have to say that this season’s Rock Star Supernova had some great ones.

Have a look at these Youtube videos:

Magni Singing “Dolphin’s Cry”
Toby Rand - Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Ryan Star - Losing My Religion
Josh Logan - Santeria
Josh Logan - She Talks to Angels

I love all those performances.
While looking for those, I stumbled across this clip from an Icelandic talk show where Magni and Dilana are guests. A little more than halfway through, they sing a duet of Roxanne that’s just freaking awesome.

There was some big time talent on that show this summer.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a fabulous singer, but may not be quite what you’re looking for.

Sheila Chandra put out some good stuff, but it hasn’t aged all that well (you hear it and automatically think “mid-80s world beat”)

Jeff Buckley
Holly Cole
Mary Margaret O’Hara

Oh boy.

I could go on forever about various theories I have about this.

For one, I think that there’s a general trend in music of drifting away from the loud, full-voiced singers of the past (who had actual tone, and vocal training) and towards newer types of vocals, often with more unconventional sounds. This is part of the overall fragmentation of rock music and its divergence into many different paths, so many that it’s impossible to classify “indie” music anymore because the label is now meaningless and basically only says that the music in question isn’t played on mainstream radio (and even that is not always the case.)

I think that a lot of rock people (the kind who are deeply into their music) started, probably sometime in the 80s, to associate big, loud, full voices with (what they saw as) egotistical, cocky, showmanship-like rock, like glam and 80s pop, and got sick of it, and wanted something that was more introspective, emotional, and less produced-sounding. This is what led to grunge, and the massive amount of alternative rock that was going on in the 90s but has only recently gained widespread recognition, like Modest Mouse (which formed in 1993) to name just one example. Comparing the kind of voices in 90s music and the kind of voices in 80s music, it’s apparent that the “big and full” voices gave way to quirkier, less conventional ones.

This trend continues to this day, especially in “indie rock” (as I said, a meaningless label in theory but a good term for "non-mainstream-radio-music in practice) - that big, full voice is just not in vogue anymore.

There are plenty of new singers who can really belt it out (like Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups who sounds like Billy Corgan’s brother) but they’re not belting out with the kind of tone and clarity that I get the sense the OP wants.

Hey, music changes all the time. Like I say, you don’t like it, start a band. I did it and it’s working out great.

Eva Cassidy

Amazing voice. I suggest starting with “Fields of Gold” and “Over the Rainbow”.