The harmonising and roots Country/Americana of Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings is obviously not of their singular creation, but it is so clearly their popular shaping and consistently brilliant performance of its traditions that has influenced the contemporary lineage of similar performers with echoing musical proclivities.
Another in this line is the Lonesome Sisters, Sarah Hawker and Debra Clifford, who offer a more ragged harmonising in terms of timing but no less tight in its pitching. Their latest album Deep Water mixes self-penned tracks by both artists with the requisite sample of traditional songs, for example the a cappella version of Hungry and Faint and Poor by Amazing Grace composer John Newton. Other traditional sounds emanate from the instrumentation, like the gourd banjo played by Clifford on her composition Ooh Song. This and Clifford's other song 20 Doors are stripped to simple instrumentation and harmony to impress in the simplicity of their empathetic performances. Hawker generally takes lead vocal and also shares in the apt playing, with clawhammer banjo on three tracks, and harmonium on another three. It is basic, and basically superb.
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