I’ve written about a lot of female artists over the years. I’ve compared many of them at one time or another to Gillan Welch, Joan Baez, Lucinda Williams, Dar Williams, etc., etc.). But I probably should have gone further back and compared them all to Texas Gladden (1895-1967). That’s how far back Joanna Newsom went when once asked about her influences.
Here’s a field recording of Grandma Texas Gladden singing a lullaby to her granddaughter. This is on a new compilation of Alan Lomaz field recordings on the Global Jukebox label.