Carrie Underwood – A View From The Middle (Class)

As I’ve been thinking of female singers to spotlight during my “ladies’ week” playlists, one thing that I’ve been looking for is versatility. Could each singer step outside of their genre and make their mark in another?

Annie Haslam (album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ella Fitzgerald … certainly. Carrie Underwood … she’s done it in a short time. Gayle Moran … absolutely. Now, when it comes to progressive rock and Annie Haslam, you have someone who fits right in with that criteria.

With Annie, the fashion world’s loss has been the music world’s gain. She started out as a fashion student, but a sister-in-law heard her singing along to the end of a television show and advised her to do something with her voice. She studied with an opera singer, developed a five-octave range, auditioned with the progessive rock band Renaissance … and the rest is history.

Annie is another one of those singers whose voice has been described as “ethereal.” With a five-octave vocal range, it almost has to be that.

My music playlist for today (June 6, 2012 edition) (viewfrommiddleclass.wordpress.com)
My music playlist for today (May 30, 2012 edition) (viewfrommiddleclass.wordpress.com)
My music playlist for today (March 13, 2012 edition) (viewfrommiddleclass.wordpress.com)
My music playlist for today (May 16, 2012 edition) (viewfrommiddleclass.wordpress.com)
My music playlist for today (March 19, 2012 edition) (viewfrommiddleclass.wordpress.com)

I’m going to make this week’s playlists “for the ladies.” Yesterday started off with the great Ella Fitzgerald in the pure jazz realm. Today, in the world of country, I’ll go more modern and play some Carrie Underwood.

To be honest, I really haven’t followed much of the American Idol-type reality shows on television. In fact, I’ve hardly EVER watched any of them in the entire history of the shows. For one reason, there’s just become too many of them — the market’s saturated. How do you tell them all apart? I must say, though, that Carrie Underwood was a pretty good choice by the American Idol viewing public.

There are such a slew of new names and faces in the country music scene, it’s hard to know who’s who without a program. The big question surrounding all of them is just how much staying power will they have?

When I say “staying power” among the women of country music, I’m talking about the likes of Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris, to name just a few — the ones who’ll be around for a very long time.

I’d say that it’s a safe bet that Carrie Underwood has that kind of “staying power.” If she hasn’t faded by now, it’s not going to happen. She just continues to ride high on the charts, and that’s a good thing. She’s definitely got the talent.