Wow, I need to start visiting this section of 2+2 more often. Great post Kimbell. I too find that I gravitate towards women singer/songwriters more than men. I think it's the fact that when I hear someone sing, I picture them singing for me, and it's easier (and more of a turn-on) to imagine a woman singing to me than a man.
Anyway, lots of great artists listed so far, many of whom I love. I'll just add my commentary for those already mentioned:
Björk - Just fantastic. As others have noted, definitely can't "get" her from just listening to one or two songs. For those of you who enjoyed her solo stuff, I also recommend her stuff when she was with the Sugarcubes. This stuff is a lot more poppy, but in a quirky good way that only Björk can pull off. It's great stuff.
Hit
Birthday God I love when she wails.
Motorcrash
Lucinda Williams - Funny story. I was recently at a Magnolia Electric Company concert in NYC, which happened to be on the same night as Lucinda Williams' concert at Irving Plaza. In the middle of the show, Jason Molina says to the crowd: "I'm missing Lucinda for you [censored]." (censored word rhymes with suckers and starts with "f") at which point pretty much the entire crowd shouts back, "me too!" Pretty funny. I wish I could've caught both concerts though. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
Fiona Apple - It's already been mentioned but the leaked unofficial version of
Extraordinary Machine is much much better than the offical release. Try to get your hands on it if you can.
Gillian Welch - Another one who I love. Definitely worth a listen.
Tori Amos - As others have already noted, she is fantastic in concert. Definitely one of the most intense concerts I've ever been to. This was at Ithaca College circa 1998. I too stopped paying attention to her new releases over the years and recently bought a few of her recent albums after hearing one of her new songs on the radio that caught my ear. She seems to be trucking along at a fairly good clip.
Chrissy Hynde - I absolutely love that smooth buttery voice of hers.
PJ Harvey - God, I love this woman, so damn sexy. Dominic noted that she is "the coolest chick in rock, period," and he's 100% correct. She isn't the best looking girl in the world, but definitely can vie for the title of "sexiest."
Neko Case
Etta James
Aimee Mann
I will add one or two of my favorites later, when I'm no longer at work and have some time (and if they haven't yet been mentioned). The fact that I didn't comment on a few of the above artists doesn't make then any less good than those of whom I did comment on.